title: "That's not just beautiful--that's incredibly beautiful!": the adverse impact of inflated praise on children with low self-esteem.
abstract: In current Western society, children are often lavished with inflated praise (e.g., "You made an incredibly beautiful drawing!"). Inflated praise is often given in an attempt to raise children's self-esteem. An experiment (Study 1) and naturalistic study (Study 2) found that adults are especially inclined to give inflated praise to children with low self-esteem. This inclination may backfire, however. Inflated praise might convey to children that they should continue to meet very high standards-a message that might discourage children with low self-esteem from taking on challenges. Another experiment (Study 3) found that inflated praise decreases challenge seeking in children with low self-esteem and has the opposite effect on children with high self-esteem. These findings show that inflated praise, although well intended, may cause children with low self-esteem to avoid crucial learning experiences.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Psychology, Utrecht University.
authors.forename: Eddie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brummelman
authors.forename: Sander
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thomaes
authors.forename: Bram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Orobio de Castro
authors.forename: Geertjan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Overbeek
authors.forename: Brad J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Bushman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012201:Reward; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: challenge seeking; childhood development; educational psychology; inflated praise; interpersonal interaction; late childhood; motivation; self-esteem