Date of Award
2001
Degree Name
Psychology
College
College of Liberal Arts
Type of Degree
M.A.
Document Type
Thesis
First Advisor
Del Lawhon
Second Advisor
Stephen L. O'Keefe
Third Advisor
Debra Lilly
Abstract
Recent research suggests that praise for ability may be less effective than praise for effort in influencing performance and interest. C.M. Mueller and C.S. Dweck (1998) suggested further study to examine these variables in real-life settings. Their work has shown that praise for effort increases persistence, performance, interest and other indicators over praise for ability after failure is introduced. This study of 32 fifth graders from a public elementary school further extends this research and examines the effects of praise for ability, praise for effort or no praise while experiencing multiple failures on a task. The results suggest no difference for performance and persistence over treatment groups. However, interest score are significantly higher for effort and control groups over the ability-praise group. Implications and future research are discussed.
Subject(s)
Reinforcement (Psychology).
Praise.
Learning, Psychology of.
Recommended Citation
Spaulding, Scott, "Praise for ability versus praise for effort during continuous failure" (2001). Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. 1906.
https://mds.marshall.edu/etd/1906
