The Wise Man

 

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"The Wise Man" Story

Giving & Receiving Feedback -APA Psychnet

 

Psychologists conducted several experiments on giving and receiving feedback. They were shocked by some of the findings.

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The researchers found a significant gap between givers and receivers predicted desire for receiving feedback. Those who imagined giving feedback believed that their colleague would want less feedback than those who imagined receiving feedback actually reported wanting. In other words, participants underestimated others’ desire for feedback, particularly regarding more consequential situations, such as sounding rude in emails or making an error in a report.

“The gap was smaller with more every day, less consequential, scenarios. For example, people correctly estimated how much someone else wanted feedback when they had food on their face, or a rip in their pants,” Abi-Esber noted.

Those who anticipated that providing feedback would make them feel discomfort and those who believed their feedback had little value were particularly likely to underestimate others’ desire for feedback.

In Experiment 2, the researchers randomly assigned participants to either recall an instance when they had the potential to give feedback or recall an instance when they had the potential to receive feedback. They then either predicted the other person’s desire for feedback or reported their own desire for feedback. Once again, participants reported wanting more feedback than they perceived others wanted.

For the third experiment, Abi-Esber and her team tested a real feedback situation by having people participate in a virtual laboratory experiment with a friend, roommate, or romantic partner. One participant was assigned to be the feedback-giver and the other to be the receiver. Both participants first predicted how they would feel giving or receiving feedback, and then the giver delivered feedback that they genuinely wanted to share.

“We demonstrated that even people who know each other quite well underestimate each other’s desire for feedback,” Abi-Esber said.

Experiment 4 investigated potential interventions that could potentially help reduce the underestimation of the desire for feedback. Participants were randomly assigned to either recall a time when they did something important incorrectly without realizing it or recall a time when they observed someone else experiencing this kind of situation.

“We asked people to recall times where they were either in this situation themselves, having made an error and not being corrected, or they observed someone inadvertently make an error without being corrected, and 561 people (out of 600) were able to spontaneously remember and describe such a scenario. So, it definitely happens a lot!” Abi-Esber said.

Some of the participants were also asked to take the perspective of the person making the mistake before predicting that person’s desire for feedback. “It was really interesting that our simple perspective-taking intervention in Experiment 4 helped close the giver-receiver gap,” Abi-Esber told PsyPost. “Just asking people to quickly reflect: ‘if you were this person, would you want feedback’ helped them recognize the value of feedback to the other person, and helped close the giver-receiver gap.”

In Experiment 5, the researchers conducted a laboratory experiment involving feedback that was both real and consequential. Participants were paired, with one practicing a speech for a competition and the other assigned to listen and provide feedback. Participants were informed that the speeches would be scored and the person with the highest final speech score would be emailed an electronic Amazon gift card for $50. The feedback given to the speakers was also recorded and coded.

After receiving the instructions, the participants were asked “How much do you think the other person wants to get feedback from you?” or “How much do you want to get feedback from the other person?” The participants answered the same questions again after the practice speech but before feedback was given. “Interestingly, as the time to receive feedback approached, [the speakers] had more desire to get it, suggesting that they truly wanted the feedback,” the researchers noted.

In line with the previous experiments, however, participants underestimated their partners’ desire for feedback.

The findings also provided evidence that feedback can have important real-world outcomes. The researchers found that speakers who received more feedback from their partners tended to have a greater score improvement between their practice speech and their final speech.

“Even if you feel hesitant to give feedback, we recommend you give it: the person most likely wants it more than you think,” Abi-Esber told PsyPost .Secondly, if you’re still hesitant about giving feedback, take a second and imagine you were 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 study, ““Just Letting You Know…” Underestimating Others’ Desire for Constructive Feedback“, was authored by Nicole Abi-Esber, Jennifer E. Abel, Juliana Schroeder, and Francesca Gino.

United by an Uncommon Idea - United States

 

"Ever since July 4, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was adopted by representatives from the 13 original British colonies, people from around the world have come to American shores. Most came to escape tyranny or to be free to pursue life as they saw fit. Some came as conquerors. Some came as slaves under the worst circumstances imaginable. But come they did. And when they did, the indigenous people were either displaced, lived alongside, or assimilated with the new arrivals.

These different peoples rallied around an ideal — a concept that people can be free to live their lives as they choose and determine who and how they will be governed. We did not always live up to that ideal, but we created the institutions and made the sacrifices that eliminated slavery, outlawed bigotry, and enabled freedom.

In the process, America and Americans became a melting pot. European immigrants combined their cultures and often their genes with not only African slaves and the conquered indigenous peoples, but also with immigrants from Asia. Together they formed a unique culture and people. America became a beacon of hope, refuge, and promise for humanity. The different religions, races, creeds, and ethnicities that settled here often did not peacefully coexist, but the rest of the world is very far behind American integration and unity.

America is the ultimate human experiment. We managed a union of many different cultures — far from an easy task. Many European leaders feel morally superior to America, despite their failure to do or to try anything so ambitious. Indeed, look at India, China, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Rwanda, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Russia, or the Middle East. In all these places, ethnic tensions still are deadly affairs.

People still come to America any way they can. Some come in observance of our laws, others in violation of our laws. When they arrive, they tend to retain their cultures and identities. But soon, these cultures intermingle. They borrow from one another. And eventually, they amalgamate, becoming a different and uniquely American race and culture — just as that forgotten British officer prophesied more than two hundred years ago.

America's unique language, art, culture, music, literature, government, and thought all testify to this reality. We are a people whose popular music and dance are a hybrid of European and African influences. Our world-famous Western movies and literary heroes are a blend of the laconic natures of European and Native American characteristics.

But the one characteristic that unites all Americans is not our language or ancestry or land. It is an idea of individual freedom, which all Americans, regardless of their background, have in common. From the Ghanaian shoe store owner to the Mexican landscaper to the Chinese professor to the Italian tile setter to the Polish roofer, we are all united by that one idea.

This idea is under assault today. Our unique American culture is under assault by enemies who seek to divide us. They have been at it for a very long time. 

First they tried to eradicate the idea of the melting pot and change it to a tapestry. Well tapestries become unraveled. Look at what happened in the Balkans and the Soviet Union and Rwanda.

Our values, beliefs, and behavior are those of a people who esteem freedom — who resisted tyranny and eschewed a monarchy. It is not uncommon for immigrants from former or current communist countries who chide Americans by saying, “You do not know how good you have it here!”

For more than ten years, I lived or worked near Independence Hall in Philadelphia. One cannot pass by that shrine without being awed by the events that took place there. One cannot help but be impressed by the men who met within those walls and created a nation that is the envy of the world. Critics say they were white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant heterosexual males who excluded and persecuted Native Americans, women, and blacks. This is true. But they also created a nation that eliminated slavery, reversed the wrongs of discrimination by race, religion, and gender, and freed others who lived under tyranny, asking for nothing in return but the ground upon which to bury those who died to free people. They created the system of government that righted those wrongs and under which we live today.

America is the greatest nation in history. This is why so many, sacrifice so much to come here. Americans need to remember this always.

Happy Independence Day."

Michael Tremoglie is a writer and author.

[Full Article Here: 'A new race of men' (msn.com)]