87. Not All Mistakes are Bad

Dimitri van der Linden (2001) and his team conducted research on exploration strategies that people employ when learning how to use computers and electronic devices. Van der Linden’s idea is that errors have consequences, but, contrary to popular belief, not all consequences are negative. Although it’s possible, and even likely, that making an error has a negative consequence, it’s also likely that the error has a positive or a neutral outcome.

Errors with a positive consequence are actions that do not give the desired result, but provide the person with information that helps him or her achieve an overall goal.

Errors with a negative consequence are those that result in a dead end, undo a positive consequence, send ...

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