Special Feature <The Psychology of Failure > 5
What Kind of People Learn from Failure
Ji-eun Shin (Department of Psychology, Chonnam National University)
Why is it important to learn from failure? Lessons gained from failure are likely to be inherently different in nature to those that can be learned from success, and they have unique characteristics that set them apart. In contrast to how success stories tend to share many similarities, failure experiences can vary greatly in their causes and circumstances. Therefore, our lives can become more enriched and balanced by learning from our failures. The failure to learn from failure does more harm than just limiting one’s learning opportunities: people can learn a great deal from others, so if an individual does not learn from their shortcomings and mistakes, the lessons embedded in those failures cannot be disseminated throughout society. In other words, society as a whole misses out on the opportunity to learn from failure. In this sense, we can consider an individual’s failure as a social asset, and a culture that embraces and actively shares such assets will serve as a key foundation upon which entire communities can grow.