Although the intergroup sensitivity effect has indicated that people are more defensive to out-group members’ criticism compared to in-group members’ criticism, it is still unclear how people react when they criticize their in-group and others validate their criticism. In two studies, we applied the tripartite model of self and social identity theory to investigate how people respond to such validation when the validation was from an out-group member compared to when it was from an in-group member. We found that even though participants initiated the criticism of their in-group, they perceived the out-group validation more as a criticism of their selves than the in-group validation. Consequently, their relationship with the person who validated was negatively influenced when the person was an out-group member compared to an in-group member. Furthermore, the effect was moderated by their psychological closeness to the in-group. Specifically, when participants felt closer to the in-group, they perceived the out-group (vs. in-group) validation more as a criticism of their selves, and thus their relationship with the person who validated was more negatively influenced. However, these effects disappeared (Study 1) or became smaller (Study 2) when participants felt less close to the in-group.