The Unease of Learning

Learning new things often requires some amount of discomfort. It can be frustrating to be less than stellar at something you are trying for the first time.  You may feel lost, or possibly downright dumb, when encountering topics you know nothing about. And then there is the prospect of confronting information that contradicts deeply held beliefs which can also make you feel emotions that may not feel so comfortable, such as fear or anger.  But just because something feels bad does not mean it is bad for us.

Across several studies by Wooley and Fishback, the researchers showed that people can be motivated to learn, even when it feels uncomfortable. 

In one such study, during the COVID-19 pandemic, some participants were given instructions that feeling nervous about reading an article on the topic of COVID is a sign of learning, while others were just given a goal to learn something new. The instructions that discomfort is a sign of learning increased people’s ratings of motivation to want to read the articles about COVID compared to the control instructions.

Another study, participants were asked for their political party affiliation. Then, they were shown news articles that were consistent and inconsistent with their political beliefs and asked to rate their interest in reading the articles. Some participants were given instructions that feeling anxious or uncomfortable about reading an article is a sign of learning, while other participants were just given a goal to learn new things. People given instructions that discomfort is a sign of learning were more willing to read articles expressing a different political viewpoint than people who were just given instructions to learn new things.

These findings suggest that when discomfort is framed as a signal that valuable learning is taking place, then people may seek discomfort on occasion.  This effect suggests that people can learn to appreciate discomfort, and over time may even be highly motivated to seek out learning situations despite the discomfort they create.

So what discomfort are you willing to step into in order to learn something new?