1
Running head: PRAISING BACKFIRES
9
PRAISING BACKFIRES
The Effects of Praising Children
Zinnia Sandoval
University of California, Davis
HDE 102
Paul Hasting
Abstract
Parents are using praise on their children in order for them to gain moral development; however, this has led to both negative and positive consequences depending on the type of praise they are getting. Brummelman demonstrated that child-rearing specialists have believed that praise is a positive way to help children with low self-esteem feel better as an individual. However, he was uncertain on whether a child should be praised for who they are, or for how they behaved (Brummelman et al., 2014). Simple interactions, like telling children that they are great at doing certain tasks, can either lead to harming or positively motivating them. Praising is like shaping a child's perception of thinking that is shown upon their understanding and reaction to the praise. Muller and Dweck (1998) argued that giving praise for intelligence has more negative consequences for students' achievement motivation than praise for effort (Muller et al.,
Esteem (album)
Praise You
a phonetic element in hieroglyphs: "Everybody-(bas...1998). Although, positive reinforcements strengthens behaviors wanted which can never be proven wrong, I want to evaluate the theoretical and empirical evidence and prove the fact that praising children, and the misuse of positive reinforcement can lead to negative outcomes in children's moral development.
The Effects of Praising Children
The word praise for most have a positive connotation. When there is praise towards a child there is positive feedback for doing something well or something that is desired. Encouraging children to finish any task requires a positive response from an adult. These positive responses, inflated praises, are the foundation to a child's motivation. However, I find it interesting in seeing how the differences in individuals lead to different reactions to praising. What is even more interesting is...