Feedback can have a negative impact

Research shows that feedback can have a negative impact on performance.

A psychology research from Queen Mary University of London indicates that feedback can have a negative impact on performance. Study published in the Frontiers in Neuroscience –journal shows that people receiving positive or negative feedback about their performance can make the decision making more difficult, when regarding complex decision-making tasks.

Author Dr Magda Osman, expert in psychology, says that when people receive feedback the information overload distracts them from making good decisions. ”The role of feedback is overemphasised”, states Dr Osman. She instead wants people to first consider the complexity of the task, before giving feedback, because feedback ”will actually interfere with rather than facilitate performance.”

Dr Osman finds it important that people in management positions should be aware of the type of the feedback that they give their subordinates. In order to get the best out of their subordinates, managers should give them more time to analyse and evaluate things in detail, without getting distracted with feedback from their managers. Dr Osman hopes that: ”it (the research) will make some people think twice about whether they could potentially hinder people’s performance with the feedback they provide”.