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  • October 2020
  • Article
  • Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

What Goes Down When Advice Goes Up: Younger Advisers Underestimate Their Impact

By: Ting Zhang and Michael S. North
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Abstract

Common wisdom suggests that older is wiser. Consequently, people rarely give advice to older individuals—even when they are relatively more expert—leading to missed learning opportunities. Across six studies (N=3,445), we explore the psychology of advisers when they are younger (reverse advising), the same age (peer advising), or older (traditional advising) than their advisees. Study 1 shows that advisers avoid reverse advising interactions because they perceive that their relative youth makes them less effective. However, when compared to advisees’ actual perceptions, reverse advisers are misguided as they underestimate their effectiveness when giving general life advice (Study 2a-2b) as well as tactical advice (Studies 3-4). This misperception is in part driven by advisers’ beliefs about their own competence and others’ receptivity. Finally, we demonstrate an intervention that mitigates advisers’ misguided beliefs (Study 5). Contrary to advisers’ own perceptions, these findings illustrate that being relatively young can also mean being an impactful adviser.

Keywords

Advice; Expertise; Knowledge Sharing; Experience and Expertise; Age; Perception

Citation

Zhang, Ting, and Michael S. North. "What Goes Down When Advice Goes Up: Younger Advisers Underestimate Their Impact." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 46, no. 10 (October 2020): 1444–1460.
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About The Author

Ting Zhang

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Learning Down to Train Up: Mentors Are More Effective When They Value Insights from Below By: Ting Zhang, Dan Wang and Adam D. Galinsky
  • Jackie Hu: Launching into Leadership (A) By: Ting Zhang and Anthony J. Mayo
  • The Errors of Experts: When Expertise Hinders Effective Provision and Seeking of Advice and Feedback By: Ting Zhang, Kelly Harrington and Elad Sherf
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