A praise sandwich, compliment sandwich or feedback sandwich is a rhetorical technique to deliver criticism in a way that it is accepted by the criticized person.
It is named after the metaphor of a sandwich since it has three parts:
- Praise of the addressee
- Expressing what the speaker dislikes about the person
- Further praise of the addressee
In spite of the speaker's intention, it can be rejected if the criticized person detects that the praises were insincere and just a vehicle for the criticism or if the person prefers straightforward communication. They could label it a shit sandwich. It can also fail if the receiver just picks the praise and ignores the criticism.
Authors have discussed its effect and how to improve it.
See also
Look up shit sandwich in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- Corrective feedback – frequent practice in the field of learning and achievement, typically involving a learner receiving either formal or informal feedback on his or her understanding or performance on various tasks by an agent such as teacher or peer
- Performance appraisal – Method to document and evaluate an employee's job performance