Hidden Failures: Why We Don't Learn From Failure

• In Event: Breaking Down Silos: Connecting Motivation Scholars From Two Major Research Organizations

Abstract

The focus of my work is on motivational processes related to self-control. In a recent line of work, my colleagues and I have been examining (with my co-author) how adults understand and interpret the failures they experience. Our society celebrates failure as a teachable moment. But do people actually learn from failure? Though lay wisdom suggests they should, our research suggests that they do not. I present a unifying framework that points to emotional and cognitive barriers that stop people from learning from failure. Emotions undermine learning since people find failure ego-threatening. Thus, people tend to look away from failure and not pay attention to it to protect their egos. Cognitively, people also struggle since the information in failure is more oblique than the information in success, and thus, harder to decipher and learn from. Beyond identifying barriers, this framework suggests inroads by which these barriers might be addressed. Finally, I outline what, exactly, people miss out on when they ignore the information in failure. We find that the information in failure is often high-quality information that can be used to predict success. I will discuss implications of this work and the framework we have developed for experiences of failure in school settings.

Authors

• Ayelet Fischbach, University of Chicago Charter Schools

• Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, Northwestern University