The myth that failure is always a good teacher may need an update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People tend to overestimate the likelihood of success following failure, which may make us less willing to help others who are struggling, according to a new study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A team of researchers from the business schools of Northwestern, Cornell, Yale and Columbia universities analyzed data from different online surveys including over 1,800 adults in the United States mostly between the ages of 29 to 49. One survey involved oncology nurses attending a virtual conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe wanted to see if people think about resilience wrong,\u201d <\/strong>lead author Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, assistant professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, told NBC News in an email. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The study was published online<\/a> Monday by the American Psychological Association in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The researchers looked at how people predicted the resilience of professionals such as lawyers, teachers and nurses, as well as people with substance use disorders and heart problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople thought that tens of thousands of professionals who failed standardized tests would go on to pass (who don\u2019t), that tens of thousands of people with drug addiction would get sober (who don\u2019t), and that tens of thousands of individuals with heart failure would make major lifestyle changes to improve their health,\u201d Eskreis-Winkler wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When people believe that others who have experienced setbacks will grow from their failure on their own, they are less motivated to help those in need because they believe these problems will \u201cself-correct,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The researchers also found that participants wrongly assumed people focus on their mistakes and learn from them after failure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In one of the findings, people who exaggerated the benefits of failure were less interested in channeling taxpayer dollars to support people with drug addiction and formerly incarcerated people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, when the researchers corrected exaggerated beliefs about the benefits of failure, the same participants increased their motivation to help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe main finding is that people systematically \u2014 blissfully \u2014 overestimate the likelihood of resilience following failure,\u201d according to the researchers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This \u201cpollyannish\u201d perception allows people to take more chances despite erroneously believing that failure fuels success, Eskreis-Winkler said in the email. \u201cBut from a helping perspective, exaggerating the benefits of failure is disastrous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In reality, it\u2019s difficult to learn from a bad experience because failure is \u201cdemotivating and ego-threatening,\u201d the report found. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The findings highlight how our outside perspective tends to focus on what can be learned from a failure, overlooking that people living through a setback may not perceive it as a learning opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n