Praise and intelligence
© 2008 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved
Years ago, Americans were reluctant to praise their kids' intelligence.
Like many people effectually the world, Americans believed that fawning over children would make them arrogant or narcissistic.
But then something happened. American educators were seduced by the Self Esteem movement. They started promoting the thought that kids need flattery to succeed. Desire your kid to achieve? Tell him he is bright.
Decades later, the idea is still entrenched in the popular culture. Consider Blue's Clues, the preschool show that ends each episode with a cheerleading session for kids:
"Hey, y'all know what? You lot're really smart!"
It'due south very well-intentioned. But it's also wrong-headed.
Because information technology turns out that sure kinds of praise can backfire. In particular, telling kids they are smart tin can make them act impaired. And here is the evidence.
When you lot praise kids for their ability, information technology makes them focus on looking adept—not on learning
Kids praised for their intelligence want to keep proving themselves by doing well.
This might sound good, only information technology's really counter-productive.
In a landmark series of experiments on American fifth graders, researchers Claudia Mueller and Ballad Dweck found that kids behaved very differently depending on the kinds of praise they received.
Kids who were praised for their intelligence tended to avoid challenges. Instead, they preferred easy tasks. They were likewise more than interested in their competitive standing–how they measured up relative to others–than they were in learning how to ameliorate their future performance.
By contrast, kids who were praised for their effort showed the opposite trend. They preferred tasks that were challenging– tasks they would larn from.
And kids praised for try were more interested in learning new strategies for success than they were in finding out how other children had performed.
Kids differed in other respects, likewise. Compared to kids praised for their effort, kids who were accustomed to existence praised for their power were
- more likely to requite upward after a failure
- more than likely to perform poorly after a failure, and
- more than likely to misrepresent how well they did on a chore.
And that's not all. Kids praised for their intelligence were more likely to view their failures equally evidence of low intelligence.
When you praise kids for their intelligence, they learn to view their failures equally evidence of stupidity
In the experiments by Mueller and Dweck, kids were given moderately hard problems to solve. When each kid was finished, he was told "Wow, you did actually well on these problems. You lot got….a really high score" (Mueller and Dweck 2002).
In addition, each child received one of three treatments. He was either
- praised for his intelligence ("You must exist smart at these issues")
- praised for his effort ("Yous must have worked difficult at these issues"), or
- given no boosted feedback (the control condition)
Next, kids were given a second set of problems—this time, very difficult ones—and kids were asked to explain why they performed poorly.
The kids who had been praised for their intelligence on previous tasks attributed more than of their failure to a lack of intelligence.
But kids praised for their effort responded the same style as controls did—attributing their failure to a lack of effort (Meuller and Dweck 2002).
In other words, telling kids they are smart can make kids LESS likely to view themselves as intelligent.
By praising kids for existence smart, we teach them that their operation is a definitive examination of intelligence. Kids might savour the initial praise, but when they meet difficult challenges later—as they must—the praise backfires.
Young children thrive on praise, just even they do better when you emphasize endeavour over power
Some inquiry suggests that praising intelligence can raise the motivation of preschoolers (Henderlong 2000).
However, praising intelligence is Not every bit effective every bit praising a child's attempt and choice of strategies (Henderlong 2000).
In one study, preschoolers were presented with two puzzles to solve and then given one of three types of feedback:
- "Person" praise that emphasized intelligence ("You are a really practiced problem-solver!")
- "Process" praise that emphasized endeavor and strategies ("Yous're finding actually good ways to exercise this!")
- Neutral feedback ("You lot finished both puzzles.")
Next, kids were given a much tougher puzzle and they experienced failure.
When the preschoolers were offered a like puzzle weeks afterward, those kids who had been praised showed more than motivation than kids who had received only neutral feedback.
Simply the kids who had received "process" praise showed more motivation than the kids who had gotten "person praise" (Henderlong 2000).
Another experiment yielded like results (Cimpian et al 2007). In this study, preschoolers watched a boob show in which the protagonist drew a picture and was praised by a instructor.
Some preschoolers saw the protagonist receive generic praise near his ability ("You lot are a practiced drawer").
Other preschoolers saw the protagonist receive praise only for that specific cartoon ("You did a skillful job drawing").
And so the protagonist made a mistake that the instructor commented on. How did the kids feel about the show?
The kids who'd watched the protagonist receive generic praise ("You are a good drawer") were more upset about the subsequent mistakes. When asked if they would like to describe themselves, these kids answered no.
By contrast, the kids who had been exposed to the specific praise ("You lot did a proficient job cartoon") were more likely to bear witness an interest in drawing.
And then what'due south the bottom line?
The correct mode to praise
Telling kids they are smart can be counterproductive, only that doesn't mean nosotros shouldn't praise our kids. Every bit mentioned in a higher place, fifty-fifty the "wrong" kind of praise tin be more than motivating than no praise at all. And it's probable that the right sort of praise — process praise — gives kids an advantage.
opens in a new windowIn a study tracking American children from infancy to grade schoolhouse, Elizabeth Gunderson and colleagues (2013) found that the college the proportion ofprocedurepraise kids got during early babyhood, the more than likely kids were to endorse "can do" attitudes when they were in the 2d or third grade.
What's of import, then, is to emphasize praise that makes kids experience resilient. The problem with telling kids that they are smart or talented is that kids get frightened of failure. They've been labeled and they don't desire to practice annihilation to lose that label.
Moreover, kids praised for intelligence tend to believe that intelligence is something innate and unchangeable (Mueller and Dweck 1998). Every bit a upshot, these kids are rendered helpless by failure. If you neglect, you must non be smart. Cease of story.
If we keep these principles in mind, it becomes articulate what kids of praise are the most helpful. Instead of telling your kid she is smart or talented, try these alternatives.
- Praise your child for her strategies (eastward.g., "You found a really skilful manner to do it")
- Praise your child for specific piece of work (eastward.g., "You did a great job with those math problems")
- Praise your kid for his persistence or attempt (due east.g., "I can run into yous've been practicing" and "Your hard work has actually paid off")
Praising kids for attempt (and not innate power) may assist them develop a meliorate mindset for learning. For more information, see my article opens in a new window"Harmful beliefs: How a theory of intelligence can hamper your child's power to larn."
And keep in heed other of import guidelines
In that location are other pitfalls to avert. For example, even praise for endeavour can backfire under certain conditions. For more data, see this commodity on the opens in a new windowabout constructive means to praise kids.
And what nigh the flip side of praise — criticism?
Criticism can exist but equally tricky as praise to become right. Mayhap it'south even trickier, because criticism is intrinsically negative.
Just some intriguing experiments advise a solution to the problem — one that is surprisingly simple. Bank check out my article opens in a new window"Correcting behavior: The magic words that help kids cope with mistakes."
If you'd like to learn more about the many ways that praise can touch on performance, I recommend professor Carol Dweck's classic volume, opens in a new windowMindset: The New Psychology of Success.
References: Praise and intelligence
Cimpian A, Arce H-M C, Markham EM and Dweck CS. 2007. Subtle linguistic cues bear upon children's motivation. Psychological Science: 18(4): 314-316.
Gunderson EA, Gripshover SJ, Romero C, Dweck CS, Goldin-Meadow Southward, and Levine SC. 2013. Parent praise to one-3 year-olds predicts children'southward motivational frameworks 5 years later on. Child Development.
Henderlong J and Lepper MR. 2002. The effects of praise on children's intrinsic motivation: A review and synthesis. Psychological Bulletin 128(v): 774-795.
Mueller CM and Dweck CS. 1998. Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and operation. Periodical for Personality and Social Psychology 75(i): 33-52
Content concluding modified 2/13
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Source: https://parentingscience.com/praise-and-intelligence/
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