Praise
A large percentage of “gifted” students (those who score in the top 10% on aptitude tests) severely their abilities. Those afflicted adopt lower standards for success and expect less of themselves, underrate the importance of effort, and they overrate how much help they need from a parent.
A growing body of research suggests that giving kids the label of “smart” might cause them to underperform.
For the past ten years, Carol Dweck has studied the effect of praise on students in 12 NY schools.
She sent 4 female research assistants into NY 5th-grade classrooms. The researchers would take a single child out of the classroom for a nonverbal IQ test consisting of a series of puzzles easy enough that all the children would do fairly well. Once the child finished the test, the researchers told each student his score, then gave him a single line of praise. Randomly divided into groups, some were praised for their intelligence. They were told, “You must be smart at this.” Other students were praised for their effort: “You must have worked really hard.”
Then the students were given a choice of test for the 2nd round. One choice was a test that would be more difficult than the 1st, but the researchers told the kids that they’d learn a lot from attempting the puzzles. The other choice was an easy test, just like the 1st. Of those praised for their effort, 90% chose the harder set of puzzles. Of those praised for their intelligence, a majority chose the easy test.
In a subsequent round, none of the 5th-graders had a choice. The test was difficult, and everyone failed. But the 2 groups responded differently. Those praised for their effort on the 1st test assumed they hadn’t focused hard enough. Those praised for their smarts assumed their failure was evidence that they weren’t really smart.
Dweck gave all the 5th-graders a final round of tests that were engineered to be as easy as the 1st round. Those who’d been praised for their effort improved on their first score by about 30%. Those who’d been told they were smart did worse than they had — by about 20%.
This effect holds true for students of every socioeconomic class, boys and girls (the brightest girls especially), & even pre-schoolers.
Life Sciences Secondary School’s 700 students are predominantly minority and low-achieving. Dweck’s protégé Lisa Blackwell split kids into 2 groups for an 8-session workshop. The control group was taught study skills, and the others got study skills and a module on how intelligence is not innate. These students took turns reading aloud an essay on how the brain grows new neurons when challenged, & saw slides of the brain and acted out skits.
The students who had been taught that intelligence can be developed improved their study habits and grades. In a single semester, Blackwell reversed the students’ longtime trend of decreasing math grades.
The only difference between the control group and the test group were 2 lessons, a total of 50 minutes spent teaching that the brain is a muscle. Giving it a harder workout makes you smarter.
After reviewing 200 studies on self-esteem, Dr Roy Baumeister concluded that having high self-esteem didn’t improve grades or career achievement. It didn’t reduce alcohol usage or violence (aggressive, violent people tend to think highly of themselves). For college students on the verge of failing in class, esteem-building praise causes their grades to sink further.
To be effective, researchers have found, praise needs to be specific & sincere.
Wulf-Uwe Meyer conducted a series of studies where children watched other students receive praise. He found that by the age of 12, children believe that earning praise from a teacher is a sign you lack ability and need extra encouragement. They believed it’s a teacher’s criticism that really conveys positive belief.
Dweck’s research on overpraised kids suggests that image maintenance becomes their primary concern. In one study, students are given two puzzle tests. Between the 1st and the 2nd, they’re offered a choice between learning a new puzzle strategy for the 2nd test or finding out how they did compared with other students on the 1st test: Students praised for intelligence choose to find out their class rank, rather than use the time to prepare.
In another study, students get a do-it-yourself report card and are told these forms will be mailed to students at another school. Of the kids praised for their intelligence, 40% lie, inflating their scores. Few of the kids praised for effort lie.
Dr. Robert Cloninger has trained rats and mice in mazes to have persistence by carefully not rewarding them when they get to the finish. “The key is intermittent reinforcement…. A person who grows up getting too frequent rewards will not have persistence, because they’ll quit when the rewards disappear.”