Before reading further, think if you would rather agree to the fact that anyone can change his/her level of intelligence or to the fact that one can't really change how intelligent he/she is.
The Experiment
Researchers divided 128 fifth-graders in two groups and gave them an IQ test. Both groups were told they did really well, but one group was praised for its intelligence ("You must be smart to solve these problems") and the other for its effort ("You must have worked hard at these problems"). Then, some kids were asked to agree or disagree with mind-set statements such as "Your intelligence is something basic about you that you can't really change" and others were asked to define intelligence.
In the second part the pupils were asked if they would like to work either on a challenging task that they could learn from or an easy one that ensured error-free performance. Next they worked on the same challenging problems and finally they were asked to report their scores anonymously.
In the second part the pupils were asked if they would like to work either on a challenging task that they could learn from or an easy one that ensured error-free performance. Next they worked on the same challenging problems and finally they were asked to report their scores anonymously.
Results
The kids praised for intelligence agreed to statements like the one above more often than kids praised for their effort. Moreover, when defining intelligence they made significantly more references to innate, fixed capacity, whereas the others made references to skills, knowledge and areas they could change through effort and learning.
Moreover, the kids praised for their intelligence were unenthusiastic about taking a challenging test and opted for the easy one, whereas 90% of the kids admired for their effort were eager for a more demanding task. On the second test the group praised for its effort performed significantly better than the group complimented for its intelligence. When reporting their scores 40% of the intelligence-praised kids lied compared to 10% of the effort-praised pupils.
Moreover, the kids praised for their intelligence were unenthusiastic about taking a challenging test and opted for the easy one, whereas 90% of the kids admired for their effort were eager for a more demanding task. On the second test the group praised for its effort performed significantly better than the group complimented for its intelligence. When reporting their scores 40% of the intelligence-praised kids lied compared to 10% of the effort-praised pupils.
The "hard workers" got the message that they could improve their scores by trying harder, when the "smart" kids believed they should do well without any effort and as soon as they began to struggle with a problem they lost the confidence in their ability.
Praising intelligence builds the fixed mind-set that the intellectual ability is a predetermined trait. Praising effort (engagement, perseverance, strategies, improvement etc.) shapes the growth mind-set according to which intelligence is the result of new connections formed in the brain due to learning. The brain is actually like a muscle: the more is used, the stronger it becomes.
Therefore we should praise effort, for e.g. "I like the way you tried all kinds of strategies on that math problem until you finally got it" or "I liked the effort you put in. Let's work together some more and figure out what you don't understand".
Praising intelligence builds the fixed mind-set that the intellectual ability is a predetermined trait. Praising effort (engagement, perseverance, strategies, improvement etc.) shapes the growth mind-set according to which intelligence is the result of new connections formed in the brain due to learning. The brain is actually like a muscle: the more is used, the stronger it becomes.
Therefore we should praise effort, for e.g. "I like the way you tried all kinds of strategies on that math problem until you finally got it" or "I liked the effort you put in. Let's work together some more and figure out what you don't understand".
Source:
- Dweck, C.S. (2007). "The Perils and Promises of Praise". Educational Leadership, vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 34-39. Retrieved from www.ascd.org on Sep 28, 2014
- Murphy, A.P. & Allen, J. (2007). "Why Praise Can Be Bad for Kids". ABC News online. Retrieved from abcnews.go.com on Sep 28, 2014
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