Personal Growth: The Latest Insights on How We Learn from Our Own and Others’ Failures

Abstract: Personal growth and failures come in diverse forms that demand closer scientific examination. Our papers offer new insights into how people can leverage their own and others’ potential across different domains. The first two papers focus on non-moral domains (e.g., task engagement, societal problems), demonstrating how people’s beliefs can influence their response to their own and others’ failures. Wallace et al. find that growth mindsets vary in the certainty with which they are held and that mindsets held with certainty are most likely to guide outcomes. Eskreis-Winkler et al. elucidate mistaken beliefs in how frequently others fail. The next two talks shift toward the moral domain (e.g., redeeming oneself after harming others). Smith et al. provide a novel theoretical model of how adults develop moral character over time at work. Frey et al. find systematic variation in how well people come back from sexual harassment accusations. The final paper by Kim et al. attempts to bridge the gap between these two domains by focusing on feedback-giving as a novel and potentially constructive response to others’ moral and non-moral shortcomings together. Our symposium provides future directions for understanding personal development as a pathway to conflict management.

Keywords: growth, failure, feedback, beliefs, morals