You Suck… Yay!
Let’s get over our fear of inexperienced failure
Written by Laine Bottemiller, Contributing Writer
I just took my first college exam. I poured over my textbook, attended every lecture and made sure to have a filling, nutritious breakfast at the start of my big day. I sat down, ready to ace the test. After an hour and fifteen minutes, I worried the only bubbles that were correct were the ones spelling my name (the only answers I double-checked).
The day scores came out, I was proved correct by my 16/60. Yeah, you read that right—27%. Hey, at least my name was spelled right! We’ve all been there, failing a test or setting off an alarm by accidentally walking out without paying, and we curse at ourselves for it.
Despite the crushing weight of embarrassment sometimes accompanying these mistakes, it’s important this fear of embarrassment and failure doesn’t stop us from trying to learn. After all, learning or improving is impossible if we simply avoid doing things we are inexperienced with. To grow upwards, we need to start at the bottom.
If we’re trying to prevent scoring another 27% on our next exam, we should figure out how we learn new things. As we begin exploring a new skill, this practice strengthens the connections between neurons in our brain. With every repetition of an action, the electrochemical pathways in our brain shape themselves according to that activity, a process called neuroplasticity, allowing nerve impulses to travel faster and faster (Bernard, 2010). As the speed of our nerve impulses increases, we can perform these learning-in-progress activities faster and more accurately (Allaire-Duquette et al., 2020).
As you practice a new skill, your brain is changing composition to allow messages to travel faster through it, meaning your brain can understand and respond to the activity faster and better. Suddenly, it makes sense why the first attempt might not be the best; our brain hasn’t built the pathways necessary for success yet.
We gained new neural pathways on the subject of learning, but failure still seems really daunting. Despite the intimidating nature of failure (and the equally scary effect it might have on your final grade), failure is actually scientifically proven to be a more effective way of learning, as compared to avoiding mistakes in the first place (Kapur & Bielaczyc, 2012).
Columbia University graduate and self-titled “learning scientist,” Dr. Manu Kapur explores this idea in his research on human learning and “productive failure” (Kapur, 2021). In a study he conducted in 2008, Kapur compared learning in two different 7th-grade mathematics classes in Singapore; one where students collaboratively solved problems without teacher support and the other where teachers provided strong support and hand-holding. Kapur found that the first group significantly outperformed the second group on the posttest, despite “seemingly failing in their problem-solving efforts” (Kapur & Bielaczyc, 2012). Even though the first group made more mistakes at first, seemingly “failing,” they learned more effectively, as proved by their higher final scores. The less successful second group might just have to hope for a curve.
Scientifically, failure is a good thing, yet it’s a lot harder to prevent mistake-induced embarrassment. On the bright side, observers usually don’t judge mistake-makers as harshly as mistake-makers might expect. According to Dr. Kenneth Savitsky, a professor of psychology at Williams College, when asked to consider someone making a mistake, like setting off an alarm after forgetting to check out a book, observers judged mistake-makers much less harshly than the mistake-makers expected (Weir, 2012). So, fear not, the rest of the Memorial Library doesn’t think you're maliciously stealing that copy of ‘The Notebook,” although, understandable if you were stealing it, I wouldn’t want to return it either.
Additionally, researchers found that people expressing embarrassment while retelling stories about “embarrassing” mistakes, like tripping or passing gas in public, prompted observers to find them more trustworthy, kind and generous. Participants even reported a “greater desire to affiliate with the embarrassed individual” (Feinberg et al, 2012). Even though my poor test might not garner more support from my professor, it’s definitely possible it helped my peers find me more approachable. Although, I don’t think anyone is jumping to hire me as a tutor…
After exploring all the benefits included in making a mistake, my spirits are actually lifted about my test score. Unfortunately, I don’t think writing this article will lift my final grade quite as much. Maybe I should build those neural pathways a little more before the midterm… Next time you find yourself avoiding something new for fear of failure, remind yourself that every mistake builds neural pathways, embarrassment is never as bad as you think, and every 27% is one 27% closer to 100%.
Sources:
Bernard, S. (2010). Neuroplasticity: Learning Physically Changes the Brain. Edutopia.
Allaire-Duquette, G. Blanchette Sarrasin, J. Brault Foisy, L. Masson, S. (2020). Understanding Your Brain to Help You Learn Better. Frontiers for Young Minds.
Kapur, M. (2021). About prof. Manu Kapur - Productive failure. Manu Kapur.
Kapur, M. Bielaczyc, K. (2012). Designing for Productive Failure. Journal of the Learning Sciences.
Weir, K. (2012). Oh no you didn’t!. American Psychological Association.
Feinberg. Matthew. Willer. Robb. Keltner. Dacher. (2012). Flustered and faithful: Embarrassment as a signal of prosociality. APA Psycnet.