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I read about some interesting research on praise today. I found this information in the blog written by the founder and Chief Learning Officer of K12, Bror Saxberg. K12 is the curriculum provider and administrator of the Georgia Virtual Academy. This blog talks about a study done by Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford on praise of 5th graders.
The experiment went like this. They gave 400 5th graders a simple puzzle quiz in which everyone did well, and got praised. Half the group was praised with “you’re so smart” and the other half with “you must have worked really hard”. Then each child was asked if they wanted to take a very difficult test or a one that was as easy as the first one. The children who were praised for their efforts, instead of their smarts, were much more likely to choose the more difficult test.
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But here’s where things get really interesting. They gave a difficult test (two grade levels above) to all the students and everyone failed. But those who had been praised for their effort tried much harder than the “smart” group.
And, when all the students were given a third test, as simple as the first, the “effort” group improved their original score by about 30 %, while the “smart” group had a worse score by about 20%.
So what did this tell the researchers? It told them that if children are praised for “being smart” they have no where to go but down. But being praised for “effort” is something within the child’s control…they can try harder. So those who are praised early on for effort are more likely to attempt more difficult things.
It’s interesting to contemplate the use (and dangers) of praise in “normal” children, knowing what I do about special needs children, especially those with trust and attachment issues. Praise is hard for them to hear, because it’s hard to believe such a positive message about themselves, when they feel just the opposite. But praise about what they do vs. who they are is always more helpful. First off, it’s more believable. Most of our children don’t believe they ARE smart; but they might believe that they’ve DONE something well, or worked hard and the work has paid off.
And even if they believe they ARE smart; they can just as quickly believe they AREN’T smart if the circumstances point in that direction. Praise for the action, not for the attribute is another way to think of this. None of us can change how smart, how pretty or how tall we are. But we can change how hard we try, how long we work, the attitude we have during a task. Praise should be about something we have the control over doing.
Praise should be frequent…and believable. This is sometimes very difficult. There are days that our children present so many challenges and have so many negative behaviors that we really have to search to find something to praise them for. Then, if they are praise-adverse, we have to deliver that praise message without too much pizzazz, or they become very suspicious.
I try to make it a point to interject praise when LuLu least expects it, saying things like “you really focused on that for a long time” or “I can see you were really concentrating on that answer”. This gives her an idea of the behaviors and actions that are valuable and praiseworthy and what she’s doing to do well at her school work.
