The document discusses how praising a student's intelligence can have negative effects by promoting a fixed mindset, whereas praising effort and process promotes a growth mindset that leads to greater motivation, resilience, and achievement. Research shows an intervention teaching a growth mindset helped struggling middle school students improve their math grades compared to a control group who received a study skills intervention. Praising intelligence focuses students on judging their ability level while praising effort and process keeps them focused on engaging in learning.

1. The Perils and
The wrong kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior
The right kind motivates students to learn.
Carol S. Dweck to learn, and (2) students' inherent student's slide into failure during the
intelligence is the major cause of their vulnerable period of adolescence.
re often hear these achievement in school. Our research has
days that we've shown that the first belief is false and Fixed or Malleable?
that the second can be harmful-even Praise is intricately connected to how
tion of young people for the most competent students. students view their intelligence. Some
V V who can't get
produced a genera-
through the day without an award. They
As a psychologist, I have studied
student motivation for more than 35
students believe that their intellectual
ability is a fixed trait. They have a
expect success because they're special, years. My graduate students and I have certain amount of intelligence, and that's
not because they've worked hard. looked at thousands of children, asking that. Students with this fixed mind-set
Is this true? Have we inadvertently why some enjoy learning, even when it's become excessively concerned with how
done something to hold back our hard, and why they are resilient in the smart they are, seeking tasks that will
students? face of obstacles. We have learned a prove their intelligence and avoiding
I think educators commonly hold two great deal. Research shows us how to ones that might not (Dweck, 1999, 2006).
beliefs that do just that. Many believe praise students in ways that yield moti- The desire to learn takes a backseat.
that (1) praising students' intelligence vation and resilience. In addition, Other students believe that their
builds their confidence and motivation specific interventions can reverse a intellectual ability is something they can
34 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/OCTOBER 2007

2. develop through effort and education. aspects of intelligence can be enhanced The Two Faces of Effort
They don't necessarily believe that through learning (Sternberg, 2005); The fixed and growth mind-sets create
anyone can become an Einstein or a and that dedication and persistence in two different psychological worlds. In
Mozart, but they do understand that the face of obstacles are key ingredients the fixed mind-set, students care first
even Einstein and Mozart had to put in in outstanding achievement (Ericsson, and foremost about how they'll be
years of effort to become who they were. Charness, Feltovich, & Hoffman, judged: smart or not smart. Repeatedly,
When students believe that they can 2006). students with this mind-set reject
develop their intelligence, they focus on Alfred Binet (1909/1973), the opportunities to learn if they might
doing just that. Not worrying about inventor of the IQ test, had a strong make mistakes (Hong, Chiu, Dweck,
how smart they will appear, they take growth mind-set. He believed that Lin, & Wan, 1999; Mueller & Dweck,
on challenges and stick to them education could transform the basic 1998). When they do make mistakes or
(Dweck, 1999, 2006). capacity to learn. Far from intending to reveal deficiencies, rather than correct
More and more research in measure fixed intelligence, he meant his them, they try to hide them (Nussbaum
psychology and neuroscience supports test to be a tool for identifying students & Dweck, 2007).
the growth mind-set. We are discov- who were not profiting from the public They are also afraid of effort because
ering that the brain has more plasticity school curriculum so that other courses effort makes them feel dumb. They
over time than we ever imagined of study could be devised to foster their believe that if you have the ability, you
(Doidge, 2007); that fundamental intellectual growth. shouldn't need effort (Blackwell, Trzes-
Promises of Praise

3. niewski, & Dweck, 2007), that The Effects of Praise
ability should bring success all Many educators have hoped to
by itself. This is one of the maximize students' confidence
worst beliefs that students can in their abilities, their enjoyment
hold. It can cause many bright of learning, and their ability to
students to stop working in thrive in school by praising their
school when the curriculum intelligence. We've studied the
becomes challenging. effects of this kind of praise in
Finally, students in the fixed children as young as 4 years old
mind-set don't recover well and as old as adolescence, in
from setbacks. When they hit a students in inner-city and rural
setback in school, they decrease settings, and in students of
their efforts and consider different ethnicities-and we've
cheating (Blackwell et al., consistently found the same
2007). The idea of fixed intelli- thing (Cimpian, Arce, Markman,
gence does not offer them & Dweck, 2007; Kamins &
viable ways to improve. Dweck, 1999; Mueller &
Let's get inside the head of a Dweck, 1998): Praising
student with a fixed mind-set students' intelligence gives them
as he sits in his classroom, a short burst of pride, followed
confronted with algebra for the by a long string of negative
first time. Up until then, he consequences.
has breezed through math. In many of our studies (see
Even when he barely paid Mueller & Dweck, 1998), 5th
attention in class and skimped grade students worked on a
on his homework, he always task, and after the first set of
got As. But this is different. It's problems, the teacher praised
hard. The student feels anxious and who has a growth mind-set-having her some of them for their intelligence ("You
thinks, "What if I'm not as good at math first encounter with algebra. She finds it must be smart at these problems") and
as I thought? What if other kids under- new, hard, and confusing, unlike others for their effort ("You must have
stand it and I don't?" At some level, he anything else she has ever learned. But worked hard at these problems"). We
realizes that he has two choices: try she's determined to understand it. She then assessed the students' mind-sets. In
hard, or turn off. His interest in math listens to everything the teacher says, one study, we asked students to agree or
begins to wane, and his attention asks the teacher questions after class, disagree with mind-set statements, such
wanders. He tells himself, "Who cares and takes her textbook home and reads as, "Your intelligence is something basic
about this stuff? It's for nerds. I could do the chapter over twice. As she begins to about you that you can't really change."
it if I wanted to, but it's so boring. You get it, she feels exhilarated. A new world Students praised for intelligence agreed
don't see CEOs and sports stars solving of math opens up for her. with statements like these more than
for x and y." It is not surprising, then, that when students praised for effort did. In
By contrast, in the growth mind-set, we have followed students over chal- another study, we asked students to
students care about learning. When they lenging school transitions or courses, we define intelligence. Students praised for
make a mistake or exhibit a deficiency, find that those with growth mind-sets intelligence made significantly more
they correct it (Blackwell et al., 2007; outperform their classmates with fixed references to innate, fixed capacity,
Nussbaum & Dweck, 2007). For them, mind-sets-even when they entered whereas the students praised for effort
effort is a positive thing: It ignites their with equal skills and knowledge. A made more references to skills, knowl-
intelligence and causes it to grow. In the growth mind-set fosters the growth of edge, and areas they could change
face of failure, these students escalate ability over time (Blackwell et al., 2007; through effort and learning. Thus, we
their efforts and look for new learning Mangels, Butterfield, Lamb, Good, & found that praise for intelligence tended
strategies. Dweck, 2006; see also Grant & Dweck, to put students in a fixed mind-set
Let's look at another student-one 2003). (intelligence is fixed, and you have it),
36 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/OCTOBER 2007

4. whereas praise for effort tended to put and the like) fosters hardy motivation. It thing more challenging that you can
them in a growth mind-set (you're tells students what they've done to be learn from." We don't want to make
developing these skills because you're successful and what they need to do to something done quickly and easily the
working hard). be successful again in the future. basis for our admiration.
We then offered students a chance to Process praise sounds like this: What about a student who works
work on either a challenging task that w You really studied for your English hard and doesn't do well? I would say, "I
they could learn from or an easy one test, and your improvement shows it. liked the effort you put in. Let's work
that ensured error-free performance. You read the material over several times, together some more and figure out what
Most of those praised for intelligence outlined it, and tested yourself on it. you don't understand." Process praise
wanted the easy task, whereas most of That really worked! keeps students focused, not on some-
those praised for effort wanted the chal- * I like the way you tried all kinds of thing called ability that they may or may
lenging task and the opportunity to strategies on that math problem until not have and that magically creates
learn. you finally got it. success or failure, but on processes they
Next, the students worked on some can all engage in to learn.
challenging problems. As a group,
students who had been praised for their Motivated to Learn
intelligence lost their confidence in their Finding that a growth mind-set creates
ability and their enjoyment of the task motivation and resilience-and leads to
as soon as they began to struggle with higher achievement-we sought to
the problem. If success meant they were develop an intervention that would
smart, then struggling meant they were teach this mind-set to students. We
not. The whole point of intelligence decided to aim our intervention at
praise is to boost confidence and moti- students who were making the transi-
vation, but both were gone in a flash. tion to 7th grade because this is a time
Only the effort-praised kids remained, of great vulnerability. School often gets
on the whole, confident and eager. more difficult in 7th grade, grading
When the problems were made some- becomes more stringent, and the envi-
what easier again, students praised for ronment becomes more impersonal.
intelligence did poorly, having lost their Many students take stock of themselves
confidence and motivation. As a group, and their intellectual abilities at this
they did worse than they had done time and decide whether they want to
initially on these same types of prob- be involved with school. Not surpris-
lems. The students praised for effort ingly, it is often a time of disengagement
showed excellent performance and and plunging achievement.
continued to improve. We performed our intervention in a
Finally, when asked to report their New York City junior high school in
scores (anonymously), almost 40 mIt was a long, hard assignment, but which many students were struggling
percent of the intelligence-praised you stuck to it and got it done. You with the transition and were showing
students lied. Apparently, their egos stayed at your desk, kept up your plummeting grades. If students learned
were so wrapped up in their perform- concentration, and kept working. That's a growth mind-set, we reasoned, they
ance that they couldn't admit mistakes. great! might be able to meet this challenge
Only about 10 percent of the effort- * I like that you took on that chal- with increased, rather than decreased,
praised students saw fit to falsify their lenging project for your science class. It effort. We therefore developed an eight-
results. will take a lot of work--doing the session workshop in which both the
Praising students for their intelli- research, designing the machine, buying control group and the growth-mind-set
gence, then, hands them not motivation the parts, and building it. You're going group learned study skills, time
and resilience but a fixed mind-set with to learn a lot of great things. management techniques, and memory
all its vulnerability. In contrast, effort or What about a student who gets an A strategies (Blackwell et al., 2007).
"process" praise (praise for engagement, without trying? I would say, "All right, However, in the growth-mind-set
perseverance, strategies, improvement, that was too easy for you. Let's do some- intervention, students also learned
ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 37

5. about their brains and what they could getting Cs and lower previously). connections." One student referred to
do to make their intelligence grow. Other researchers have obtained the value of effort: "If you do not give
They learned that the brain is like a similar findings with a growth-mind-set up and you keep studying, you can find
muscle-the more they exercise it, the intervention. Working with junior high your way through."
stronger it becomes. They learned that school students, Good, Aronson, and Adolescents often see school as a
every time they try hard and learn Inzlicht (2003) found an increase in place where they perform for teachers
something new, their brain forms new math and English achievement test who then judge them. The growth
connections that, over time, make them scores; working with college students, mind-set changes that perspective and
smarter. They learned that intellectual Aronson, Fried, and Good (2002) found makes school a place where students
development is not the natural an increase in students' valuing of vigorously engage in learning for their
unfolding of intelligence, but rather the academics, their enjoyment of school- own benefit.
formation of new connections brought work, and their grade point averages.
about through effort and learning. To facilitate delivery of the growth- Going Forward
Students were riveted by this infor- mind-set workshop to students, we Our research shows that educators
mation. The idea that their intellectual developed an interactive computer- cannot hand students confidence on a
growth was largely in their hands fasci- silver platter by praising their intelli-
nated them. In fact, even the most gence. Instead, we can help them gain
disruptive students suddenly sat still the tools they need to maintain their
and took notice, with the most unruly When students confidence in learning by keeping them
boy of the lot looking up at us and focused on the process of achievement.
saying, "You mean I don't have to be believe that they Maybe we have produced a genera-
dumb?" tion of students who are more
Indeed, the growth-mind-set message can develop their dependent, fragile, and entitled than
appeared to unleash students' motiva- previous generations. If so, it's time for
tion. Although both groups had experi- intelligence, they us to adopt a growth mind-set and learn
enced a steep decline in their math from our mistakes. It's time to deliver
grades during their first months of focus on doing interventions that will truly boost
junior high, those receiving the growth- students' motivation, resilience, and
mind-set intervention showed a signifi- just that. learning. M
cant rebound. Their math grades
improved. Those in the control group, References
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Intelligence praise can undermine motiva- Give your students the foundational skills
tion and performance. Journal of Person-
ality and Sodal Psychology, 75, 33-52. they need to become lifelong readers!
Nussbaum, A. D., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Read Well, the comprehensive K-1 reading curriculum:
Defensiveness vs. remediation: Self-
theories and modes of self-esteem mainte- "•
Addresses the key elements of Reading First
nance. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin. "*
Teaches literacy to mastery
Sternberg, R. (2005). Intelligence, compe- "*
Meets individual student needs
tence, and expertise. In A. Elliot & C. S.
Dweck (Eds.), The handbook of competence "*
Accelerates fluency across skill levels
and motivation (pp. 15-30). New York:
Guilford Press.
Visit www.readwell.net/fcrr
to read the new Florida Center
Carol S. Dweck is the Lewis and Virginia
Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stan- M SoprisWest' for Reading Research review
ford University and the author of EDUCATIONAL SERVICES of Read Well.
Mindset: The New Psychology of A Cambium Learning Company www.sopriswest.com (800) 547-6747
Success (Random House, 2006).
ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

7. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
TITLE: The Perils and Promises of Praise
SOURCE: Educ Leadership 65 no2 O 2007
The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it
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