Feedback Strategies

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"Wikipedian Protester"
Great example of constructive feedback
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

I chose to focus on two articles which explored the potentially negative side effects of praise.
Presence, not Praise relates a study performed in 1998 which analyzed the effects of praise for intellect vs. praise for effort. The findings of this study support the idea that not all praise is equal; the children who were praised for effort approached their next set of problems with greater patience and a higher success rate than those who were praised for the sharpness of their intellect previously. In fact, the very act of acknowledging cleverness in many of these children was found to cause anxiety and fears of failure, reducing their ability to solve the next set of problems. This makes sound sense to me, and I think all parents should consider the praise factor while their children are still young. In a scholastic sense, this is also valuable advice. Stating that someone is a great author provides them with no useful data. It's flattering, but not necessarily valuable for someone looking to improve their work. Instead, I will endeavor to identify precisely what element of a text or paper was executed well, and to provide comments regarding specific ideas or phrases I particularly enjoyed.

The Difference Between Praise and Feedback has a similar message to Presence, not Praise, but also presents the argument that "conditional regard" in any capacity can negatively influence the development of children's autonomy. However, I find it difficult to imagine a parent capable of entirely silencing their feelings of pride or joy in the endeavors of their child. The advice given for parents struggling to avoid influencing their children in a negative fashion is to simply be attentive, and ask questions. The interest or curiosity shown regarding the activities of a child is indirectly praise in and of itself, but the best kind: it does not contain a judgement or value distinction, but indicates that the activity is both meaningful and interesting. I take much more pride in being asked "How did you do that?! Where did that idea come from?" than I do from hearing "Wow, great job."

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