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Praise for Intelligence Can Undermine Children's Motivation and Performance

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Abstract

Praise for ability is commonly considered to have beneficial effects on motivation. Contrary to this popular belief, six studies demonstrated that praise for intelligence had more negative consequences for students' achievement motivation than praise for effort. Fifth graders praised for intelligence were found to care more about performance goals relative to learning goals than children praised for effort. After failure, they also displayed less task persistence, less task enjoyment, more low-ability attributions, and worse task performance than children praised for effort. Finally, children praised for intelligence described it as a fixed trait more than children praised for hard work, who believed it to be subject to improvement. These findings have important implications for how achievement is best encouraged, as well as for more theoretical issues, such as the potential cost of performance goals and the socialization of contingent self-worth.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
1998,
Vol. 75, No. 1, 33-52Copyright 1998 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
0022-3514/98/S3.00
Praise for Intelligence Can Undermine Children's
Motivation and Performance
Claudia M. Mueller and Carol S. Dweck
Columbia University
Praise for ability is commonly considered to have beneficial effects on motivation. Contrary to this
popular
belief,
six studies demonstrated that praise for intelligence had more negative consequences
for students' achievement motivation than praise for effort. Fifth graders praised for intelligence
were found to care more about performance goals relative to learning goals than children praised
for effort. After failure, they also displayed less task persistence, less task enjoyment, more low-
ability attributions, and worse task performance than children praised for effort. Finally, children
praised for intelligence described it as a fixed trait more than children praised for hard work,
who believed it to be subject to improvement. These findings have important implications for how
achievement is best encouraged, as well as for more theoretical issues, such as the potential cost of
performance goals and the socialization of contingent self-worth.
Praise for high ability is a common response to a job well
done. Whether it is on the sports field or in the classroom,
nothing seems more natural than to commemorate individuals'
achievements by applauding their abilities in some way. It is thus
unsurprising that this type of praise has been widely accepted as
a popular tool in the development and maintenance of individu-
als'
academic achievement motivation, behaviors, and strategies
(Brophy, 1981; Koestner, Zuckerman, & Koestner, 1987;
Schunk, 1983, 1994; cf. Delin & Baumeister, 1994; Kanouse,
Gumpert, & Canavan-Gumpert, 1981).
Praise for intelligence, in particular, has been targeted as play-
ing an important role in children's perceptions of their ability
and motivation to succeed. In one striking example, 85% of the
parents polled in a recent study believed that praising children's
ability (i.e., their intelligence) when they perform well on a
task is necessary to make them feel that they are smart
(Mueller & Dweck, 1996). Indeed, some child-care experts
claim that increasing children's beliefs that they "have the ca-
pacity" in this way will "turn on [their] 'go-power' " and help
motivate them to learn (Briggs, 1970).
In essence, one can identify a lay theory of achievement
motivation in which praise for intelligence makes children feel
smart and feeling smart, in turn, motivates learning. Thus, while
conventional wisdom for parenting may tell adults to criticize
the behavior but not the child, lest children learn to label them-
selves negatively (Briggs, 1970), the conventional wisdom for
praise is quite the opposite: The more we label children as
Claudia M. Mueller and Carol S. Dweck, Department of Psychology,
Columbia University.
We thank David Krantz, Geraldine Downey, Walter Mischel, Diane
Ruble, Harvey Hornstein, Jeremy Goodridge, and James Shah for helpful
comments on earlier versions of this article.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Carol
S. Dweck, Department of Psychology, Columbia University, 1190 Am-
sterdam Avenue, New %rk, New \brk 10027. Electronic mail may be
sent to dweck@psych.columbia.edu.
smart, the greater will be their enjoyment of and motivation for
achievement.
However, attributing children's good performance to intelli-
gence may have an undesired impact on children's overall
achievement. Some interesting research has documented that
ability praise after success can have a variety of negative ef-
fects when it leads children to believe the praise to be insincere
(Meyer, 1992; Meyer, Mittag, & Engler, 1986) and when it
leads them to feel pressured to produce future good perfor-
mance (Baumeister, Hutton, & Cairns, 1990; cf. Baumeister,
1984).
Although both of these effects may describe ways in
which ability-related praise influences children, the primary
focus of this article is on the direct effects that this praise has
on children's goals and on their interpretations of subsequent
achievement.
Consequences of Praise for Ability Given
After Good Performance
Praise for ability may negatively affect children's responses
to achievement situations in two different ways. Having their
good performance linked to high intelligence may influence
children by changing their goals for achievement and by altering
the attributions that they make for their performance.
First, praise for ability or intelligence may lead children to
adopt a performance goal orientation toward their achievement
in which the documentation of high ability levels through suc-
cessful performance becomes their primary motivational aim.
That is, telling children that they are smart when they perform
well may cause them to want to continue to prove that they are
intelligent by receiving high scores. Indeed, an emphasis on
grades and some types of verbal praise has been found to lead
children toward the assessment of their abilities through perfor-
mance (Butler, 1987, 1988).
This focus on performance can have negative consequences
for children's affect, cognitions, and behavior (Butler, 1987;
Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Elliott & Dweck, 1988; cf. Nicholls,
33
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