Interactive Effects of Feedback Type and Feedback Propensities on Task Performance

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of feedback types (i.e., outcome, process, and task feedback), feedback propensities, and their interactions on task performance in an attempt to determine, first, which types of feedback produced better task performance and, second, how feedback propensities influenced relationships between feedback type and performance. Process feedback and task feedback were expected to interact in their effects on task performance. In addition, I predicted that external feedback propensity would moderate the effects of process feedback on performance and initial task performance would moderate the effects of internal feedback propensity on task performance. However, none of the hypotheses were directly supported. Overall, the current study demonstrated support for the proposition that feedback does not consistently improve performance. Instead, findings showed that feedback has highly variable effects on performance. Task feedback improved performance, process feedback did not affect performance, and outcome feedback seemed to debilitate performance over time