Feedback Strategies

The first article I read was entitled "A Troubling Side Effect of Praise" by Youki Terada in 2017. The story can be found here. Terada explains that simply praising children based on their intelligence "can increase the likelihood that they’ll cheat, according to a new study in Psychological Science." This adverse result of what seems like a positive action relates back to Carol Dweck's research on the Growth Mindset and the Fixed Mindset. When children are told they are smart and feel that their value comes from their intelligence, they "feel pressured to meet people’s expectations" according to the article. I found this interesting and wish more parents would be exposed to this research. Raising children can obviously be complicated, and knowing how to praise them in a productive manner seems very important!

The next article I read was called "How to Give Bad Feedback Without Being a Jerk" by Adam Grant and can be found here. Grant explains that the popular "feedback sandwich" approaching to giving constructive criticism doesn't help the person receiving the feedback very much! It's easy to either for you to come off as insincere or for the person to whom you are giving feedback to just ignore the negatives. Instead, Grant proposes 4 steps: "1. Explain why you’re giving the feedback; 2. Take yourself off a pedestal; 3. Ask if the person wants feedback; and finally 4. Have a transparent dialogue, not a manipulative monologue." These steps seem practical and were very helpful for me to read and think about! Grant suggests that following these steps helps the person receiving the feedback stay open to your thoughts throughout the conversation. I plan to practice giving better feedback in the future by putting these steps into action.

Both of these articles were interesting and helpful to read. I enjoyed learning about how to give better feedback, both positive and negative.

Photo of Adam Grant, the author of the second article 

I looked at for today. Source: Wikimedia