It may be a familiar idea for parents and teachers to encourage their children through various ways in order to bolster their child’s confidence and achievements. Recently, a study as show that how we praise can have both desired and undesired affects. The study, “Effects of Ability and Effort Praise on Children’s Failure Attribution, Self-Handicapping, and Performance,” provides fascinating insight into some variance in the effects of praising ability versus praising effort.
The study (Xing et al., 2018) was conducted with a large group of fifth graders (N = 103, Avg. Age = 11.2 years, SD = 0.71). The students were split into three groups: control group, effort group, and ability group. The control group was given no praise. The effort group was given praise for their effort. The ability group was given praise for their ability. Previous studies have found that praising a student’s ability increase self-efficacy and motivate their learning in success scenarios, but failed to test the effect of praise on ability in failure scenarios (Koestner et al., 1989). How do student’s praised for ability or effort, respond in the face of failure?
The idea of Failure Attribution relies on the Attribution Theory. It involves to what individuals attribute their failures. Simply put, whether they attribute their failure to their own ability or some external force. Self-Handicapping is a defensive/protective strategy in which individuals come up with excuses for failure prior to facing the situation. An example of this would be a lack of effort in preparation for a situation so that the individual can claim they failed because they didn’t put in the proper effort.
The study took all three groups and given a brief tutorial on how to complete progressive matrices. Afterwards they were administered a 5-min long test with medium difficulty progressive matrices problems to solve. Tests were scored and students were praised based on the group they were randomly placed in (effort, ability, no praise). Then, a second test of the same format but harder difficulty was administered and all groups were given failure feedback (told that they preformed poorly and had trouble with these problems). Finally, a third test was administered with medium-difficulty and no time limit. How long students spent on questions was used to measure level of self-handicapping and their score on the test was used to measure performance.
Students who were praised for their ability performed worse on the third test than on the first or second test! Meanwhile, the students praised for their effort performed better on the third test than on the first or second test! Students praised for ability had better performance and persistence in the face of failure (Mueller and Dweck, 1998; Gunderson et al., 2017). This has huge implications for parenting and teaching. While other studies have found correlation between praising ability and self-efficacy in the face of success (Koestner et al., 1989), this studies raises the question if we should be praising ability more than effort, since those praised for ability performed worse in the face of failure. Student's praised for their ability attributed their failure on the second test to their low ability, exhibited more anxiety, and self-handicapped themselves on the third test by spending significantly less time attempting to solve the problems than the other two groups.
This raises more questions, and a need for more studies to understand the exact mechanisms of praise and how we might be able to implement teaching and parenting strategies to raise a more resilient and successful next generation.
References:
1. Xing, S., Gao, X., Jiang, Y., Archer, M., & Liu, X. (2018). Effects of Ability and Effort Praise on Children's Failure Attribution, Self-Handicapping, and Performance. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 1883. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01883
2.Koestner, R., Zuckerman, M., and Koestner, J. (1989). Attributional focus of praise and children’s intrinsic motivation: the moderating role of gender. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 15, 61–72. doi: 10.1177/0146167289151006
3.Gunderson, E. A., Sorhagen, N. S., Gripshover, S. J., Dweck, C. S., Goldinmeadow, S., and Levine, S. C. (2017). parent praise to toddlers predicts fourth grade academic achievement via children’s incremental mindsets. Dev. Psychol. 54, 397–409. doi: 10.1037/dev0000444
4.Mueller, C. M., and Dweck, C. S. (1998). Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and performance. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 75, 33–52. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.75.1.33
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ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting blog. I always question about the best way to handle praises. But i am curious about the performance of the group that did not get any praise and how they performed. I personally grew up with lack of praise from my parents and only get it only when it's big but even that I still get a back hand comment like you could still do better. I felt like that was more motivation for me to work harder but cant really see how it can set me on the path of failure. Also curious if siblings group can affect the results like younger child getting more praise than oldest, can that effect the development of that child? I think it is important to look at how praise that compare a child to another can be problematic because it can create a competitive mindset that can be not good for the child. Also curious about if environmental condition can affect of the subjects affect the results. But otherwise, really great blog and enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteGreat article to look at below.
https://parentingscience.com/effects-of praise/#:~:text=Praise%20can%20also%20have%20negative,(Brummelman%20et%20al%202017).
This study is very interesting and makes me think about what is the most effective way to educate children. There has been alot research into the different factors that can lead to learning and brain development. I do think that this study looking at the different strategies for praise is very interesting, but can get much more complicated when trying to implement in a classroom setting. With the growing class room sizes and the decreasing amount of teachers, the task of ensuring the best learning environment for everyone becomes tougher.
ReplyDeleteThere are studies that identify that dopamine and serotonin are released when one experiences a “win”, and that cortisol is released when one experiences a “failure” (Ibanez, 2018). Knowing what happens at a cellular level is important to understanding learning and brain development. But more importantly, there needs to be more research into how to properly address all the factors that effect learning for kids in the classroom. There is evidence that suggests the environmental factors of learning can have the biggest effect during the sensitive periods of brain development (Fandakova, 2020). These factors included social economic status, social standing among peers, and violence all having tremendous impacts on learning and development. Identifying these factors in students can help steer their learning to ensure the most effective education for each student.
Ibañez, Zadra Rose. “WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FAIL?” Institution for Educational Advancement, 10 Apr. 2018, https://educationaladvancement.org/blog-rewire-your-brain-for-success-when-you-fail/#:~:text=When%20we%20experience%20a%20win,that%20%E2%80%9Cneuroimaging%20studies%20reveal%E2%80%A6.
Fandakova Y, Hartley CA. Mechanisms of learning and plasticity in childhood and adolescence. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2020 Apr;42:100764. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100764. Epub 2020 Jan 30. PMID: 32072937; PMCID: PMC7013153.