The effects of feedback on performance

Isn't it ironic.... that being praised for something can actually make you MORE defensive about this very thing.

So then, how can a praise make someone defensive ?

Reminder : Fixed mindset ("intelligence is stable, in all contexts and forever") is an attitude where a possible failure may suggest that one’s ability is inadequate. If someone believes intelligence is stable, (perceived) failure may be seen as reflecting poorly on the individual and pushes individuals to protect or defend against the threat of incompetence. This belief poses a threat to the ego: the ego's defense system may get activated, to protect the self. To avoid feeling inadequate, one may need to alter their idea of the situation “For example, a student may retrospectively argue that an exam he failed was unfair or did not accurately assess his knowledge of the material, thereby circumventing blame for his poor grade” (Kaufman, 2013). That would be an example of being defensive.

So how can a feedback make one defensive? Consider those examples :

When giving someone praise for "being smart", to someone who believes "intelligence is stable, in all contexts and forever" , this person may focus on performing (as opposed to learning) to show they that they continue to appear intelligent or continue to feel intelligent.
When giving someone praise for "working hard" or "giving their best effort in learning", it could reinforce the notion that abilities are developed and that effort plays an essential role. Research shows that this often results in the subject adopting learning goals. interestingly, effort often result in favorable performance.

This study by Mueller & Dweck 1998 shows a great example of the effects of feedback on performance and attitude

Young students are given a test called Raven matrices (its a reasoning test that we often use in the clinic, to et an idea of a person's reasoning. Some psychologist would refer to this as a short-form IQ test). This is the baseline. All participants go through this test.

Then all participants get randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 conditions (this is called a randomly controlled trial and its a central method of research). Depending on the condition they are assigned to, participants may get different kind of feedback.

Group1:“Wow, that’s a really good score. You must be smart at this” (intelligence praise condition).
Group 2: “Wow, that’s a really good score. You must have worked hard at this” (effort/process praise condition)
Group 3: no praise (the is the control condition)

Then, children are asked which puzzle they want to try (they can choose between easy one or hard ones). note / implication : choosing a more difficult puzzles would help them learn more

Results and interpretation : Children praised for intelligence chose to repeat the same easy puzzles! While the children praised for process/effort largely chose the more difficult ones. For some authors, this reflect the need to protect one`s ego, by avoiding challenge (hence avoiding changing their perceived performance) and keep feeling "smart".

Even more interesting! They also tested this : Young students are given a test called Raven matrices. This is the baseline. All participants go through this test. Then, all participants get randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 conditions :

Group1:“Wow, that’s a really good score. You must be smart at this” (intelligence praise condition).
Group 2: “Wow, that’s a really good score. You must have worked hard at this” (effort/process praise condition)
Group 3: no praise (control condition)

Then all participants are asked to work on rather difficult puzzles, on which all the participants struggled. Everyone, most likely, got their ego challenged here. Lastly, all students got tested on a Raven matrices, again. Same test as the baseline. Same difficulty.

Results and interpretation : the children who got praised for their intelligence, being told “Wow, that’s a really good score, you must be smart” (intelligence praise condition), the challenge of struggling on the hard puzzle triggered a possible helplessness feeling, making children perform worst than the other children. Interpretation : in some cases, being praised for performance as a reflection of one's ability may trigger negative emotion when facing challenge. This could be mediated by the perception that one's performance and ability are stable in time and rather correlated. Praising someone for their effort may be "safer", in some ways.

Do you feel intelligence is stable?

Do you think someone's ability can change or is an ability stable over time?

Do you think feedback can influence someone's performance?

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The effects of feedback on performance

In 2019, prominent authors in the field (Ronald Ferguson, Angela L. Duckworth & Carol S. Dweck) and collaborators have shown that "growth mindset improves achievement". A paper published in Nature (a very reputable scientific journal). Stay tuned for more posts on the topic.