In the article, How Not to Talk to Your Kids: The Inverse Power of Praise, praising children too much can have a negative effect on them. Children who are constantly told by the adults in their life that they are smart may cause them to not want to try things they won't be successful at. According to the article, a large percentage of all gifted students severely underestimate their own abilities and subsequently underrate the importance of effort.
The article suggests that "emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control...They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child's control, and it provides a no good recipe for responding to failure.". Those who can respond to failure with more effort next time and with persistence, rebound well and can sustain motivation longer. "A person who grows up getting too frequent rewards will not have persistence, because they'll quit when the rewards disappear."
Read the full article here.
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