Failure to learn from failure is mitigated by loss-framing and corrective feedback: A replication and test of the boundary conditions of the tune-out effect.

Do people learn from failure or do they mentally "tune-out" upon failure feedback, which in turn undermines learning? Recent research (Eskreis-Winkler & Fishbach, 2019) has suggested the latter, whereas research in educational and work settings indicates that failure can lead to more learning than can success and error-free performance. We conducted two preregistered experiments to replicate the tune-out effect and to test two potential boundary conditions (N = 520). The tune-out effect fully replicated in those experimental conditions that represented close replications of the original study, underscoring the reliability of the original effect. However, the effect disappeared when the same monetary incentives for participation were expressed in terms of a loss (i.e., losing money for each wrong answer) rather than a gain (i.e., earning money for each correct answer; Experiment 1). The effect also disappeared when additional corrective feedback was given (Experiment 2). It seems that switching from gain to loss framing or giving corrective feedback (vs. no corrective feedback) are substantial and meaningful variations of the original paradigm that constitute boundary conditions of the tune-out effect. These results help explain the conflicting findings on learning from failure and suggest that in many applied settings, tuning out upon failure might not be an option. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Inducing Error Management Culture - Evidence From Experimental Team Studies.

Field studies indicate that error management culture can be beneficial for organizational performance. The question of whether and how error management culture can be induced remained unanswered. We conducted two experiments with newly formed teams, in which we aimed to induce error management culture and to explore whether we would also find beneficial effects of error management culture on performance in an experimental setting. Furthermore, we tested whether culture strength moderates the relationship between error management culture and performance. In Study 1, we used two tasks that require rational problem solving. In Study 2, we used a task that requires creative problem solving. We successfully manipulated error management culture in terms of an effect on perceived error management culture within the teams. While we did not find a direct effect of error management culture on performance, Study 2 revealed an indirect effect via communication in the teams. To our surprise, culture strength did not influence the hypothesized relationship. We discuss potential theoretical and alternative explanations for our results, and provide an outlook for future studies.