On feeding those hungry for praise: person praise backfires in children with low self-esteem.
@article{Brummelman2014OnFT, title={On feeding those hungry for praise: person praise backfires in children with low self-esteem.}, author={Eddie Brummelman and Sander Thomaes and Geertjan Overbeek and Bram Orobio de Castro and Marcel A. van den Hout and Brad J. Bushman}, journal={Journal of experimental psychology. General}, year={2014}, volume={143 1}, pages={ 9-14 } }
Child-rearing experts have long believed that praise is an effective means to help children with low self-esteem feel better about themselves. But should one praise these children for who they are, or for how they behave? Study 1 (N = 357) showed that adults are inclined to give children with low self-esteem more person praise (i.e., praise for personal qualities) but less process praise (i.e., praise for behavior) than they give children with high self-esteem. This inclination may backfire…
63 Citations
The Praise Paradox: When and Why Praise Backfires in Children With Low Self‐Esteem
- Psychology
- 2016
In contemporary Western society, many adults use praise to boost children's self-esteem. Accordingly, they might praise those who seem to need it the most: children with low self-esteem. In this…
How Do Adults Praise Children With Low Self-Esteem?
- Psychology, Education
- 2014
In current Western society, children are often lavished with inflated praise (e.g., “You made an incredibly beautiful drawing!”). Inflated praise is often given in an attempt to raise children’s…
The Adverse Impact of Inflated Praise on Children With Low Self-Esteem Brummelman,
- Psychology
- 2014
In current Western society, children are often lavished with inflated praise (e.g., “You made an incredibly beautiful drawing!”). Inflated praise is often given in an attempt to raise children’s…
“That’s Not Just Beautiful—That’s Incredibly Beautiful!”
- Psychology, EducationPsychological science
- 2014
Findings show that inflated praise, although well intended, may cause children with low self-esteem to avoid crucial learning experiences.
The effects of praise on children’s intrinsic motivation revisited
- PsychologyPsychological Perspectives on Praise
- 2020
Praise is a complex social communication with the potential to either enhance or undermine children’s intrinsic motivation depending on a set of conceptual variables. In this chapter, we revisit the…
Helping Children Build Inner-Driven Self-Esteem by Turning Praise into Encouragement
- Psychology
- 2014
In order to test the efficacy of praise for boosting self-esteem and strengthening motivation for mastering difficult task, scientists have looked into various types of positive feedback given to…
My child is God's gift to humanity: development and validation of the Parental Overvaluation Scale (POS).
- PsychologyJournal of personality and social psychology
- 2015
A concise self-report scale to measure individual differences in parental overvaluation, the Parental Overvaluation Scale (POS), is developed and found to have high test-retest stability over 6, 12, and 18 months and good convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity.
The specificity of parenting effects: Differential relations of parent praise and criticism to children's theories of intelligence and learning goals.
- PsychologyJournal of experimental child psychology
- 2018
The Negative Effect of Ability-Focused Praise on the “Praiser’s” Intrinsic Motivation: Face-to-Face Interaction
- Psychology, EducationFrontiers in Psychology
- 2020
The present finding indicates that ability-focused praise negatively affects the praiser’s intrinsic motivation and suggests that praise should be used with caution in social and educational contexts.
Effects of Gender and Type of Praise on Task Performance Among Undergraduates
- Education, Psychology
- 2015
*Faculty mentor Despite the fact that the United States is considered to be a world power, when compared globally, American students rank 25th in math and 14th in reading (Jones, 2010). Clearly, even…
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 35 REFERENCES
Person versus process praise and criticism: implications for contingent self-worth and coping.
- PsychologyDevelopmental psychology
- 1999
Two studies tested the hypothesis that both criticism and praise that conveyed person or trait judgments could send a message of contingent worth and undermine subsequent coping and indicated that children displayed significantly more "helpless" responses on all dependent measures after person criticism or praise than after process praise.
Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance.
- PsychologyJournal of personality and social psychology
- 1998
Six studies demonstrated that praise for intelligence had more negative consequences for students' achievement motivation than praise for effort, and children praised for intelligence described it as a fixed trait more than children praising for hard work, who believed it to be subject to improvement.
The effects of praise on children's intrinsic motivation: a review and synthesis.
- PsychologyPsychological bulletin
- 2002
The authors argue against a purely behavioral definition of praise as verbal reinforcement in favor of the view that praise may serve to undermine, enhance, or have no effect on children's intrinsic…
Self-esteem : the puzzle of low self-regard
- Psychology
- 1993
Foundations: Who Am I? J.D. Campbell, L.F. Lavallee. Low Self-Esteem S.J. Spencer, et al. The Social Motivations of People with Low Self-Esteem D.M. Tice. Self-Esteem and Self-Serving Biases in…
Self-Presentational Motivations and Personality Differences in Self-Esteem
- Psychology
- 1989
ABSTRACT This article discusses the interpersonal motivations associated with different levels of self-esteem. Although self-esteem literally refers to an intrapsychic attitude, we propose that…
Parent praise to 1- to 3-year-olds predicts children's motivational frameworks 5 years later.
- PsychologyChild development
- 2013
Although parents' early praise of inherent characteristics was not associated with children's later fixed-ability frameworks, parents' praise of children's effort at 14-38 months did predict incremental frameworks at 7-8 years, suggesting that causal mechanisms identified in experimental work may be operating in home environments.
Causes and Consequences of Low Self-Esteem in Children and Adolescents
- Psychology
- 1993
The preceding comments from studies of young people by myself and colleagues are personally very distressing. Theoretically, they are perplexing. It is commonly asserted in the literature that the…
Turning shame inside-out: "humiliated fury" in young adolescents.
- PsychologyEmotion
- 2011
Results corroborate clinical theory holding that shameful events can initiate instances of humiliated fury and make children angry, especially more narcissistic children.
Need for approval and children's well-being.
- PsychologyChild development
- 2005
This research examined the hypothesis that a tendency to base one's self-worth on peer approval is associated with positive and negative aspects of children's well-being and confirmed that need for approval is a two-dimensional construct composed of positive (enhanced self- Worth in the face of social approval) and negative (diminished self- worth in the faces of social disapproval) approval-based self-appraisals.
Self-esteem and "if . . . then" contingencies of interpersonal acceptance.
- PsychologyJournal of personality and social psychology
- 1996
It is demonstrated that the reaction-time pattern was stronger for people who had recently been primed with a highly contingent relationship, as opposed to one based more on unconditional acceptance, which contributes to a social-cognitive formulation of the role of relational schemas in the social construction of self-esteem.