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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.
I had a good friend that was very smart. One of the two smartest people I've ever been friends with. He coasted through school and high school. Got an academic scholarship to a top high school. Once he really had to start to apply himself at university he was unable to. He didn't have that work ethic or drive. Has pretty much done nothing with his life.
If you read TFA (I know, I know) they controlled for this. Kids were randomly divided into 3 groups - one was praised for being smart, one praised for behavior, one not praised. The group praised for being smart had a higher incidence of cheating. So the cause and effect is correct.
Summary then does a 180 by linking to a study which speculates praise for being smart reduces motivation to learn. That has cause and effect reversed in my experience. I breezed through high school with little effort, but college actually challenged me so I had a hard time. The study skills most kids had developed in high school to learn stuff which challenged them, I had to develop while in college. So it's not that praise for being smart reduced my motivation to learn. It's that being smart meant I (initially) sucked at learning stuff I found challenging.
The original TFA speculates that praising kids for being smart puts them under the pressure of raised expectations. And the kids do whatever they can to meet those expectations - including cheating.