Do you tell them?
Theres no doubt many of us avoid giving feedback.
It can feel awkward to tell somebody they have something in their teeth, or elsewhere.
Beyond issues relating to a persons appearance, feedback more generally is vital for learning and growth.
Students need feedback so they can improve their marks.In workplaces, feedback from managers can improve performance.
So why are we sometimes reluctant to provide feedback elsewhere?
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They decided to investigate this theory through a series of five experiments, involving close to 2,000 participants.
Their results wererecentlypublished in the American Psychological Associations Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
The researchers intentionally selected scenarios where feedback would help someone things that could be rapidly fixed.
Again there was a difference in how much people wanted feedback and their willingness to provide it.
Of course, experiments asking people to imagine or remember particular scenarios can only get us so far.
Notably, the receivers rated the feedback as highly valuable.
In the fourth experiment, the researchers wanted to see if they could reduce this gap.
Would they want it?
Once again, the researchers found a giving-wanting gap.
What can we make of all this?
Its clear that people generally want feedback its valuable to them and allows them to improve.
But this study does have some limitations.
As the authors acknowledge, it doesnt consider the effects of power dynamics.
The study also doesnt consider how often feedback is given.
A friend who is constantly telling you how to improve is likely to get annoying quickly.
And of course, not all feedback is welcome by all people all the time.
While feedback was generally valued and wanted in this study, this wasnt true in every case.
Further, participants giving real feedback in this study were doing so in an artificial setting.
In many cases, asking someone if they would like your feedback can be a good start.
