09 FEB 2018 by ideonexus
Bias in Praise VS Punishment and Reversion to the Mean
I had the most satisfying Eureka experience of my career while attempting to teach flight instructors that praise is more effective than punishment for promoting skill-learning. When I had finished my enthusiastic speech, one of the most seasoned instructors in the audience raised his hand and made his own short speech, which began by conceding that positive reinforcement might be good for the birds, but went on to deny that it was optimal for flight cadets. He said, “On many occasions I ha... 1 
notes
notesUser Cortesoft has a good analogy for this:
"Flip 100 coins. Take the ones that 'failed' (landed tails) and scold them. Flip them again. Half improved! Praise the ones that got heads the first time. Flip them again. Half got worse :(
"Clearly, scolding is more effective than praising."
(source)
See also Regression Fallacy
21 APR 2014 by ideonexus
Praise a Child's Character Rather than Actions
The researchers randomly assigned the children to receive different types of praise. For some of the children, they praised the action: “It was good that you gave some of your marbles to those poor children. Yes, that was a nice and helpful thing to do.” For others, they praised the character behind the action: “I guess you’re the kind of person who likes to help others whenever you can. Yes, you are a very nice and helpful person.”
A couple of weeks later, when faced with more opp...
1 The opposite of telling a child they work hard instead of telling them they are "smart." Tell a child they are a good person when they do good things so that they internalize morality.
31 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Do Not Praise Your Children's Intelligence
On the successful completion of a test, they should not have said,“I’m so proud of you. You’re so smart. They should have said, “I’m so proud of you. You must have really studied hard”. This appeals to controllable effort rather than to unchangeable talent. It’s called “growth mindset” praise.
More than 30 years of study show that children raised in growth-mindset homes consistently outscore their fixed-mindset peers in academic achievement. They do better in adult life, t...
2 Praise them for working hard because they can control that.
