Person versus process praise and criticism: implications for contingent self-worth and coping.
Conventional wisdom suggests that praising a child as a whole or praising his or her traits is beneficial. Two studies tested the hypothesis that both criticism and praise that conveyed person or trait judgments could send a message of contingent worth and undermine subsequent coping. In Study 1, 67 children (ages 5-6 years) role-played tasks involving a setback and received 1 of 3 forms of criticism after each task: person, outcome, or process criticism. In Study 2, 64 children role-played successful tasks and received either person, outcome, or process praise. In both studies, self-assessments, affect, and persistence were measured on a subsequent task involving a setback. Results indicated that children displayed significantly more "helpless" responses (including self-blame) on all dependent measures after person criticism or praise than after process criticism or praise. Thus person feedback, even when positive, can create vulnerability and a sense of contingent self-worth.
Kamins
M L
ML
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
Dweck
C S
CS
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012381:Role Playing; D012649:Self Concept; D013060:Speech