Lecture 14 - Praise

Question 1

Prof’s stories

Answer 1

Overpraised one of his nephew’s drawings
Giving person praise
Realized he probably made his other nephew feel bad

Prof’s basketball story
Holy Child Basketball game
5th or 7th grade
Cool coach
Praised by cool coach, made him like basketball even more
Praised by idealized figure

Richard called
before his 8th grade
class
Praise by Sister Marie Albert in 8th grade
He won a scholarship in front of the whole class
She said he used to be lazy but her efforts to make him better had succeeded
Felt very awkward
Strict controlling figure, more negative impact

Question 2

Common functions of praise

Answer 2

 Create Bond
 Motivate
 Protect
 Manipulate

Question 3

Important issues about praise

Answer 3

 Determining the motivational impact of praise
is a complex question which depends on
how the praise is interpreted:
– Type of relationship (ex: coach he idealized vs. controlling Sister Marie);
– Type of praise;
– Age (some better suited for younger vs older), gender (some praise better for girls and for boys), cultural background;
– Public nature (like in front of his 8th grade class)

Question 4

Praise according to Brophy

Answer 4

II. Classic article by Brophy from 1981
 Praise = to commend the worth of someone’s
behavior or to express approval or admiration.
 Common assumption: praise = verbal reinforcement.
 But, Praise will act as reinforcement only if it is:
 –>contingent (close in time)
–> specific
–> credible (ie, sincere, varied, and believable).

 “Students do not actually need praise to master the
curriculum, to acquire acceptable role behaviors or
even to develop healthy self-concepts.”
 Teacher praise is a weak reinforcer, especially after age 8,
when kids get out of the adult-pleasing mode.
-Not only weak reinforcer, but undermining intrinsic motivation
-The number 1 motivator is personal goals

Question 5

Observational studies

Answer 5

 Q. Does praise function
as a reinforcer?
 Q. If teacher praise is not
part of a systematic
reinforcement effort, what
function does it serve?

Types/functions of praise:

1-Positive guidance… nice teachers (like Sister Julia in 5th grade) (but not very specific or contingent): you’re always here on time, you participate well, you’re doing a good job

2-Transition ritual… that’s great, that’s enough (moving on)

3-Balance for criticism… sandwich method/oreo technique… finding something that’s not academic or behavioural to praise for kids who are bad at school and bullies… trying to balance out their bad behaviour with praise
Or ex: if telling someone about what they did wrong, might sandwich it between positive comments
… not always very credible, can seem condescending
Kind of cowardly, not really communicating the issue

First two points don’t do much damage, but 3rd one can (insincere)

4- Ice breaker or peace offering…
To let the kid know that they can resume activity with the class

5-Consolation prize or as encouragement…
Brandon intellectually disabled
Get praised kind of out of pity (for encouragement)
Eventually kid realizes being praised for easy things
Makes kid feel incompetent

6- Vindication of predictions
That’s great, I told you you could do it if you just listened to me

7-attempted vicarious reinforcement
“you should be more like Michael”… use someone else as an ideal
-makes them feel used
-puts pressure to succeed
-makes them become targets to bullying

8-Student-elicited stroking
Student makes the teacher say positive things to them (brown-nose)
Larry… “I managed to solve this difficult problem you created, which was very clever btw” “Wow good job Larry”

9- Spontaneous expression of surprise or admiration
Occurs randomly
The only one that is a true reinforcer
Spontaneous, genuine, specific
“Wow that drawing is really good!”

Question 6

Teachers’ Reponses to Brophy’s conclusions (slide 4)

Answer 6

 But don’t children need to receive feedback
on their performance in order to learn?
-Response: Praise isn’t feedback

 But isn’t it important to create a warm
classroom environment?
-Yes, but praise isn’t what creates a warm classroom environment

 But is it not important to encourage children
so that they feel optimistic and confident?
-Yes, encouragement is great, but is not praise

Question 7

Reviews of lab studies

Answer 7

 Deci et al., 1999
 Henderlong &
Lepper, 2002

Praise is…
 Distinct from:
– Performance feedback
– Warmth/Encouragement
 Key Issues
– Competence and control, (Will it make the kid feel competent and not controlled?)
– Theories of ability (Giving ability praise much worse than giving process praise)
– Short-term/long-term effects,
– Intrinsic/extrinsic motivation

Question 8

Process vs. Person-Praise

Answer 8

How students who work with kids
react to this lecture?
 Try some different approaches and see what
happens.
 Process vs Person-Praise
 A different kind of sandwich for constructive
feedback.

Parent Praise to Toddlers Predicts Fourth Grade
Academic Achievement via Children’s Incremental
Mindsets; Dweck 2018

Parent praise sampled in 90 min naturalistic observations in child’s
home at ages 14,26, and 38 months
Process Praise: Emphasizing children’s effort (e.g., “good job trying
to put that back”),strategies (e.g., “I like it when you do it all different
colors”), or specific actions (e.g., “great catch”)
Person Praise: Indicates that the child had a fixed, positive quality,
for example, “Good girl” and “Let’s show her how smart you are.”
*Measure mother’s own beliefs
about malleability.
Malleable beliefs that the kid has that is the mediator

Question 9

Carol Dweck’s advice

Answer 9

Avoid giving praise if isn’t spontaneous
If going to give praise, make process-focused
Instead of giving praise, ask questions, make comments about the work, start a discussion (ex: Who are those people on the drawing? Tell me about this…)

Instead of jumping to praise about daughter’s drawing of their family in wedding outfits, prof learned more about his daughter. Learned that his daughter wanted her parents to put on their wedding outfits and take pictures with her as the flower girl

Tennis instructor example
Less reward and competition and praise
Kids seemed happier

Question 10

How to give corrective feedback?

Answer 10

 “Joelle Carpentier on
coaches’ “changeoriented feedback.”
 An empathy sandwich
instead of a praise
sandwich.
 Indicates behaviors that need to
be modified so that athlete can
achieve their goals.
– Show empathy with the challenge.
– Choice of solutions to correct
problems.
– Free from person-related statements.
– Given in a considerate tone of voice
– End with empathy about the difficulty
of changing ingrained habits.