Negative Feedback and Criticism Reaction

Discuss about the Negative Feedback and Criticism Reaction.

Introduction

In our everyday lives, we come across different people who will always have opinions about you and what you do. This is something which we cannot avoid. It is human nature to judge people and provide their views and opinions about someone or something. This however does not mean that people accept all the opinions. Naturally we are inclined to feel good about ourselves and everything that we do. We always love to be praised and given compliments but never has anyone liked to be told all the negative things about themselves. This is normal to everyone. Even if the bad things are the only truth people don’t want to hear it and thus the saying that the truth hurts the most.

Negative Feedback and People’s Reactions

The part that hurts the most is the negative feedback that makes us look at all the negative things in and about you (Jeffries, Hornsey, 2012, p.775). This makes people almost scared of such feedback and being almost combative towards such which even if it might be the truth, it will always come out as criticism. To show just how hurtful this type of feedback can be, they further suggest that some people actually refrain from providing such feedback so as to avoid hurting the feelings of the other person. Naturally if something is not good towards a person, then that person is inclined to react badly towards it and such feedback is no different.

Due to this natural inclination to react defensively, it is easier for people to point a finger at others and blame someone else for their failures which are all about deflecting (Rockwood, 2016, p.60). However we should keep in mind that negative feedback is not always wrong. As people say, truth actually hurts the most as experienced by many.

Negative feedback is such a bad experience to those who are not good enough at taking criticism. Experts opine that it can be worse for individuals with mental problems or illness. Why is this so? Arguably this is attributable to the fact that a mentally ill person easily misconstrues a statement or comment made about them.  On the other hand, some opine that a person with mental issues would be the least likely individual to be bothered by negative criticism. If individual learnt how to deal with feedback that is negative in nature, anger management issues would not be on the rise. Yet no matter how true feedback of negative nature is, many inherently find it very annoying and intolerable. The research conducted on such situations shows that one of the receivers of such feedback even threatened to beat up the other person because of what they said (Wright, 2011, p.60). This is due to the feelings provoked when one hears such words. What is more intriguing is Wright’s submission that that criticism is hurtful to the extent that even the person who delivers it feels bad about it. Certainly this points to a much bigger psychological problem because if the person relaying the feedback feels bad about it, what do we expect the receiver to feel? Your guess can only be as good as anyone else’s. Very bad!

People have always had a difficulty when it comes to dealing with negative impact of the hurt experienced by many (Deitz, 2013). This statement by Dietz offers a new insight. Is it inherent in all human beings regardless of who you are of where you were born? That could be true. Dietz says that although individuals working in the media industry try as much as possible to make their work better and to be objective, human are to error and people must make mistakes. When these mistakes are pointed out, some still take them badly.

Social Media and Negative Feedback

The world today has changed and with the advent of the social media. While the general view would be that this has made lives better, maybe things may have actually been made worse. Social media users post pictures of themselves for a variety of reasons. Key among them arguably could be so they get someone to “like”. But the question is, how do people react when one does not get as many likes as their peers or worse a “dislike” instead? Experts of developmental psychology now reveal that herein lays yet another fundamental threat especially to teenagers. According to (Koutamanis et al., 2015, p.490), this can also be seen as negative feedback and is dangerous to teenagers as it can negatively impact on their affect their self-esteem and ultimately their psychological development.

In an article about criticism by Kath Lockett in the newspaper Sydney Morning Herald, she says it is not pleasant to accept criticism which is very true considering the feelings it brings. Although she talks about how to take in negative feedback and using it to strengthen yourself, Kath admits that one might want to take violent action against the person whom delivers negative feedback to them. People have shared their experiences about the same which further stresses on the hurt brought by negative feedback. And it gets worse that this actually: an individual says in (Rex, 2014) that he only likes positive feedback and compliments and even went to the extent of finding a way to receive emails which contain positive feedback and praise and blocking the rest. This proves all the bad things that come with negative feedback. If people liked such feedback, the pertinent questions to ask would be why avoid something you like or love? Having said that, it becomes prudent to underscore one fact; individuals could make great strides towards becoming better people if they perfect the practice of learning from negative feedback. A good example is Beckta in (Brownlee, 2013) who tells his colleagues in the business industry not to get all emotional about negative reviews and end up doing something wrong.

Negative Feedback as a Tool towards Better Performance

Feedback can be used as a tool to promote better performance in people whether negative or positive but especially when negative. How is this so? The intended effect however of negative feedback is usually misread and leads to a mixture of strong emotions and out of all these, anger is said to be the most troublesome. Anger strains relationships and brings a lot of negative attitudes towards each other leading to undesirable consequences (Niemann et al. 2014, p.687). Is it desirable to accept negative feedback? The response is affirmative. Is this easier said than done? The answer is still in the affirmative. In the end individuals find themselves losing their minds over situations that could actually make them better people.

The negative response to criticism is not restricted to the young people only. Wright goes further ahead and says that even the people in the positions of power like managers hate this kind of feedback. Several junior employees in would agree to this. As a matter of fact senior employees are most likely to be view negative feedback as undermining their seniority.  But this does not take away the fact that feedback is an important way to get maximum performance from nearly everyone if employed effectively and delivered rightly (Drago-Severson et al. 2016).  Additionally negative feedback can be a key avenue of strengthening relationships-albeit the inherent challenge posed by the fact that almost everyone generally likes to think highly of themselves.

Positive Responses towards Negative Feedback

The above examples can almost make one believe that people only respond negatively towards negative feedback, but it is not the case. In a study done among four friends, the researchers found out that there was an increased amount of negative feedback among friends (Finkelstein et al. 2017, p. 69). Further the study revealed that the more such relationships deepened the more friends sought negative feedback from friends and at the same time gave more negative feedback to friends. This shows that acting negatively to such feedback is not always the case. On a more positive not this proves that amongst some people, negative feedback is seen a positive tool and this is the reason why they ask for it. The authors prove that some individuals actually respond well to negative feedback. To further prove this point, the authors say that the friends asking this kind of feedback; do so in a bid to improve their performance objectives using the negative feedback. To depict this side of the story, authors drew a parallel between two types of relationships: shallow or deep. Each kind of relationship gives different meanings to negative feedback. In deep relationships, negative feedback means that you are not putting in enough work in realizing the main goal thus the tendency of friends and colleagues to give, seek, and react positively to negative feedback. This is not the case in shallow relationships.

In another paper written by Dahling & Ruppel (2016, p. 296), the two did a study on how students reacted when given negative feedback. As would be expected, some of the students reported that they did not have the morale anymore to repeat the test to get higher marks. According to them, this is in line with the “social cognitive theory.” However, this was not the case among all students. To show that some people react or take in negative feedback well, Dahling & Ruppel say that, the students that had a higher focus when it comes to achieving their goals, students who wanted to perform, were not affected negatively by the negative responses. In other words, the impetus to reattempt the test was affected negatively if the student had a low focus when it came to learning and achieving goals. The paper further stresses on the importance of the interests of students when it came to learning which in turn will help them respond well to negative feedback and failures. As unlikely as it seems this proves that people can actually respond well to negative feedback.

As evident from the preceding arguments, response to negative feedback depends on a person’s understanding of what such feedback is all about. It is a two-way traffic when it comes to responding or reacting towards negative feedback.

Conclusion

The arguments explored from the beginning of this paper are testament to the fact not many take negative feedback positively due to the fact that it comes out as criticism. People have always reacted badly to it due to human nature. But certainly these very arguments underscore that importance of negative feedback as a tool to points out weaknesses and as such help individuals to work on them. People need to learn to take in criticism, internalize it and come up with the best possible to solve the issue at hand. To help tackle this issue ways been brought forward to advice people on how best to tackle this issue and make the most out of it instead of always hurting  themselves. There is however no recipe to do this but the normal things may include not rushing into conclusions and making sure you understand first, seeking a person to help you out and also not letting it get the best of you (Weaver II & Cotrell, 1987, p.41). These are some of the important things need to look at instead of always thinking that it’s about hurting you. With this in mind, it will improve you in all aspects of life. Accept to be corrected because one can only be a better person if they change their perspective of things.  If one uses negative feedback well, it ultimately works in their favor.

List of References

Brownlee, M 2013, 'Handling online criticism', Ottawa Business Journal, 26 August, Newspaper Source Plus, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2017.

Dahling, J, & Ruppel, C 2016, 'Learning goal orientation buffers the effects of negative normative feedback on test self-efficacy and reattempt interest', Learning & Individual Differences, 50, pp. 296-301, Professional Development Collection, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 October 2017.

Deitz, H 2013, 'OPINION: Criticism can bring positives', Reading Eagle (PA), 13 January, Newspaper Source, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2017.

Drago-Severson, E, Blum-DeStefano, J, & Harvard University, G 2016, Tell Me So I Can Hear You: A Developmental Approach to Feedback for Educators, N.P.: Harvard Education Press, ERIC, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2017.

Finkelstein, S, Fishbach, A, & Tu, Y 2017, 'When friends exchange negative feedback', Motivation & Emotion, 41, 1, p. 69, Advanced Placement Source, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 October 2017.

Jeffries, C, & Hornsey, M 2012, 'Withholding negative feedback: Is it about protecting the self or protecting others?', British Journal Of Social Psychology, 51, 4, pp. 772-780, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2017.

Kath, L 2010, 'Thrive with a thick skin', Sydney Morning Herald, The, 6 March, Newspaper Source Plus, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2017.

Koutamanis, M, Vossen, H, & Valkenburg, P 2015, 'Adolescents’ comments in social media: Why do adolescents receive negative feedback and who is most at risk?', Computers In Human Behavior, 53, pp. 486-494, Education Research Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2017.

Niemann, J, Wisse, B, Rus, D, Yperen, N, & Sassenberg, K 2014, 'Anger and attitudinal reactions to negative feedback: The effects of emotional instability and power', Motivation & Emotion, 38, 5, p. 687, Advanced Placement Source, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2017.

Rex, H 2014, 'Yearly review also gets negative feedback', Press, The, 19 February, Newspaper Source Plus, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2017.

Rockwood, K 2016, 'Talking It in Stride', PM Network, 30, 7, p. 60, Advanced Placement Source, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2017.

Weaver II, R, & Cotrell, H 1987, 'THE BITCH FACTOR: DEALING WITH NEGATIVE CRITICISM', Education, 108, 1, p. 41, Advanced Placement Source, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2017.

Wright, K 2011, 'A CHIC CRITIQUE. (Cover story)', Psychology Today, 44, 2, pp. 54-63, Health Source - Consumer Edition, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2017.