ABSTRACT
Feedback interventions (FIs), that is, providing people with some information regarding their task performance, yield highly variable effects on performance (Balcazar, Hopkins, & Suarez, 1985; Ilgen, Fisher, & Taylor, 1979; Kluger & DeNisi, 1996; Latham & Locke, 1991; Salmoni, Schmidt, & Walter, 1984). Indeed, a meta-analysis suggested that FIs reduce performance in over one third of the cases (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996), a fact that is contrary to the common belief that FIs most often improve performance. Furthermore, Kluger and DeNisi (1996) found no evidence that the effects of FIs are moderated by FI sign. That is, negative FIs (information about failure) and positive FIs (information about success) do not differ on average in their performance effects (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996). The goal of this chapter is to investigate the possible causes for this counterintuitive nding. Specically, the aim of this chapter is to investigate the effects of FI sign on affect and cognition. Understanding the effects of FI sign on affect and cognition is a rst step towards understanding the role of FI sign in moderating the effects of FIs on performance.
