Study Notes on Parent Praise and Child Motivational Frameworks

Researchers Involved:
- Elizabeth A. Gunderson, University of Chicago.
- Sarah J. Gripshover, Carissa Romero, and Carol S. Dweck, Stanford University.
- Susan Goldin-Meadow and Susan C. Levine, University of Chicago.
Purpose: Investigate the long-term effects of parental praise on children’s motivational frameworks regarding traits and abilities.
Key Findings from Laboratory Studies:
- Praising children’s effort leads to:
- Incremental motivational frameworks.
- Beliefs that abilities are malleable.
- Attribution of success to hard work.
- Enjoyment of challenges.
- Development of improvement strategies.
- Praising children’s inherent abilities leads to:
- Fixed-ability frameworks.
Research Questions:
- How does parent praise at home relate to children's belief systems regarding traits?
- Do different types of praise have differing long-term effects on motivation and outcomes?

Motivational Frameworks:
- Differentiated into two types based on beliefs about attributes:
- Entity Theory: Traits are fixed; linked with helpless responses to challenges.
- Incremental Theory: Traits are malleable; linked with mastery-oriented responses.
Praise Types:
- Process Praise: Focus on effort/actions (e.g., "You worked hard!").
- Person Praise: Focus on intrinsic traits (e.g., "You're so smart!").
- Related Studies:
- Praise type influences children’s beliefs and behaviors in the short term.
- Not much research on long-term implications in natural settings.

Sample Size: 53 children (29 boys and 24 girls) age 14 to 38 months tracked over 5 years.
Praise Collection:
- Home visits every 4 months, assessing interactions during typical activities without direct instructions regarding praise.
Praise Coding:
- Praise utterances classified as:
1. Process Praise: Emphasizes effort.
2. Person Praise: Emphasizes fixed traits.
3. Other Praise: Non-specific positive feedback.
Thai of Data Analysis:
- Examine the frequency of different praise types and correlations with children’s motivational frameworks at age 7-8 years.

Socioeconomic Status (SES): Assessed via family income and primary caregiver’s education level.
Demographics:
- 64% White, 17% African American, 11% Hispanic, 8% two or more races.

Overall Frequency of Praise:
- Average 3.0% of total utterances; variance existed across families.
Praise Breakdown:
- Process Praise: 18% of praise utterances.
- Person Praise: 16% of praise utterances.
- Other Praise: 66% of praise utterances.
Longitudinal Consistency:
- Praise patterns established early remained stable over at least two years.
Gender Differences:
- Boys received significantly more Process Praise than girls, affecting motivational frameworks.
- Process Praise Percentage: Boys 24.4%, Girls 10.3%.

Assessed through questionnaires at ages 7-8 to determine traits stability, success/failure attributions, and strategy generation abilities.
Expected consistency across intelligence and sociomoral aspects.

Process Praise Correlation:
- Significant positive influence on later incremental frameworks (r(51) = .35, p = .01).
- Highlights the importance of parent praise style in shaping future beliefs about learning and abilities.
Person Praise Findings:
- No significant correlation with entity frameworks (r(51) = -0.05, p = .73).

Parents’ use of process praise predicts children’s incremental frameworks even five years later, showing a significant developmental trend.
Children who receive more process praise are more likely to endorse beliefs that abilities are malleable and to favor challenges and learning opportunities.
Notable takeaway: Effective interventions may focus on changing the nature of parental praise in early childhood to cultivate adaptive motivational behaviors in children.
Implications: Understanding the impact of praise can inform education and parenting practices, highlighting the need for a focus on effort rather than fixed traits.