Praise Doesn't Pay

Praise doesn't pay, according to some researchers. ABC news
just published an article highlighting the work of Dr. Carol Dweck, a
Stanford University researcher who has found that certain types of
praise do not help kids. In fact, it can hurt them. I am sure that many
pre-k teachers would agree. However, the article described Dweck's
study done with hundreds of 5th graders. I think the results would be
different if it was conducted with preschoolers. The effects of the
same types of praise might cause positive effects on young children. I
have found that positive praise can make or break a child's day in
preschool.
"Contrary to popular belief, praising children's
intelligence did not give them confidence and did not make them learn
better," said Carol Dweck, a professor of developmental psychology at
Stanford University and author of "Mindset: The New Psychology of
Success." Dweck found that students who were told
they were smart did less well than students who were praised for
working hard, after completing a test. These same students were less
likely to want to take a test that was described as "harder" than the
first test and did less well on the second test when they took it. It
appears the smart students thought that only "dumb" kids had to work
hard to be successful.
If you're like most parents, you offer praise to your
children believing it is the key to their success -- those flattering
words can boost a child's self-esteem and performance. But according to
a new study, praise may do more harm than good.
I am not sure though that parents offer praise only because
they believe it is the key to their childrens' success. This makes it
seem that praise is only a manipulation of children by parents. But, I
think that most parents actually offer praise because they are
genuinely proud of their kids. I have struggled with the conflicting
messages of praise that I give my own children. My 8 year old is in a
gifted program. It was strange for her to see that many of her friends
who were recommended for the program did not get accepted. We struggled
with redefining the word "smart," what it meant, and how smart can be
represented in different people. I have always subscribed to Howard
Gardener's definitions of multiple intelligences and tried hard to pass
that on to my children. This definition of intelligence is complicated
even more when we realize the racial and gender biases associated with
many gifted assessments and the disproportionate ethnic and racial
representation in gifted programs. This labeling is a part of
our educational system, especially now that teachers are expected to
use ability grouping in reading instruction, even at the preschool
level. But, I think that there is a gap in the reporting of this study.
There may be developmental appropriateness of certain types of praise.
When kids are younger than six or so, I think that telling them they
are smart may not cause the same inverse relationship to a child's
performance. At four and five years old, kids are very dependent on
adults for their self image. It is important for parents and teachers
are make sure that self image is positive. As kids start to
differentiate themselves from their parents at about seven and eight,
this dependence decreases. What their friends think becomes more
important. There is an important type of praise left out of the study. The difference between praise and pride. In
my classroom I try to use authentic praise as much as possible. Saying
things like, "I like the way Benjamin is sitting" can be a huge help
with compliance but it does not necessarily increase a student's
positive self image. What I have found that increases students self
esteem is when I say, "I'm proud of you." I have found pride to be an
extremely powerful feeling for kids, especially for my students who may
never have felt pride in themselves. A sense of pride is an aspect of
praise I would like to see researched. I doubt the same inverse
relationships would be found.