Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jul 23;116(30):14808-14810.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1908779116. Epub 2019 Jul 8.

A large-scale field experiment shows giving advice improves academic outcomes for the advisor

Lauren Eskreis-Winkler  1 , Katherine L Milkman  2 , Dena M Gromet  3 , Angela L Duckworth  4
Affiliations

A large-scale field experiment shows giving advice improves academic outcomes for the advisor

Lauren Eskreis-Winkler et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Common sense suggests that people struggling to achieve their goals benefit from receiving motivational advice. What if the reverse is true? In a preregistered field experiment, we tested whether giving motivational advice raises academic achievement for the advisor. We randomly assigned n = 1,982 high school students to a treatment condition, in which they gave motivational advice (e.g., how to stop procrastinating) to younger students, or to a control condition. Advice givers earned higher report card grades in both math and a self-selected target class over an academic quarter. This psychologically wise advice-giving nudge, which has relevance for policy and practice, suggests a valuable approach to improving achievement: one that puts people in a position to give.

Keywords: achievement; advice; education; motivation; nudge.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Estimated effects of advice giving on third-quarter grades in a target class (n = 1,764) and math class (n = 1,838). Error bars represent 1 SE.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wiese C. W., et al. , Too much of a good thing? Exploring the inverted-U relationship between self-control and happiness. J. Pers. 86, 380–396 (2018). - PMC - PubMed
    1. VanEpps E. M., Downs J. S., Loewenstein G., Advance ordering for healthier eating? Field experiments on the relationship between the meal order–consumption time delay and meal content. J. Mark. Res. 53, 369–380 (2016).
    1. Benartzi S., Thaler R. H., Economics. Behavioral economics and the retirement savings crisis. Science 339, 1152–1153 (2013). - PubMed
    1. Fryer R. G., Financial incentives and student achievement: Evidence from randomized trials. Q. J. Econ. 126, 1755–1798 (2011).
    1. US Department of Education , Evidence That Tutoring Works (Office of the Deputy Secretary, Planning and Evaluation Service, 2001).

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources