A new study has confirmed the "derring effect": making mistakes on purpose (and fixing them) can supercharge learning. It’s messy, uncomfortable but wildly effective. Perfectionists, this will hurt!
This is fascinating! I wonder if it is tied to the part of our brains that remember painful and abusive experiences more strongly than positive interactions? It had something to do with learning what to avoid and that connection resonating stronger in our brain than what went well? Just spit balling thoughts that came to me as I read this. Great article!
Thank you for your really interesting comment! I think what you’re suggesting could be the subject of another whole research study in itself, haha. From my side, I understood it rather so that making a mistake and correcting it somehow connects us to the topic by providing a story where both we and the topic play a role: we first got the topic wrong (struggle), then corrected it (overcame the struggle). It’s a way to make the topic less foreign and more relatable and meaningful by framing it into a struggle of ours (a kind of storytelling device, maybe), versus the previous, error-free state of “the topic means nothing to me and I can’t relate to it, therefore I don’t learn it”. But certainly, what I’m saying doesn’t necessarily contradict your suggestion!
This is fascinating! I wonder if it is tied to the part of our brains that remember painful and abusive experiences more strongly than positive interactions? It had something to do with learning what to avoid and that connection resonating stronger in our brain than what went well? Just spit balling thoughts that came to me as I read this. Great article!
Thank you for your really interesting comment! I think what you’re suggesting could be the subject of another whole research study in itself, haha. From my side, I understood it rather so that making a mistake and correcting it somehow connects us to the topic by providing a story where both we and the topic play a role: we first got the topic wrong (struggle), then corrected it (overcame the struggle). It’s a way to make the topic less foreign and more relatable and meaningful by framing it into a struggle of ours (a kind of storytelling device, maybe), versus the previous, error-free state of “the topic means nothing to me and I can’t relate to it, therefore I don’t learn it”. But certainly, what I’m saying doesn’t necessarily contradict your suggestion!
Thanks for elaborating. My perfectionist brain is reticent to try it (thanks for the warning), but I shall!