In a recent study, Satoris Culbertson (Kansas State University), Jaime Henning (Eastern Kentucky University), and Stephanie Payne (Texas A&M University) ran a experiment to test whether certain goal-oriented workers might value constructive criticism. Many people just like to be coddled and constantly told how wonderful they are. Performance evaluations probably aren't their thing.

But what about workers who readily say they want to get better at their jobs—maybe they'd appreciate a critical nudge? Yeah, right. After administering negative feedback to both groups, the researchers found that the first group hated the feedback round, and the second group—employees with the strongest "learning-goal orientation"—was nearly as unhappy with the criticism.

Perhaps one specific group appreciates criticism: The workers least likely to be criticized.

One series of studies out of the University of Chicago found that people who are new to a job prefer bosses to act like cheerleaders. When you're trying to feel out whether a new job "fits," you want to be told: "You fit!" But experienced workers accept bosses who behave more like hard-knock coaches.

Why would better workers want more criticism? Maybe because they can take it. Maybe because they don't appreciate feeling babied. Maybe it's the openness to evaluation that makes them good in the first place. Or maybe it's because experts, unlike novices, aren't looking for positive reinforcement, at all. They're seeking mastery. Praise is fine at the beginning, the researchers concluded, because it makes beginners feel more committed. But eventually, too much positive feedback starts to feel kinda ... boring.

In the paper, "How Positive and Negative Feedback Motivate Goal Pursuit," Ayelet Fishbach, Tal Eyal , and Stacey R. Finkelstein make a fascinating observation about the interplay between feedback and moods. In their words...

When people attribute their mood to the feedback they received, the mood provides progress information and people are more likely to adhere to their goals when they are in a bad mood. However, when people attribute their mood to a goal-unrelated source, the mood signals to them whether to commit to a goal. In addition to general moods, distinct emotions signal the level of attainment on speciﬁc goals, such that people infer from their emotional experience (e.g., pride versus happiness) which of their simultaneous goals (e.g., long- versus short-term) they neglected or toward which they made sufﬁcient progress.

... and in mine: Bosses shouldn't let a great worker feel too accomplished, or let a novice feel too hopeless. Overall, a good group of workers will always feel happy but never quite feel done. "Managers can encourage goal pursuit by offering positive feedback to novices and increasing the negative feedback as the recipients gain expertise," they conclude. So, start nice, get mean.