Researchers discovered that one particular form of feedback boosted student effort and performance so immensely that they deemed it “magical feedback.” Students who received it chose to revise their papers far more often than students who did not, and their performance improved significantly. The feedback was not complicated. In fact, it consisted of one simple phrase.
I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know you can reach them.
That’s it. Just nineteen words. None of these words contain any information on how to improve. Yet they are powerful because they deliver a burst of belonging cues. Actually when you look more closely at the sentence, it contains these separate cues:
- You are part of this group.
- This group is special; we have high standards here.
- I believe you can reach those standards.
These signals provide a clear message that lights up the unconscious brain: Here is a safe place to give effort.
Ref: The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle