Gunderson et al. (2013) Parent Praise Shapes Future Motivation

Overview of Parent Praise and Its Impact

  • Do Now Questions:

    • How are boys and girls praised differently?

    • Impact of this on their development?

    • What motivates children to persevere despite challenges?

Study Context

  • Gunderson et al. (2013): Examines how parental praise shapes children's motivational frameworks.

  • Learning Outcomes:

    • Understand different parental praise types (process vs. person).

    • Evaluate Gunderson et al.'s study methodology.

Background on Parent Praise and Motivation

  • Effect of Praise:

    • Influences children's beliefs and future behavior.

    • Praising effort associated with a growth mindset (Dweck).

Types of Praise

Person Praise

  • Focused on innate qualities.

  • Tends to create a fixed mindset (entity theory).

  • Examples:

    • "You're so smart!"

    • "You're good at this."

    • "You're a great artist."

Process Praise

  • Focused on behavior and effort.

  • Encourages a growth mindset (incremental theory).

  • Examples:

    • "You worked hard on that!"

    • "You're doing a good job."

    • "You solved that problem well."

Frameworks in Motivation

  • Person Praise: Emphasizes individual attributes.

  • Process Praise: Highlights actions and effort.

  • Entity Theory: Abilities viewed as fixed.

  • Incremental Theory: Abilities viewed as developable.

Research Design of Gunderson et al. (2013)

  • Examined real-life interactions to compare praise types with previous experimental findings.

  • Aim to assess the influence of different praise types over time and across genders.

Gender Differences in Praise

  • Boys: More likely to receive process praise and view abilities as changeable.

  • Girls: More likely to receive person praise, leading to a fixed mindset.

Study Methodology

  • Participants: 53 children (29 boys, 24 girls) and their caregivers from Chicago.

  • Duration: Observations conducted at ages 14, 26, and 38 months, followed by assessments at ages 7-8.

  • Assessment tools: Surveys for intelligence beliefs and moral reasoning.

Key Findings of Gunderson et al. (2013)

Parental Praise Patterns

  • Overall Praise Rate: 3% of parental comments

    • Process Praise: 0.59% of total utterances; 18% of praise.

    • Person Praise: 0.45% of total utterances; 16% of praise.

    • Other Praise: 66% of praise (1.97% of utterances).

Gender Disparities

  • Boys received 24.4% of their praise as process praise.

  • Girls received 10.3% of their praise as process praise.

  • This disparity suggests boys develop more incremental frameworks.

Impact on Beliefs

  • Increased process praise correlates with a belief in the value of effort.

  • Process praise resulted in stronger beliefs about intelligence and moral reasoning.

  • No significant effect of person praise on developing a fixed mindset.

Conclusions

  • Clear link between process praise and an incremental (growth) mindset.

  • Boys received more process praise leading to a more growth-oriented perspective than girls.

  • Girls often attribute failures to lack of ability, which can hinder motivation.

Methodological Assessment

Strengths

  • Conducted in naturalistic environments to enhance ecological validity.

  • Double-Blind Procedure reduces bias in data collection.

Limitations

  • Ethical issues related to deception in study aims.

  • Potential for demand characteristics affecting parental praise behavior.

  • Limited generalizability due to small and specific sample size from Chicago.

Important Terminology

  • Growth Mindset: Belief in developing abilities through effort.

  • Fixed Mindset: Belief that ability is static and unchangeable.

  • Incremental Theory: Orientation towards ability as developable vs. inherent.

  • Entity Theory: Ability viewed as fixed traits.

Exam Review Questions

  • Various multiple-choice questions assessing understanding of concepts discussed and key findings from Gunderson et al.'s study.