Abstract:

Remarkable achievements are often achieved by overcoming setbacks and failures. Realizing achievements without encountering some form of challenge or difficulty is uncommon. Previous studies have independently examined the effects of failure and success on subsequent perseverance, showing that repeated failures tend to lead to poorer performance, while consecutive successes generally improve performance. However, few studies have investigated how the combination of failures and successes influences an individual’s perseverance in the future. The present study aims to explore the impact of prior failures and successes on subsequent perseverance performance.

This study employed a 2 (number of failures: 5 vs. 10) × 2 (number of successes: 1 vs. 5) between-subjects design, comprising four experiments. A total of 528 undergraduate students participated in this study. The experiments employed a figure reasoning task to create two feedback contexts: an absolute feedback context (Studies 1a and 1b: n = 132) and a relative feedback context (Studies 2a and 2b: n = 132). The task was divided into two sections. In the initial section, participants experienced either 5 or 10 failures, followed by 1 or 5 subsequent successes, depending on their assigned experimental conditions. Afterward, participants were asked to report on various aspects of their perseverance, including positive emotion, belief in success, persistent intention, and challenge seeking behavior (Studies 1b and 2b). In the second section, participants received continuous feedback indicating failure and could continue attempting the task as many times as they desired. The number of persistent attempts made by participants was used as an index of persistent behavior.

The findings indicate that, regardless of whether the difficulty level of the task is varied or kept consistent, absolute feedback plays a key role in perseverance (Studies 1a and 1b). Specifically, 5 successes following 5 consecutive failures lead to greater improvements in perseverance indicators compared to only one success. Moreover, consistent manipulation of the difficulty level enhances the experience of success, which subsequently boosts perseverance performance under high-failure conditions (10 failures), particularly when participants achieve 5 successes. In the context of relative feedback context (Studies 2a and 2b), 5 successes following 10 consecutive failures are more effective than a single success in enhancing perseverance indicators. However, when the difficulty level is consistently manipulated, no remarkable difference in perseverance performance is observed between the condition with 5 successes and that with 1 success following 5 consecutive failures. This finding suggests that, under low failure conditions (5 failures), increasing the number of successes is not a prerequisite for improving perseverance.

Overall, the variability in individual perseverance performance can be attributed to a combination of past experiences with failures and successes, with the frequency of successful experiences playing a particularly crucial role in overcoming setbacks of varying degrees. The effect of the number of successes on perseverance following consecutive failures is consistent across different situations. Furthermore, compared to absolute feedback contexts, successful experiences have a more pronounced and positive effect on perseverance in relative feedback contexts. These results support the view that success breeds further success.

Key words: success, failure, perseverance, absolute feedback, relative feedback