Excessive Worrying About How Others Judge Us

Source: Wikimedia

Alice Moon, Muping Gan, and Clayton Critcher wrote a paper last year titled, "The Overblown Implications Effect."   They studied how people think about how others are judging them.  They conducted a series of experimental studies on this topic.   The researchers found strong evidence that, "Actors overestimate how much observers think an actor’s one-off success or failure offers clear insight about a relevant competency.  Furthermore, actors overblow performances’ implications even in prospect, before there are experienced successes or failures on which to ruminate."

The researchers uncovered a particularly interesting phenomenon.  People tend to assume that others are making blanket judgments about their overall afbilities in an area based on upon a very specific result. In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Professor Moon explains:

"Our key finding was that people overweigh how omuch both failures and successes factor into observers’ perceptions of them. That is, if you bake a bad batch of cookies, you assume that now others will think you are horrible cook, and if you bake a good batch of cookies, you think that others will now assume you are a fantastic cook. Interestingly, both you and the observer agree on whether the batch of cookies is good or bad, but the error arises in the greater implications from that performance: how good of a cook you are, and also, how good you are at related skills, such as making an omelet."

The study has some interesting implications for how managers provide recognition and constructive feedback to their employees.  They need to keep in mind that employees often think managers are making broad sweeping conclusions based on the one incident or project.  Managers need to remind employees that the feedback pertains to the particular situation.  Moreover, they need to clearly distinguish between specific incident feedback and broader pattern recognition.  Clarity here is essential.  Are you commenting on a pattern of good or bad performance, or are you simply trying to identify and provide feedback on a specific situation?  Employees will think you are commenting about a pattern unless you specify otherwise.  They assume you think a pattern exists, in a sense.