Giving praise in the workplace is generally seen as a valuable part of the feedback process.  Researchers from the MU College of Arts and Science highlight how our childhood experiences affect our ability to do this effectively.  They reveal that we are more likely to give praise as adults if we’ve suffered or overcome adversity as a child.

“Historically, psychology and philosophy have had a stronger focus on the ‘dark’ side of human behavior, such as moral wrongdoing, and less attention has been placed on studying the ‘light’ side of human behavior, such as acts of altruism,” the researchers explain. “This research aims to provide a better understanding of a relatively neglected aspect of human psychology, the human mind, and the human condition, which concerns how people process and react to positive behaviors, such as giving praise.”

Giving praise

The results emerged after a survey of nearly 1,000 participants, and the study builds on previous work by the team that explored how we perceive people who have committed crimes when they enter the workplace, both in terms of their abilities and whether they should be punished, with both influenced heavily by whether the individual had suffered in their childhood.

The researchers believe their latest findings have implications beyond the workplace, and may even extend into areas such as the criminal justice system.  For instance, they believe that if the difficult upbringing of the defendant is brought up in a trial, it might lead to more lenient sentencing.  The authors argue that the findings highlight how quick we are to judge others without knowing their full back story, and how we change our judgments when we do.

“It’s important that we pay attention to human beings not just as creatures that do bad things to each other, but also as creatures that do good things for each other,” the researchers conclude. “Part of what’s remarkable about our species is our capacity to behave in prosocial ways, such as cooperating with and helping others, as well as antisocial ways, such as competing with and harming them.”