Study four focused on children's information seeking behavior and how praising different aspects of performance affects it. The fact that 76% of children who were praised for their intelligence chose to focus on information pertaining to performance of others rather than focusing on actual problem solving strategies indicates the development of a performance focused mindset where performance rather than gaining knowledge was the most desired outcome. Study five eliminated the possibility that the experimenter's influence by way of his expectations (from past performances) on the students had any role in children's responses to their failures. The sixth study concluded that praise for ability in one successful task continued to influence children's responses to failures in subsequent unrelated tasks.
The implications of this research are immense. Generally, it is assumed that praising children for their ability was...
On the contrary, this research strongly suggests that children praised for their intelligence tend to identify their intelligence with their performance and hence a failure implied lack of ability and a negative self-image. Children who were praised for their efforts showed increased persistence, enjoyment and good performance when faced with setbacks. They were more resilient and positively adaptive as they related their failure to lack of effort than lack of ability. This research has clearly shed new light in the field of child psychology and could be a guideline for how best to encourage children to bring out the best in them.
Bibliography
1) Claudia M. Mueller and Carol S. Dweck, (1998) 'Praise for Intelligence Can Undermine Children's Motivation and Performance' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol.…
