Perseverance in motor tasks: the impact of different types of positive feedback

Background: It is widely recommended for teachers to provide positive feedback to foster the development and maintenance of children's motivation and perseverance. However, not all positive feedback has positive consequences and an important differentiation can be made between positive person-oriented feedback (i.e. 'you are very talented') and process-oriented feedback (i.e. 'you showed great perseverance'). Specific evidence- and theory-based recommendations regarding the impact of different types of positive feedback will benefit children's experiences in physical education and sports. Purpose: The present study addressed this topic by carrying out an experimental study on the provision of different types of positive feedback on children's perseverance following failure experience in motor tasks. Since it has been suggested that children's ability as well as their degree of insecurity or self-esteem may affect how they respond to different types of feedback, we also consider the role of individual differences between children. Specifically, it was examined whether the impact of the different types of feedback depends on children's actual and perceived motor competence and narcissism levels. Methods: A sample of 176 Flemish children (44.3% boys, 9-13 years) received either person-oriented, process-oriented or neutral positive feedback after a set of easy motor tasks in which they succeeded. Next, children engaged in motor tasks that were too difficult for their age so that they had a failure experiences after which they received negative feedback. Children's perseverance following failure was measured by monitoring at which difficulty level and how long they kept on practicing. Prior to the experiment, children's level of actual and perceived motor competence and narcissism was measured. Results: Children who received process-oriented positive feedback chose more difficult exercises than children in the neutral positive feedback condition. Children in the process-oriented feedback condition also persisted longer than children in the person-oriented positive feedback and control condition. These effects were independent of both children's level of actual and perceived motor competence and narcissism. Conclusion: This study shows that not all forms of positive feedback are equally effective to increase perseverance. The results highlight the importance of offering process-oriented rather than person-oriented positive feedback to increase children's perseverance when facing difficult tasks.