The 19-Word Note
One sentence attached to critical feedback lifted revision rates from 17 to 71 percent among the students who trusted the institution least. It runs 19 words.
Researchers handed middle schoolers critical feedback on an essay with a note attached. Half read: "I'm giving you these comments so that you'll have feedback on your paper." The other half read 19 words instead.
"I'm giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them."
Among Black students, 71 percent who got the 19-word note revised their essay, against 17 percent who got the neutral one. The effect ran largest exactly where trust in the institution was lowest.
The mechanism is ambiguity. Hard criticism arrives without a stated motive, so the recipient supplies one, and which motive they land on depends on how safe they already felt. Is this person invested in me, or writing me off? The note removes the guess. That is also why it does little for people who never had the doubt, and a great deal for people who did.
The nudge: Attach the sentence to your next piece of difficult feedback, spoken or written. It costs nothing, and it is worth most to whoever on your team is least sure where they stand with you.
Source: Yeager, Purdie-Vaughns, Garcia, Apfel, Brzustoski, Master, Hessert, Williams & Cohen, Breaking the Cycle of Mistrust: Wise Interventions to Provide Critical Feedback Across the Racial Divide, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2014)
