8.6.8: Mindset and Praise

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Todd LaMarr

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Effect of Praise on Mindset

As a student, what were your favorite and least favorite classes in school? For many people, their least favorite class was math and they might say statements like “I’m just not a math person”. This statement suggests that people are born with specific abilities (like being skilled at math or art, or sports, etc.,). The problem with this statement is that we are not born to be or to not be “math people”. While indeed genetics and environment play a role in developing abilities, so too does the mindset we have.

Mindsets are defined as implicit beliefs individuals hold about basic human abilities and attributes, such as intelligence (Dweck, 2006). They exist on a spectrum from fixed mindsets, which refer to believing that specific human attributes are static and unchangeable, to growth mindsets, which refer to believing that these attributes are malleable and can be shaped and developed with effort. So if we return back to math, someone who says “I’m just not a math person” probably has a fixed mindset because they are suggesting human abilities are unchangeable—you are either born a math person or not. In contrast, someone with a growth mindset can still struggle with math, but believes that their ability in math can be changed—practicing more and finding new strategies can help them improve. ^{^[1]}

The role of mindsets has been widely investigated in the educational field, especially with older children, as mindsets are related to motivation and behavior, including the way students handle academic setbacks and challenges (Blackwell, Trzesniewski & Dweck, 2007; Aditomo, 2015). People with a fixed mindset are more prone to interpret their setbacks to a lack of inborn ability when compared to people with a growth mindset, who instead attribute setbacks to a lack of effort (Dweck, Chiu & Hong, 1995; Dweck, 2006). Growth mindset has been linked to students’ higher resilience, psychological well being, and school engagement (Yeager et al., 2019; Zeng, Hou & Peng, 2016). ^{^[1]}

Why do some people have a growth mindset while others have a fixed mindset? What factors contribute to someone developing a specific mindset? As infants and toddlers develop, they frequently reveal new abilities that are exciting for caregivers to witness. Praise is a common response to these new abilities. While praise may seem like a positive response, research has revealed that the effect of praise depends on the type of praise, and that, surprisingly, some types of praise negatively affect the motivation of the person receiving praise. Many studies have found that receiving effort-focused praise positively affected motivation, while receiving ability-focused praise negatively affected motivation (e.g., Brummelman et al., 2014; Mueller & Dweck, 1998). In a landmark study by Mueller and Dweck (1998), fifth-grade children were asked to work on a set of tasks; then, they were praised for their ability (e.g., “You must be smart”), were praised for their effort (e.g., “You must have worked hard”), or received no additional feedback (i.e., the control group). Subsequently, children were given a more difficult set of problems and failed. Compared to children in the control group, children in the effort praise group reported more task enjoyment and performed higher on the subsequent task, while children in the ability praise group reported less task enjoyment and performed lower on the task. ^{^[2]}

These effects of ability-focused and effort-focused praise are related to one’s mindset about one’s ability and attributes (e.g., Gunderson et al., 2013; Pomerantz & Kempner, 2013). Children who receive effort-focused praise tend to endorse a growth mindset, and their enjoyment and subsequent task performance are high following failure; in contrast, those who receive ability-focused praise tend to endorse a fixed mindset, and their enjoyment and subsequent task performance are low following failure (Dweck, 2008; Mueller and Dweck, 1998). Effort-focused praise emphasizes the fundamental role of effort for growth/improvement, whereas ability-focused praise implies that individuals’ intelligence is an internal and perhaps fixed/stable trait. ^{^[2]}

Research with infants and toddlers demonstrates that mindsets about one’s abilities are already forming during the first three years of life and the type of praise received from caregivers is important in shaping a child’s mindset. Eighteen month old toddlers who have caregivers who use more effort-focused praise are more persistent in challenging tasks (Lucca, Horton & Sommerville, 2019). Toddlers who receive more ability-focused praise from their caregivers are more likely to have a growth mindset later in childhood as 7 to 8 year olds (Gunderson et al., 2013) and higher academic achievement in the fourth grade (Gunderson et al., 2018).

As caregivers of infants and toddlers, we not only need to be cognizant of how our praise affects childrens’ developing mindsets, but also the impact our personal mindsets can have. Recent research has focused on caregivers’ mindsets as a key factor that may shape caregiving behaviors and perspectives toward children (Justice et al., 2020). Caregivers’ mindsets refers to the beliefs that caregivers hold regarding whether children’s development is fixed or malleable as well as their belief of the importance of effort for learning (Sisk et al., 2018). ^{^[3]}

Recently, Rowe and Leech (2018) implemented a random-assignment experiment to examine use of a caregiver mindset intervention to improve caregivers’ non-verbal interactions with 10-month-old infants. Caregivers assigned to a training condition participated in training emphasizing the malleability of early language skills and that caregivers can play a key role in facilitating these skills through non-verbal interactions. Compared to caregivers in a control group, the trained caregivers interacted more frequently with their children at 12 months of age, and this effect was particularly strong for caregivers who originally had a fixed mindset. Such research suggests that caregiver mindset may be a key factor for improving children’s early experiences and development. To discover what your mindset is, (\PageIndex{1}\) presents a short Mindset assessment. ^{^[3]}

Example \(\PageIndex{1}\) Mindset activity

Directions: Select an answer for each of the eight questions.

“No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it a good deal”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“You can learn new things, but you cannot really change your basic level of intelligence”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“I like my work best when it makes me think hard”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“I like my work best when I can do it really well without too much trouble”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“I like work that I’ll learn from even if I make a lot of mistakes”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“I like my work best when I can do it perfectly without any mistakes”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“When something is hard, it just makes me want to work more on it, not less”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“To tell the truth, when I work hard, it makes me feel as though I’m not very smart”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot

Directions: Select an answer for each of the eight questions.

“No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it a good deal”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“You can learn new things, but you cannot really change your basic level of intelligence”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“I like my work best when it makes me think hard”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“I like my work best when I can do it really well without too much trouble”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“I like work that I’ll learn from even if I make a lot of mistakes”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“I like my work best when I can do it perfectly without any mistakes”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“When something is hard, it just makes me want to work more on it, not less”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot
“To tell the truth, when I work hard, it makes me feel as though I’m not very smart”
1. Disagree a lot
2. Disagree
3. Disagree a little
4. Agree a little
5. Agree
6. Agree a lot

Research suggests that mindsets begin developing during infancy and toddlerhood and that caregivers play a pivotal role in which mindset children develop. The type of praise we use is important. Caregivers should be aware of their praise and attempt to use more effort-focused praise in an attempt to help children develop a growth mindset. Using effort-focused praise with infants and toddlers is important as their mindsets are beginning to develop and effort-focused praise during the first three years is related to the development of a growth mindset and educational achievement later in childhood.

^{^[1]} Puusepp et al., (2021). Mindsets and neural mechanisms of automatic reactions to negative feedback in mathematics in elementary school students. Frontiers in Psychology, 3297. CC by 4.0

^{^[2]} Kakinuma et al., (2021). Praise affects the “Praiser”: effects of ability-focused vs. effort-focused praise on motivation. The Journal of Experimental Education, 1-22. CC by 4.0

^{^[3]} Justice et al., (2020). Parents’ growth mindsets and home-learning activities: A cross-cultural comparison of Danish and U.S. parents. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1365. CC by 4.0

^{^[4]} Burgoyne & Macnamara (2021). Reconsidering the use of the mindset assessment profile in educational contexts. Journal of Intelligence, 9(3), 39. CC by 4.0