A good article on the proper use of praise. (Click here for article).
No, not that “contemporary worship” kind of “praise” (which isn’t much of praise at all, but that’s a different rant…). The article re-iterates what we’ve know from previous research: unconditional praise is less effective than conditional praise.
This one centers around the current propensity among teacher and parents to “praise” their kids unconditionally about “being smart.” Often a poorly disguised attempt at creating a self-fulfilling prophecy if not a poorly disguised symptom of parental anxiety. Previous research around the same phenomenon had to do with praise about children’s behavior (“You’re such a good girl.” “You’re such a well-behaved boy.”).
One can wonder how this phenomenon translates into the realm of faith formation. Is unconditional praise in areas focused on spirituality as detrimental to faith as are unconditional praise focused on traits like “intelligence” or behavior?
<%image(20070217-IGMatrix100.jpg|100|131|From inside the Matrix)%>
