Saturday, December 6, 2008

Praising kids too much might backfire

An interesting article:

A growing body of research is finding that praise based on talent and intelligence -- as opposed to effort -- not only doesn't help kids achieve success, it actually backfires.

Children who are praised as smart, special and talented stumble at school when faced with challenges that don't immediately reinforce the mantras they hear at home. They're also more likely to avoid tasks at which they may fail than children who are praised instead for their hard work.

Read the rest here. It reminds me of this must-read article about telling kids they're smart from a while back.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

On the other hand, telling smart kids "hey, I have nothing to praise you about being top student, with your brains it was just your obligation" every single time may make them wish they were not so smart, so that their parents would praise them just once for their work.