TRENDING SCIENCE: Just give it, feedback that is, science says

Don’t you wish somebody told you about the food stuck between your teeth when you were giving a presentation? Many of us avoid giving constructive feedback about appearance or personality. This avoidance obviously has to do with who the other person is. It probably has to do with our own personality, too.

Others actually want constructive feedback, so go ahead, according to research published in the ‘Journal of Personality and Social Psychology’. We keep from giving feedback, even when we know it’s key to learning and growth, and when we want it ourselves. In a pilot study carried out by the researchers, only 2.6 % of the participants told the tester about the food or lipstick on their face during the survey.“People often have opportunities to provide others with constructive feedback that could be immediately helpful, whether that’s letting someone know of a typo in their presentation before a client presentation, or telling a job candidate about a stained shirt before an interview,” commented lead author Nicole Abi-Esber, a PhD student at Harvard Business School, in an American Psychological Association press release. “Overall, our research found that people consistently underestimate others’ desire for feedback, which can have harmful results for would-be feedback recipients.”

“Even if you feel hesitant to give feedback, we recommend that you give it,” she added. “Take a second and imagine you’re in the other person’s shoes and ask yourself if you would want feedback if you were them. Most likely you would, and this realization can help empower you to give them feedback.”The research team performed 5 experiments involving 1 984 participants to determine how much people underestimate others’ desire for constructive feedback. Findings showed that people in a position to consistently provide feedback underestimated potential beneficiaries’ wish for it. With more important feedback, people were more likely to underestimate the other’s desire for feedback and the less likely they were to offer it.

“Feedback is key to personal growth and improvement, and it can fix problems that are otherwise costly to the recipient,” explained co-author Dr Francesca Gino, also from Harvard Business School. “The next time you hear someone mispronounce a word, see a stain on their shirt or notice a typo on their slide, we urge you to point it out to them—they probably want feedback more than you think.”