MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION


Te Exaggerated Benefits of


Failure Journal of Experimental Psychology, 153, 7, July 2024 LINK TO PAPER


LINK TO KAITLIN WOOLLEY VIDEO


KAITLIN WOOLLEY PROFESSOR


Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management


Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Cornell University


Co-authors • Kaitlin Woolley


Professor, Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University


• Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University • Eda Erensoy, Yale School of Management, Yale University, Connecticut • Minhee Kim, Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York


Summary Commencement speakers, sports legends, business leaders, and the popular


press tell us that failure has at least one silver lining: It is a steppingstone to success. Is that empirically true, however? Te authors consult 11 studies over five decades’ worth of research on loss aversion and negativity bias, and they observe that medical and research professionals overestimated the rate at which those who fail the bar exam or medical boards will pass a retest or that patients will improve their health after a crisis, that people will generally learn from their mistakes.


Comparing estimates of predicted success to actual success rates, they examine the dynamic of optimism bias and the human struggle with per- spective-taking: those outside a failure experience tend to overlook what happened inside it. Optimism bias is another observed cognitive process at play, in which people show a tendency to avoid thinking about unpleasant experiences or possibilities. If, however, citizens are apprised of the true, lower-than-expected rate at which success occurs on the heels of failure, they may be more likely to support policy initiatives aimed at helping criminals and those struggling with addiction or other ills to effectively grow from past failures. Transparency and openness can contribute to more realistic under- standings of our experiences.


CONTENTS TO MAIN


| RESEARCH WITH IMPACT: CORNELL SC JOHNSON COLLEGE OF BUSINESS • 2024 EDITION


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