Science says: receiving criticism on your work is good for you
My first time I sometimes still feel a bit when I think back to it. It was during my internship in Hoofddorp. I had given everything and put everything into it, and yet I received a list of points for improvement. Logical, of course, because you are an intern to learn something, but it felt like someone was giving me a beating without really hitting hard. It was the first time I received feedback on an article, while until that time I always received stickers from the teacher.
If you ask me, it is always better to receive feedback, which for most people is still not very easy to hear instead of throwing criticism at someone. But even though it may be a bit painful, psychologists agree that it is beneficial.
Every time that I received feedback or criticism, I knew how to take it just a little better. It's just like boxing: the first time it knocks you out, the second time you know to exhale at the impact. Until I got to a point where I had final responsibility and knew that everything that went out the door had to have my approval. From that moment on, every mistake is also your mistake.
Tosca Gort, a work and organizational psychologist, tells Volkskrant that feedback or criticism evokes fear. It is the fear of being rejected to be more precise. Something you want to avoid as a human, because it is deeply ingrained in our nature that you want to be accepted or approved by the group. With a group, your chances of survival are greater, and that is why we simple souls do everything we can to not be negatively in the spotlight.
It is true that after all the feedback you receive, you are a bit better able to process it, even though you seem to have a primal reaction to label criticism as untrue. Funny, because that is partly true. Research from Harvard shows that there is always a small part of the feedback or criticism that is incorrect. Instead of focusing on that, it is a better idea to learn something from it. What is true and how can you improve yourself at that point? This way, you always have something to gain from feedback.
Blindly accepting what someone says to you is not necessary, by the way. Summarize the feedback and check with that person if what you repeat is correct. Then see what is true and what is not, and learn from the part that is useful. You are allowed to defend yourself on the points that are not correct. Receiving good feedback is something different than doing nothing while someone may say things that make no sense. So always make that assessment.
Source: Volkskrant
