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Friday, March 16, 2007
When Praise Backfires
lifehack.org: "An article from New York Magazine outlines the results of surveys performed by Carol Dweck, a psychologist studying the effects of praise on students."
I would agree, you shouldn't lie to kids and tell them they're smart. Everyone will always have a lot to learn and it's just a matter of time. I think that it's absolutely the right thing to tell kids that they're in the right for trying hard and to keep up the effort.
The danger of praising students for intelligence instead of effort is that it leads to more doubt. If a student praised for effort fails, she can only equate that to a lack of hard work, which is easily fixed. But if the student praised for intelligence fails, she will associate that with faults in her natural abilities. Inherent qualities are much harder to improve than work ethic.
I think praise can go a long way, but only when implemented correctly. That is why I agree with this article. If my parents had always told me that I was smart, what a dissapointment it would have been to realize that I could fail. Instead, by emphasizing the amount of effort a child puts in and how important it is, it gives the child hope that he/she can improve and move forward in life.
3 comments:
I would agree, you shouldn't lie to kids and tell them they're smart. Everyone will always have a lot to learn and it's just a matter of time. I think that it's absolutely the right thing to tell kids that they're in the right for trying hard and to keep up the effort.
The danger of praising students for intelligence instead of effort is that it leads to more doubt. If a student praised for effort fails, she can only equate that to a lack of hard work, which is easily fixed. But if the student praised for intelligence fails, she will associate that with faults in her natural abilities. Inherent qualities are much harder to improve than work ethic.
I think praise can go a long way, but only when implemented correctly. That is why I agree with this article. If my parents had always told me that I was smart, what a dissapointment it would have been to realize that I could fail. Instead, by emphasizing the amount of effort a child puts in and how important it is, it gives the child hope that he/she can improve and move forward in life.
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