3+Praise

**Praise** is the expression of approval or admiration for some**one** or some**thing**.

[|Haimovitz and Corpus (2011)] describe the difference between: Process praise: feedback to let a student know the instructor feels s/he has put a lot of effort into what s/he has done. Person praise: feedback to let a student know that s/he is really good at what s/he has done.

 //A double-edged sword// Praise, when given correctly, can be a boost to mood, ideas about self-worth and ability to overcome roadblocks. These aspects can all influence how motivated a person is to learn. Therefore, when praise is used to make a judgement about a person, it can have devastating effects on motivation.

In a study of fifth-grade students, [|Mueller and Dweck (1998)] found that when a child is praised for intelligence upon successful completion of a initial puzzle, he is more likely to choose a performance-based task for the next challenge. However, when a child is praised for the effort required to complete the puzzle, that child will be more likely to choose a subsequent problem-solving task that leads to an increase in learning. Interestingly, the children who were **praised for intelligence** were more likely to blame their lack of smarts, rather than lack of effort, as the reason for poor performance. In addition, praise for intelligence led children to believe that their level of intelligence is stable. But children **praised for effort** came to believe that intelligence is malleable and can be increased.

Carol Dweck [|talks] about the two intelligence mindsets: stable and malleable.

[|Kamins and Dweck (1999)] have also shown that criticism or praise of a person can lead to negative effects on mood, self-perception and responses to future setbacks. By comparing two groups of children given different types of criticism or praise (directed at the person or the process/effort), they discovered that criticism OR **praise directed at the person** caused the child to believe "themselves to be less good". Whereas criticism OR **praise "for the effort**, the strategizing, the work, and the persistence children put in to their accomplishments may allow for fuller recognition of their achievements."

Taken together, these two studies show that criticism or praise that is directed at the **person** can decrease motivation to do more and do better. However, praise directed at the effort required to complete a task can spur children onto more challenging problem-solving tasks.

Kohn (1999) summarizes the effects of various rewards, including praise, by stating that "prompting employees to think about how much will be in their pay envelopes, or students to worry about what will be on their report cards, is about the last strategy we ought to use if we care about creativity."

As educators, we want to motivate our students to achieve their fullest potential. What are the factors that influence motivation in adult learners, and how do we use praise properly?