"Editorial Policy is to avoid any negative statements or personal attacks against any person or organization." -- Clowning Around magazine, published by the World Clown Association.

I was graduated by California State University - Long Beach with a degree in Technical Theater. All of my design and construction classes included learning how to do a critique of my own work and the work of others. I was taught to always start with positive comments because starting with a negative comment raises people's defenses and they are not receptive to the rest of the critique.

One of the topics on the "CBS Sunday Morning" television program on March 2 was why we tend to remember negative comments and forget positive comments. I know that when I receive an evaluation sheet for a class that I teach it is the negative comments that stand out. For example, once when I received twelve comments on a class, there were eight very positive statements, three neutral statements, and one negative statement. At first the negative statement was all I could think of. Years later it was the only one that I could remember.

One of the speakers on the "CBS Sunday Morning" program stated that there is an evolutionary purpose to remembering the negative. In ancient times lessons learned through negative experiences were important for preserving life. For example, if you reached into a fire and burned your hand, remembering that experience causes you to be cautious with fire preventing you from receiving more serious life threatening burns in the future.

Our brains are set up to remember negative feedback. One of the other speakers on the TV program displayed brain scans taken when somebody heard a negative comment. He said a negative comment fully activates regions of the brain that prevent the listener from doing anything other than thinking about the negative comment. If you start a critique with a negative comment the listener doesn't just forget the following positive comments, they don't hear them.

The spring clown and variety arts conventions and workshops are beginning. That means people will be receiving competition score sheets and other forms of feedback.

If you are providing a critique, remember to keep it as positive as possible. Try to be tactful with negative comments. Don't attack the person. For example, don't say, "You didn't make it clear why...." Say, "It wasn't clear why..." Or better yet, say, "I didn't understand why..."

Soften negative statements with qualifiers like "in my opinion" or "you might consider." I try to remember that I am not the ultimate authority, and I might be wrong.

If you are receiving feedback, remember your natural bias towards giving too much importance to negative comments. Don't make any immediate decisions based on them. If there is only one negative comment out of a group of comments, consider that it may not be valid.

Remember your natural tendency to forget positive comments. If somebody pays you a verbal compliment, write it down as soon as possible. Studies have shown that you remember things longer that you write down because the sight as well as sound is stored in your brain. I have an "Encouragement File" where I keep positive notes and emails that I have received. Each time I review the file I am amazed by how much of its contents I have forgotten. I use it to remind me of things people have previously appreciated so I will continue to do them in the future.

How can you combat the natural tendency to give too much importance to negative comments you receive and to forget positive ones? How can you avoid making negative comments? How can you present negative comments in a way the other person can accept and act upon them?

 For more information see these two articles on my web site:

Being Critiqued

Presenting Critiques