One study showed that people would remain satisfied with their performance in the face of negative feedback as long as they could keep the feedback isolated from performance standards. The researchers would present the standards either before the performance, or after the performance but before the feedback, or after both the performance and the feedback. The people who received the standards early recalled them as well as the others, but simply ignored it. They managed to isolate their feedback from the standards thereby minimizing the threat to their self-esteem. Those who received the standards later were less satisfied with their performance, unable to avoid their lack of success as compared to the norm. This form of isolation has been referred to as trivializing.