The Effects of Feedback Valence on Challenge and Threat States, and the Moderating Role of Self-Efficacy

Abstract

How students respond to feedback is critical for subsequent learning. Plausibly, students respond differently to (negative) performance feedback because they react to stress differently. The Biopsychosocial Model (BPSM) of challenge and threat offered a potential explanation for the individual differences in stress responses to feedback. This study investigated whether the BPSM can be used to gain insight into the affective responses (selfreported challenge and threat) to positive and negative valanced feedback, and if individuals' self-efficacy can explain individual differences in these responses. This was researched through an online experiment where Dutch University students answered problem-solving tasks on which they received manipulated performance feedback. Results showed that participants who received negative feedback perceived more threat states and fewer challenge states towards the problem-solving tasks than those who received positive feedback. Furthermore, results showed that self-efficacy towards problem-solving tasks positively relates to challenge states, and mixed results were found regarding threat states. No moderating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between feedback valence and affective responses was found. These results encourage further research to investigate how negative performance feedback could be less threatening to students. In addition, it is relevant to reexamine the moderating effect of self-efficacy, given the study's limitations.