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Hello, this is Alanna Argudo, and I will be discussing Chapter 1 The Inverse Power of Praise from Nurtureshock written by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. The Inverse Power of Praise explains that new research suggests that actually telling your child they're special will ruin their chances at succeeding at subjects they struggle with because they refuse to even try if they believe they will fail.
For example, Thomas, a 5th grader at the competitive Anderson School in New York City, has been told nearly all his life that he is brilliant. He has been told not only by his parents but also by the adults around him as well. However, now that he is aware of his brilliance, he is afraid of failure and disappointment, instead of having this tremendous self-confidence. His father has even said, quote "Thomas didn't want to try things he wouldn't be successful at...Some things came very quickly to him, but when they didn't, he gave up almost immediately, concluding, 'I'm not good at this,'" unquote. He will sometimes refuse outright to do his homework
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because he doesn't understand immediately, and won't even try. Thomas, a young boy, tested at the top 1% of the top 1%, yet lacks confidence. Why? Thomas isn't the only child with this issue either. In the last 30 years, or so, people have noticed that a majority of gifted children underestimated themselves and their abilities, often having lower standards for themselves, and fewer expectations. They don't understand the importance of effort. Parents believe that by praising their children's intelligence early and often the child will have fewer struggles and more confidence in their academic performance. Most parents are taught to believe that it's important to let their child know how bright they are, however research proves otherwise. A child that believes they are quote-unquote "smart" is under performing because of such praise. Dr. Carol Dweck and her team at Columbia studied the effect of student praise in 20 New York schools. Prior to her research studies had shown that praising intelligence boost children's confidence, but she suspected such praise would backfire at the first sign of failure or difficulty. Dr. Dweck conducted a study where a child from a 5th-grade class would be taken out of the classroom for a nonverbal IQ test which consisted of a series of puzzles. Each child was either told, "You must be smart at this," or "You must have worked really hard." Why one line of praise? They wanted to see how sensitive they were to such a sentence. Of the children praised for effort, 90% chose the most difficult set of puzzles, while those praised for intelligence usually chose the easier one. So, why did this happen? Well, when we praise for their smarts they are interpreting it as, "look smart, don't risk a mistake." That's what these 5th graders did! They didn't want to risk embarrassment. Another test consisted of a test that was designed for 7th graders. Everyone failed. Those that were praised for effort simply believed they hadn't focused enough, but those praised for intelligence convinced themselves they weren't smart enough. Students praised for effort got very involved and determined, but those praised for intelligence were very frustrated and miserable. The final round was designed to be as easy as the first round, and those that praised for effort improved by 30%, those praised for intelligence did worse by 20%.
Praise of intelligence had backfired. Dr. Dweck had suspected this would happen. She explained that quote, "Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control...They come to see themselves in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child's control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to failure," unquote. Children who believe intelligence is the key to success discredit effort and don't seem to understand its importance. When labeled "smart," kids think, "I'm smart, I don't need to put effort." Dr. Dweck repeated her experiments on different groups of students, and results were the same, regardless of socioeconomic status, age, or gender. Preschoolers even showed the same
results! Even after being told about the experiment, one mother refused to believe, because to her praising her children's intelligence is extremely important. The mother and her children live in a very competitive community, and if students do not believe in themselves they get bullied on the playground and in the classroom. The mother, Jill, even said, quote, "I don't care what the experts say...I'm living it," unquote. Yet, even parents that believed the research would continuously tell their child how smart they were instead of praising their efforts. Old habits die hard. However, Dr. Dweck believes it's acceptable to occasionally tell a child "you're good at math," but never, "you're bad at math." The chapter continues to speak about other research and experiments, but this is where I'll stop talking about such things. Now, as a social worker, understanding this study could help when working with a child, especially a bright child. For example, perhaps your client is known as an intelligent 6th grader, their test scores are amazing, but their grades are nearly failing. You discover the child knows their smart, and their parents are constantly reminding them of this, but doesn't study much. If they don't understand a subject they simply give up and refuse to do it at all. Yet, being knowledgeable about this study can help the student's parents understand what is going on with their child. It would also be in the family's best interest to show them the study, and even ask them to tell their child that they're working so hard instead of they're so smart. After that, you can see what progress the child has made in their school work. If you are to work with children, regardless of your field, it is extremely important to not only be aware of this study but understand it as well. Well, this has been Alanna Argudo. Thanks and I hope you enjoyed this podcast about Chapter 1 The Inverse Power of Praise from Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman's Nutureshock. See ya next time!
In Carol Dweck’s article titled, “Brainology” Dweck discusses the different mindsets that students have about intelligence. Some where taught that each person had a set amount of intelligence, while others were trained that intelligence is something they could develop and increase over time. in Dweck’s article she writes, “ It is a belief that intelligence can be developed that opens students to a love of learning, a belief in the power of effort and constrictive, determined reactions to setbacks” (Dweck pg. 2). Dweck is talking about a growth mind-set in which is how students perceive the growth of knowledge and that no one person is born with a certain amount of intelligence, it too can be trained and developed over time. By introducing Dweck’s ideas of a growth mind-set to students, students will enjoy learning and be less devastated by setbacks, because they know they can develop intelligence. Dweck also writes that students with a growth mind-set, “believe that intelligence is something that can be cultivated through effort and education. They
These children do not have to go through everything they parents went through to be successful. They do not know the meaning of working hard, setting goals and achieve those goals. So these kids end up losing their goals and sense of self-worth, Gladwell says.
The study required that participants must be given IQ tests, and also that they be observed in a classroom setting while interventions were put in place. Thus the adminsitratiors were able to draw results both from IQ scores and actual classroom preformance.
Psychologist, Carol S. Dweck in her well researched essay, “Brainology” analyzes how praise impacts mindset and how a growth mindset leads to greater success. She supports this claim by comparing the two different mindsets and how praise can affect them. She then proceeds to show praise leads to a fixed mindset harming a person by changing their views on effort. Finally, she argues that praise changes how and what people value, which can
Both were given a workshop with skills on how to study, but one was also given lessons on what a growth mindset was and how to develop one. The group given the lessons on growth mindset was extremely fascinated by the thought that they could control how much knowledge they were capable of learning. Overall, the growth mindset group excelled while the control group continued to not do so well. After receiving these results, Dweck was so inspired that she developed a growth mindset computer program called “Brainology,” that would be available to students all around the world. Dweck concluded that it’s extremely important to teach students that it takes hard work to achieve
Meaning that when children grow up with praise such as “oh you must have been so smart to get an A on that test”, instead of “you must have worked really hard on that lesson”, children could take the praise to their intelligence the wrong way and think that since they are “smart” instead of their effort on a task which will cause them problems in the future and they might want to give up and quit. I have seen this first hand and this has actually happened to me before, so I know from experience that this could have a negative effect impact on a student not just students in elementary school but also adults who are going to college or young adults who are looking for a job. In contrast, some students love to get that kind of compliment but they would always end up expecting that so when I work with children I will be complimenting them on the effort they put into everything that they do. From now on, I will be praising children on their effort and not on their
Also, in Carol Dweck’s research article “Brainology”, she states the subtitle “Transforming Students’ Motivation to Learn”. She dishes mindsets and achievement, how do students learn these mindsets, and so on… … Dweck suggests, “Many students believe that intelligence is fixed, that each person has a certain amount, and that’s that. We call this a fixed mindset, and, as you will see, students with this mindset worry about how much of this fixed in intelligence they possess”. Many students believe that the challenge encountered in learning is a threat to their growth path. She put forward two different minds of the ideological study contrast, the finds showed that students studied with a growth mindset were more interested in learning and
As far as I could remember I was never really any good at school. I couldn’t concentrate on things for no more than 5 minutes at a time I would either get discouraged or find it too easy and just give up. An author by the name of Carol Dweck wrote an article called “Brainology” in it Dweck describes that there are two types of mindsets fixed and growth. Those who are afraid to fail so they never try anything new are ones with a fixed mindset and the growth mindset are those who are not afraid to fail and find a new challenge an opportunity to learn something new. I guess you can say that I had a bit of a fixed mindset growing up I was always too scared to look stupid that I didn’t want to fail because I didn’t want to disappoint my siblings
When reading the article “The Perils and Promises of Praise”, I was taken aback by the fact that there was a thing as negative praise. The studies show that just telling someone that they are intelligent is detrimental to future success in challenging situations because of the fear of failure. Encouragement of hard work and effort works more effectively than praising intelligence. I still feel that there is a missing element that was not mentioned in the article. It is secret number three in motivation for success in school. That motivation is the parents of the students. I was told that if I failed my classes, I could expect severe punishment and retribution for my failure, unless I prove I tried my best. Motivation is not just praise; it is the support of those adults in a student’s life that gives reinforcement of positive ideas
During Dweck’s research, her study shows that there are two different beliefs in mind-set (self theory): fixed mind-set and growth mind-set. Dweck states that a fixed mind-set is “static trait” in other words gifted, where as growth mind-set is intelligence that could be developed throughout the years. When a student is in grade school, it is truly difficult if a teacher does not believe in her students. After designing workshops for both teachers and students, it taught the students how to use their brain in many different ways. To find the answers Dweck followed seventh graders in New York, where she monitored the grades of the students to see whether they would improve or not. In the “Mind-Sets and Equitable Education,” it states that the growth mind-set children believe in themselves, whereas fixed mind-set try to look smart and make perfection. “The Matthew Effect” plays a huge role in the growth and fixed mind-set, by the Canadian athletes having to push themselves to get a higher level and excel creating
A brain is always trying to please the adults around him. He suffers from a paralyzing fear of failure and will do almost anything within his power to avoid disappointing the adults that see potential in him. Generally speaking, the pressure the brain feels is almost entirely self-imposed and internalized. You wouldn’t know it by looking at him on the outside, but inside, the brain is freaking out. He’s constantly worried about the next test or the next semester. Much of these anxieties can follow him late into life if he can’t find a way to balance the chaos going on in his mind. He has a tendency to be overly obsessive and should failure show its ugly face, the brain can be utterly and completely devastated as a result. Hopelessness is the ultimate foe of anyone found in this categ...
The demographic used for the study is described as “highly advantaged children (middle-class whites with IQs of at least 135)…” (Gallagher). An IQ of 135 or higher is a very selective group and less than 1% of the entire world fits that criteria (“What Goes Into the Making of a Genius?”). With an IQ at or over 135, these children are more susceptible to anxiety, stress, and relationship issues among peers (“Social and Emotional Issues”). These troubles could directly impact their happiness and have a large effect on their lives if the issues persist. The results are even more limiting when the other factors such as race and financial background are taken into account. The lives led by these children are by no means typical and having access to certain advantages and a greater susceptibility to certain conditions can have an impact on the results. When 99% of the world is exempt from this study and the results are being applied to such a broad spectrum, it is not an acceptable application of the provided
Many people think that some are just born naturally smart. Though, many argue that people have a fixed mindset which people think that they only have a certain amount of intelligence. In her article, “Brainology,” Carol Dweck, an author and professor of Psychology, proclaimed, “And they understand that even Einstein wasn’t Einstein until he put in years of focused hard work.” In this word, Carol highlights that people can improve their abilities through learning. These people are called growth
David Wechsler’s work on intelligence had influenced many psychologists to continue research in this field. Like Wechsler, Robert Thorndike was also researching on intelligence. Thorndike, with Saul Stern, attempted to review so...
...lessons from that experience. This is it. ; We shouldn’t say to children ‘Be a good child.’ We have to treat them as they are. I also thought the children should not let themselves always get carried away by compliments because it will cause a reverse effect. The experience tells me they may feel overwhelmed by pressure and responsibilities then they will get tired easily. I think true happiness comes from the understanding and enjoying of one’s self. I always say to myself ‘Don’t make yourself unhappy to make other people happy. You are the most important person in your life.’ And one of my favorite songs is “Reflection” from the Disney animated film “Mulan”. The lyrics of the song express what I want to say; “I am now in a world where I have to hide my heart and what I believe in. But somehow I will show the world what`s inside my heart and be loved for who I am.”