Praise Process, Not Traits

November 16, 2005

Over the years I have worked with many capable and accomplished students and athletes. There were always some who seemed unwilling to risk making the mistakes that are often a necessary part of learning or developing a skill. Now, research is shedding light on how otherwise capable students can become risk-averse, while students who struggle can emerge as strong learners.

Recent studies by Carol S. Dweck (Columbia University), and others, examine the notion of how one's view of intelligence influences one's motivation to learn. Her work focuses on how one's view of intelligence and ability influences one's behaviors with respect to learning, academic challenge, and response to setbacks. Dweck and her colleagues have identified two broad views of intelligence. One view is that intelligence is a fixed quality and cannot be developed; the other view is that intelligence is a malleable quality that can be developed.

Dweck's research reveals evidence suggesting that students with a fixed view of intelligence tend to choose new tasks that are "safe." These students tend to place more value on appearing to look smart than learning something new. When these students perform poorly at a task, they are set back and often feel they cannot be successful at that task. They do not believe that hard work will make one good at something, and seem to "choose" failure over effort by engaging in self-defeating behaviors such as loss of interest, lack of initiative, procrastination and cheating.

On the other hand, students who see intelligence as a malleable quality want to learn new things, even at the risk of making errors. Setbacks signal them to approach the task differently by studying more, working harder or differently, or trying a new strategy. They believe that the harder one works, the better one will be; that effort powers their ability and achievement.

In one study it was noted that students with the malleable view of intelligence tended to transition well from one academic environment to another. Specifically, students moving from middle school to a more academically challenging high school were more likely to be successful if they had the malleable view of intelligence. Students with a fixed view, who were successful in middle school, often could not recover from the setbacks that new challenges brought them, while students with a malleable view of intelligence, who had difficulty in middle school, could become successful in high school.

Shedding light on the dynamic involved is a study at the University of Hong Kong where all classes, assignments, and examinations are in English. In that study (Hong, Chiu, Dweck, Lin, & Wan, 1999) the researchers assessed new students’ theories about their intelligence and obtained their scores on English proficiency exams. They then asked them if they would be willing to take a remedial English course, if offered. Students with low English proficiency and malleable intelligence said yes whereas students with low English proficiency and a fixed view of intelligence said they would not. These students seemed more willing to place their academic career in jeopardy than risk errors.

Dweck's research also supports the notion that one's view of intelligence can be influenced. Specifically, it shows that when a student's traits are praised (i.e. "you are smart, good at,” etc.), it reinforces and even develops the fixed view of intelligence in that student. In contrast, when a student's process is praised (i.e. "you worked hard, used a good strategy,”) it reinforces and develops the malleable view of intelligence in that student.

Some years ago a study in California examined why Chinese American children generally outperformed any other grouping of students in the area of academic achievement. The study observed that in Chinese American families, academic success was attributed to hard work, whereas in other families, academic success was attributed to being "smart" or "good at something." The recent research of Dweck and her colleagues supports this observation.

I believe that this same dynamic applies to all abilities. Although well-intended, a childhood of praises that focuses on traits can result in that child developing a fixed view of his intelligence and other abilities, leaving him unprepared to know how to respond when he is not as successful as he expects. However, praises that focus on process can result in that child developing a malleable view of his intelligence and abilities leaving him well prepared to face the challenges of an ever more rapidly changing world.

Recently, my 8 year old daughter proudly showed me a math test on which she had earned a grade of 100%. Rather than tell her she was smart, I commented on how carefully she must have worked on it, so as not to make any mistakes. It was music to my ears when I overheard her later showing her test to her older brother and saying, “I worked really carefully on this...."