Tuesday, September 17, 2013

How To Praise

Kind words are powerful motivators - if you praise the right things.

Praising intelligence has proven in some studies to result in children putting out less effort, due to the perfection it may imply and the resulting pressure to avoid any setback. Praising effort, on the other hand, promotes resilience.

Praise should be specific and sincere - and given generously. Workers asked to learn a task performed better the next day if they had been praised at the end of the previous day. To the brain, receiving a compliment is as much of a social reward as being given money.

There's "Thanks," and then there's

"Thanks for helping me with math! Your patience made me more comfortable than other tutors I've worked with."

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