How to overcome your mistakes

翻译人员: Gia Hwang 校对人员: Yip Yan Yeung

In a 2019 study, over 400 participants were enlisted to learn

2019 年的一项研究中，

招募了 400 多人学习 一种新发明的神秘语言。

a mysterious, invented language.

Individuals were asked about three pairs of runes—

共三对符文，要求每人回答问题。

for example, which of these two characters represents an animal?

例如，这俩字中哪个代表动物？

Then, after a brief break,

接下来，短暂休息之后，

they were asked about the same rune pairs with questions flipped,

还是同一组符文，但问题会反过来，

as in, which of these two runes represents a non-living object?

比如这组，哪个代表非生物物体？

But this game had a secret—

但该游戏有个秘密：

The subjects’ answers in round one

受试者第一轮的答案

determined the runes’ meanings in round two.

决定了第二轮中符文的含义。

In the first round,

在第一轮中，

participants either had all their answers marked as correct no matter what,

不论答案是什么，要么判全对，

or they were forced to fail every question.

要么被告知全答错。

This meant that at the break,

这意味着在休息时，

every participant had the same amount of information,

每位参与者掌握同等信息量，

and in round two they were playing for real.

且第二轮中，他们都认真答题。

But despite this even playing field,

但是，尽管竞争环境平等，

the successful participants from round one rose to the top of the ranks,

第一轮的赢家还是升至榜首，

while those cast as failures kept, well, failing.

而那些第一轮的输家却一直答错。

People often describe failure as a teachable moment—

人们经常把失败描述为学习的机会——

a necessary stumble on our way to improvement.

它是我们进步路上必然的绊脚石。

But learning from our mistakes isn't always easy,

但从错误中吸取教训并非易事，

especially when those failures are demoralizing, overwhelming,

尤其是当这些失败令人沮丧、崩溃

or just downright confusing.

或完全令人困惑时。

So what exactly prevents us from turning our mistakes into mastery?

那么，究竟是什么 阻止我们把错误变成精通呢？

Perhaps the most obvious hurdle to learning from failure

也许从失败中吸取教训

is how painful it can be.

最明显的障碍是失败的痛苦。

People generally want to think of themselves as capable and competent,

人们通常希望认为 自己有能力且有竞争力，

and experiencing failure threatens that self-image.

而经历失败会威胁到这种自我形象。

In a survey following a replication of the rune study,

在符文研究重复实验后的调查中，

participants in the failure group indicated much lower levels

研究结束后，

失败组参与者表现出的自信水平低得多。

of self-confidence after participating.

It’s tempting to dismiss this pain as a temporary setback.

人们很容易将这种痛苦视为暂时挫折，

But some studies have found that when people feel demoralized or incompetent,

但一些研究发现，当感到沮丧或无能时，

their brains often stop processing new information.

大脑通常会停止处理新信息。

This suggests that if a threat to your self-esteem is large enough,

这表明，如果失败伤害自尊心巨大，

it can undermine your ability to learn.

就会削弱你的学习能力。

However, your tolerance for failure also depends on your relationship

但是，对失败的容忍度

也取决于你与手头任务的关系。

with the task at hand.

In a study from 2011, researchers surveyed a group of American students

在 2011 年的一项研究中，

研究人员对一组报名参加法语入门课 和高级课程的美国学生进行了调查。

enrolled in introductory and advanced French courses.

These students completed a questionnaire

这些学生填写了一份问卷，

asking what kind of teacher they preferred—

回答他们更喜欢哪种老师——

one who emphasized their strengths and successes,

是强调学生长处和成功的老师，

or one who highlighted their mistakes and corrected their weaknesses.

还是强调学生的错误 并纠正其弱点的老师。

In general, responses showed that while beginner students

总的来说，反馈表明，

虽然初学者寻求积极的强化，

sought positive reinforcement,

advanced students were more eager for critical feedback.

但级别高的学生更渴望获得批判性反馈。

Researchers have theorized a handful of explanations for these results.

研究人员对这些结果给了些理论解释。

Having just started out, beginners are still determining

刚刚起步的初学者， 仍在考虑是否喜欢学法语，

if they enjoy learning French and if they want to continue studying,

以及是否想继续学习，

so they might crave praise as a way to stay motivated.

因此，他们可能渴望获得赞美 作为保持动力的一种方式。

On the other hand, the advanced students are already invested,

另一方面，高级别学生已经付出了，

so they may want to improve their skills as efficiently as possible.

因此他们可能希望 尽可能高效地提高自己的技能。

The process of gaining expertise also comes with its fair share of failure,

获得专业知识的过程也伴随着众多失败，

so the advanced students may have built a higher tolerance for making mistakes.

因此，高级别学生 对犯错的容忍度可能更高。

But whether you're an expert or a novice,

但是，无论你是专家还是新手，

it’s usually much more straightforward to learn from your successes

通常从成功中吸取教训

比从失败中吸取教训要简单得多。

than your failures.

For example, imagine getting your grade back on an exam.

例如，想象一下在考试中提高成绩。

If you aced it, you could reasonably assume you made good choices

如果你成功了，你可以合理地假设

你在学习时间、内容 和学习量方面做出了不错的选择，

around when, what, and how much to study,

and you can replicate those decisions for the next test.

你可以在下一次考试中复制这些决定。

But if you failed, it could be for any number of reasons.

但如果你失败了，可能有多种原因：

Maybe you didn’t study enough,

也许你学习不够刻苦，

maybe you studied the wrong information, or maybe you did everything right

也许你学习了错误的信息，

或者你把所有事情都做对了， 但考试内容超出了范围。

and the test covered things you shouldn't have been expected to know.

In cases like this, it’s unclear exactly what went wrong,

在这样的案例中， 尚不清楚到底出了什么问题，

making it difficult to learn how to improve.

因此很难学习如何改进。

Wanting to learn from our failures is completely natural,

想要从失败中吸取教训是完全自然的，

and there’s a lot to gain by being resilient

保持韧性和培养成长心态

and cultivating a growth mindset.

可以带来很多好处。

But fixating on your failures can make it easy to forget all your successes.

但是，专注于自己的失败 让人很容易忘记所有的成功，

And building on what you’re doing right can be more effective

而且在做对的事情的基础上再接再厉，

可能比专注于自己做错了什么更有效。

than focusing on what you did wrong.