It’s been widely reported, not least on here, that feedback is crucial to our success and even happiness at work. Much has been written about the strong desire millennials have for copious amounts of the stuff.
Of course, whilst that’s largely true, it still remains difficult for most of us to give feedback when it’s negative. It can make us feel distinctly uncomfortable, but a recent study highlights the pernicious impact it can have on recipients too.
The study found that when we’re driven to succeed in our chosen field, negative feedback can prompt us to act in unethical ways.
“Strongly held professional goals, when combined with public criticism of our potential in that field, can have unintended effects on ethical behavior for some,” the authors say.
How we respond to criticism
This can be particularly pronounced when our chosen profession is one with which strong identity is attached. So, for instance, if we’re aiming to become a respected doctor, criticism can hit hard and result in over-compensation.
In a number of experiments, a common finding was that participants who were keen to enter a particular field responded worse to negative feedback, with an increasing probability that they would engage in unethical behavior.
“When we consider large-scale instances of fraud, such as the financial crisis of 2008, we must not only look at potential greed, but also at other motives such as commitment to identity goals,” the authors say. “If we can better understand the triggers of these behaviors, such as when negative professional feedback leads to the compensatory endorsement of immoral behavior, we might even prevent incidents of large-scale fraud in the future.”
The cheater’s high
Interestingly, a study from a few years ago suggests that we don’t even tend to feel guilty when we do behave poorly. On the contrary, whilst most people believe they’ll feel badly when they cheat, they actually end up feeling rather good.
The ‘cheater’s high’ that people received was far greater than any associated guilt, with this emotional trade-off therefore making cheating a rather good deal.
Interestingly, the study also found that the beneficiaries of the cheating believed themselves to be both fully deserving of their ill-gotten gains, but also significantly smarter as a result.
“Our documented pattern of results helps to explain otherwise puzzling unethical behaviour, such as the finding that people often cheat even for trivial sums of money and that many cheating behaviours are fairly insensitive to the economic costs and benefits of cheating,” the researchers conclude.
All of which might make us think twice before we deliver stinging critique, especially if those on the receiving end are particularly ambitious sorts.
