ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nature of informal feedback, self-regulatory mechanisms that influence how people react to feedback, the extent to which people seek feedback on their own, and how feedback seekers try to manage the impressions other people have of them. It discuses the case study of Jack Wilson who is an assistant district attorney for a large city. He receives informal feedback weekly. Informal feedback invokes a host of interpersonal dynamics that influence how people react to feedback. People who are more sensitive to feedback and willing to respond to it constructively than others are called self-monitors. High self-esteem should moderate the high self-monitors reactions to feedback. Generally, people who are high in self-esteem rate themselves high, especially when the appraisal is done on ambiguous performance dimensions. When people accept the feedback and attribute the cause to themselves, they are likely to set meaningful, realistic goals that have the potential of improving their performance.
