We often call our children smart, intelligent and talented as a means to motivate them. But is this kind of praise really helping our children to improve and step out of their comfort zones? According to Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, not really.

Research to Back Her Claim

In 1998, Professor Dweck and her colleagues carried out a fascinating study in which they gave 400 fifth graders a series of tests, mostly puzzles. The researchers then praised the students using one of two sets of six words each. With half of the group they said, “You must be smart at this” and with the other half they said, “You must have tried really hard.”

The Difference in Praise

The first word set emphasised intelligence and innate talent, similar to how many of us parents and coaches get trapped into talking about, and to, our kids. We say how smart or how naturally gifted they are. The second word set praised effort, determination, preparation, and grit. Researchers were interested in how the kids would view their ability to improve their performance depending on the type of praise they got.

Choosing a Challenge

In the next round of puzzles, the kids were offered a choice of trying harder or easier problems. Surprisingly, the children praised for talent selected the easier problems while those praised for effort chose to attempt the harder ones. Why? While we might think that receiving praise for innate abilities would inspire confidence, instead Dweck found that our praise created a form of status or ego – a height from which to fall.

If people believe they have special talent and are expected to perform well, the thought of failing expectations becomes a liability. To protect their status as “gifted and talented” individuals, they will choose easier tasks to ensure they have high performance.

Facing Difficulties

In the next part of the study, both sets of kids were given harder problems to solve and both sets of kids performed poorly. Not surprising; but here’s the interesting thing… when the researchers asked the kids how they did on the problems, the kids praised for talent lied or exaggerated their performance almost 40% of the time – presumably to maintain their social status as “talented.” However, when the kids praised for effort were asked the same question, just 10% of them exaggerated their performance, presumably because their ego was not wrapped up in their performance. (read on below for the interesting findings of the study)

Ego Damaging Confidence?

Here’s where it gets really interesting. In the next phase of the study, both sets of kids were given problems comparable to the original set of problems. In terms of difficulty, this set was equally as challenging as the first. The group praised for talent had just had an ego setback in the earlier round and did significantly worse than they did the first time around. The second group, on the other hand, did much better – nearly 30 percent better this time around. For these kids, success was about effort, and failure just meant they needed to work harder instead of worrying about loss of status.

At Bravo, our focus is very much on inculcating a growth mindset among children. The effort to improve matters more than just results. Our goal is to not just develop technically proficient footballers, but also strong, resilient characters who are able to excel in every sphere of life whether it is the workplace, on the pitch or at home.

If you would like your child to become a better footballer and a more resilient person, call us on 9819337766 or 9819227766.

P.S. This 10-minute video below is fantastic for parents & educators like us because Carol Dweck presents us with evidence-based insights that can help our children do better in sport and in life. It has helped us so we hope it will help you too! 🙂