Dear Abby: Should I Give Advice or Receive It?

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Economics
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Individuals facing goal achievement difficulties often seek external advice.
• However, the motivational impact of giving advice versus receiving it remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the motivational effects of giving advice compared to receiving it among individuals struggling with goal achievement.
• To explore the underlying psychological mechanisms driving this phenomenon.

Main Methods:

• A randomized, controlled, double-blind field experiment involving middle-school students (N = 2,274).
• Participants were assigned to either give motivational advice to younger students or receive advice from expert teachers.
• The study extended across various self-regulatory domains including homework, saving money, emotional control, weight loss, and employment seeking.

Main Results:

• Students who gave advice demonstrated increased motivation and effort (e.g., more homework time) compared to those who received advice.
• This effect was consistent across multiple self-regulatory domains.
• Participants inaccurately predicted that giving advice would be less motivating than receiving it.

Conclusions:

• Giving advice serves as a powerful motivational tool for individuals struggling with goal achievement, contrary to common assumptions.
• The enhanced motivation appears to be driven by an increase in self-confidence experienced by the advice giver.
• There is a prevalent 'giving-advice blindness,' where individuals underestimate the motivational benefits of offering guidance to others.