Published Study

Improving the academic performance of college freshmen: Attribution theory revisited

Improving the performance of college freshmen with attributional techniques

In the mind of the actor: The structure of adolescents’ achievement task values and expectancy-related beliefs

Latent ability: Grades and test scores systematically underestimate the intellectual ability of negatively stereotyped students

Parent praise to 1- to 3-year-olds predicts children’s motivational frameworks 5 years later

Person vs. process praise and criticism: Implications for contingent self-worth and coping

Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and performance

Researchers gave 128 fifth graders a set of math problems. All were told they did well, but some were told they did well because they “must be smart,” while others were told they “must have worked hard.” Still others were not praised at all. To inject a psychological hurdle and test for perseverance, the students were then given a second test and told they’d performed poorly. They were then asked whether they wanted to try again. The children initially praised for intelligence were significantly less interested in persisting than the others.

Promoting interest and performance in high school science classes