Titre du document / Document title

Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance

Auteur(s) / Author(s)

MUELLER C. M. ⁽¹⁾ ; DWECK C. S. ⁽¹⁾ ;

Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)

⁽¹⁾ Columbia University, ETATS-UNIS

Résumé / Abstract

Praise for ability is commonly considered to have beneficial effects on motivation. Contrary to this popular belief, six studies demonstrated that praise for intelligence had more negative consequences for students' achievement motivation than praise for effort. Fifth graders praised for intelligence were found to care more about performance goals relative to learning goals than children praised for effort. After failure, they also displayed less task persistence, less task enjoyment, more lowability attributions, and worse task performance than children praised for effort. Finally, children praised for intelligence described it as a fixed trait more than children praised for hard work, who believed it to be subject to improvement. These findings have important implications for how achievement is best encouraged, as well as for more theoretical issues, such as the potential cost of performance goals and the socialization of contingent self-worth.

Revue / Journal Title

Journal of personality and social psychology   ISSN 0022-3514   CODEN JPSPB2 

Source / Source

1998, vol. 75, n^o1, pp. 33-52 (1 p.1/4)

Langue / Language

Anglais

Editeur / Publisher

American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, ETATS-UNIS  (1965) (Revue)

Mots-clés anglais / English Keywords

Academic achievement ; Motivation ; Self perception ; Attribution ; Academic ability ; Attitude ; Personality development ; Child ; School age ; Human ;

Mots-clés français / French Keywords

Réussite scolaire ; Motivation ; Autoperception ; Attribution ; Aptitude scolaire ; Attitude ; Développement personnalité ; Enfant ; Age scolaire ; Eloge ; Homme ;

Mots-clés espagnols / Spanish Keywords

Logro escolar ; Motivación ; Autopercepción ; Atribución ; Aptitud escolar ; Actitud ; Desarrollo personalidad ; Niño ; Edad escolar ; Hombre ;

Localisation / Location

INIST-CNRS, Cote INIST : 13817, 35400007699508.0030