I’ve been listening to the new book by Daniel Coyle, entitled The Talent Code and I ran across something truly eye opening. In fact it goes against conventional wisdom to such a degree that I didn’t believe it at first.
In a chapter on “Ignition,” about how to get talents started, Daniel goes into a study by Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford. Her premise is simple..
Children praised for their effort do much better than children praised for their intelligence or skill.
The reason, she explains, is that when you praise for skill, kids tend to react by protecting their status — they don’t want to take risks that might harm their standing.
Conversely, when you praise for effort, kids tend to react by taking on more engaging tasks, making mistakes and fixing them, and spending time in the sweet spot where skill is truly acquired.
This is such a powerful finding that it could have major consequences for parents and teachers. Can such a simple change have such a profound effect? Here is a great article on the subject by Po Bronson to spur your thinking…
About John Richardson
Author, Speaker, and Digital Media Creator. Personal Development Blogger. Ideas for Success!
Interesting concept, but would it indirectly lead to lack of execution? If children starts to develop habits of getting praised for effort with out results, wouldn’t that lead to not realizing the importance of getting things done?
The concept seems sensible. But I think that praise should be reserved for the child’s success for achieving something while effort should be encouraged.
We would really like to use the picture of the school children that accompanies your
blog. Do we have your permission? We're putting together a "school choice" brochure for distribution at a conference next month, and would like to use a version of it on our cover.