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Kids Praised for Being Smart are More Likely to Cheat (ucsd.edu)
An anonymous reader quotes the University of California:
An international team of researchers reports that when children are praised for being smart not only are they quicker to give up in the face of obstacles, they are also more likely to be dishonest and cheat. Kids as young as age 3 appear to behave differently when told "You are so smart" vs. "You did very well this time"...
The research builds on well-known work by Stanford's Carol Dweck, author of "Mindset," who has shown that praising a child's innate ability instead of the child's effort or a specific behavior has the unintended consequence of reducing their motivation to learn and their ability to deal with setbacks... In another study, published recently in Developmental Science, the same co-authors show that the consequences are similar even when children are not directly praised for their smarts but are merely told that they have a reputation for being smart.
Then again, another study found that students also performed better in school if you paid them to get good grades.
The research builds on well-known work by Stanford's Carol Dweck, author of "Mindset," who has shown that praising a child's innate ability instead of the child's effort or a specific behavior has the unintended consequence of reducing their motivation to learn and their ability to deal with setbacks... In another study, published recently in Developmental Science, the same co-authors show that the consequences are similar even when children are not directly praised for their smarts but are merely told that they have a reputation for being smart.
Then again, another study found that students also performed better in school if you paid them to get good grades.
same thing
... it's that they're smart enough to know that repetitive memorization and standardized test taking are meaningless. Schools are run like businesses rather than institutes of learning and these smart young people are just preparing to bullshit their way through some meaningless job for even less meaningful bosses. Mastering the art of cheating is one of the top tier skills anyone can master. Kudos to them!
And if you're a teenager reading this, don't do it to yourself!
Here's what can happen:
You get told you're smart and start to build your self-worth and identity around that.
You avoid practicing activities that you aren't naturally good at, because it threatens your misguided self-image.
You start assuming you just know the answers without checking them against reality, missing valuable feedback on "smart" activities that would improve you.
If you go to university, you waste time with "Ps make degrees" (passes make degrees if the idiom isn't familiar) thinking, and waste that precious time that you could be learning coasting along on being "smart".
You go out into a world full mostly of older people who are more talented than you in every dimension. Some of them were "smarter" than you even before gaining decades of experience. Gasp!
Many of your peers who aren't as "smart" as you go on to be highly happy and successful in what they are good at by working at it. Egad!
Some of your peers who weren't as "smart" as you studied and/or worked hard and _became_ "smarter" than you in the process. Zounds!
You belatedly, as an adult, realise that you need a remedial class in putting effort in instead of coasting along on being naturally "smart", and have the added challenge of dealing with the insecurity you built up through years of having your inappropriately-defined self-worth eroded.
The sooner you realise that "smart" isn't worth shit if you don't constantly work at self improvement, the better off you'll be.
Feel free to share this with anyone you think is on a dangerous path due to being "smart".
for 15 years.
"That's because I'm smart".
Over time, as I got better at various activities, I slowly realized the key to being the best. This applies to anything and anyone. Winning only means that that your competition wasn't up to snuff.
Want to know how to be the best dancer in the room? Take one hour long class and hang out with people that haven't.
How to be the best educated in the room? Teach elementary school.
It took me a while to realize this. At first I thought it was depressing. But over time I realized it is merely what it means to be the best. It's natural and you can't stop it, unless you are the G.O.A.T (Rest in Peace, Muhammand Ali).
When the second best baseball player in the world is winning, it means the very best is not on the field. When the Mayor is the most important person in the room, he wasn't invited to the Governor's Ball. When the Governor is the most important person in the room you know he's not in the White House.
Winning isn't important. Trying your very best and demonstrating real skill is what's important.
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