Parent Praise to 1‐ to 3‐Year‐Olds Predicts Children's Motivational Frameworks 5 Years Later

Abstract

In laboratory studies, praising children’s effort encourages them to adopt incremental motivational frameworks—they believe ability is malleable, attribute success to hard work, enjoy challenges, and generate strategies for improvement. In contrast, praising children’s inherent abilities encourages them to adopt fixed-ability frameworks. Does the praise parents spontaneously give children at home show the same effects? Although parents’ early praise of inherent characteristics was not associated with children’s later fixed-ability frameworks, parents’ praise of children’s effort at 14-38 months (N=53) did predict incremental frameworks at 7-8 years, suggesting that causal mechanisms identified in experimental work may be operating in home environments.

Strengths and Subjective Wellbeing in Adolescence: Strength-Based Parenting and the Moderating Effect of Mindset

“…Although certain studies have found correlations between growth mindset (towards intelligence) and aspects of subjective wellbeing (e.g., Chan 2012; Kern et al 2015), other studies found no relationship (Romero et al 2014). Most studies have examined the effects of mindset on motivation and achievement outcomes (Burnette et al 2013;Gunderson et al 2013), rather than happiness. This study therefore contributes to the scant and mixed existing literature on mindset by suggesting that in a large adolescent cohort, implicit person and strengths mindsets appear to have no significant direct connection with subjective wellbeing.…”

“…Extensive research indicates that mindsets are malleable, as they can be manipulated experimentally by phrasing of language or by quasi-education (e.g., Levy et al 1998;Mueller and Dweck 1998). One simple way that has been found to manipulate a child's mindset is through the type of praise given (Gunderson et al 2013). If a parent praises children by telling them that they are smart, this may be interpreted by the child as a sign that their success is due to innate traits; whereas if parents frame their praise such that the ''process'' of the act is emphasised (e.g., ''Well done, you tried really hard!'')…”

“…If a parent praises children by telling them that they are smart, this may be interpreted by the child as a sign that their success is due to innate traits; whereas if parents frame their praise such that the ''process'' of the act is emphasised (e.g., ''Well done, you tried really hard!'') children may interpret this to mean that their success is due to effort (Gunderson et al 2013). In this case we would suggest that parents provide feedback to their teens not only about what strengths the teenager has, but also how they can use their strengths in dynamic ways.…”

Does growth mindset improve children’s IQ, educational attainment or response to setbacks? Active-control interventions and data on children’s own mindsets

“…Mindset theories of cognitive ability and educational attainment predict that children's beliefs about whether basic ability is stable (fixed mindset) or can be changed substantially (growth mindset) impact causally on IQ (Mueller & Dweck, 1998) and achievement (Dweck, 2006), including educational attainment (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007;Dweck & Molden, 2000;Gunderson et al, 2013;Paunesku et al, 2015), with the strongest effects on the most challenging material (Good, Rattan, & Dweck, 2012). These findings have been widely cited, and have been recommended for adoption into "policy at all levels (federal, state, and local)…to lift the nation's educational outcomes" (Rattan, Savani, Chugh, & Dweck, 2015, p. 721).…”

“…As an outcome-variable, Mueller and Dweck (1998) used performance on a relatively easy set of items. Mindset is predicted not only to aid execution on tasks well within a subject's ability, but to grow that ability by precisely by improving processing-investment in tasks which are currently challenging (Blackwell et al, 2007;Dweck & Molden, 2000;Gunderson et al, 2013;Paunesku et al, 2015).…”