Reverse the Curse of Failure: Learning Cues Increase Willingness to Seek (and Share) Failure Experiences

Abstract: Past experiences of failure are easily dismissed by advice-seekers who often believe failures lack valuable information and perceive those who have experienced failures as incapable. Our experimental studies demonstrate that this “curse of failure” leads people (both advice-seekers and advice-givers) to believe advice-givers who have experienced failure cannot provide helpful advice (S1&S3). However, we also find that this “curse of failure” can be mitigated by a universally applicable intervention that prompts people to reflect on what they or others, who experienced failures, have learned before passing judgment on whose advice to seek out and whose advice would be more helpful (S2, S3, S4, & S5). That is, a reflection on what has been learned can help reduce the bias against those who have experienced failure, thereby increasing both the advice-seekers’ preferences to learn from them and the advice-givers’ motivations to share.

Keywords: advice-seeking, advice-giving, learning from failure, intervention