Ship-testing is when a person does something to another individual just to see how they’ll react to what’
s been done to them, or to gauge how they’ll behave under certain situations.
This is done in many ways, and most
people unknowingly do it on a regular basis. For instance a man might ship-test his girlfriend by not contacting her all
day to see if she’d reach out to him.
A boss can ship-test their employee by ordering them to do a specific task while withholding crucial details to determine how well they can work and overcome obstacles.
A
mother can take away her
child’s favorite toy to see if they’ll have a reaction like getting
mad.
A guy can ship-test the honesty of his coworkers by leaving
money on the ground nearby and see who alerts him of it or takes it.
Ship-testing is often done to predict the future behavior of a person; and/or to determine their moral compass.
Examples of Ship-testing:
“I have a strong suspicion that if I don’
t text my friend Josh he’ll never reach out to me. I’m going to ship-test him by not calling or texting him.”
“My
boss ship-tested me by hiding my backpack in his office to see if I’d flip out and lose my temper.”
“My girlfriend ship-tested me by having her friend
flirt with me to see if I’d cheat on her.”
“The dog’s chew toy makes such an
annoying sound. I’m going to ship-test it and see if it’ll freak out when I take it away.”
“You don’
t need to ship-test me to see if I’m being honest with you
Brandon! Ask me directly!”
“I wanted to see what you’d say about Janet. I brought her up because you know she’s a goth. I wanted to know if you’d judge her for it. Because then I’d know you’d judge me because I’m goth too. It was a ship-test.”