Praise
Praise is an expression of approval, favorable judgment, gratitude, admiration, and commend an action.
Praise can be general or specific.
Purpose of Praise statements
Praise can be used with different intent. It can be used as a heart felt congratulatory statement with no implied strings attached; or it can be used as a means to change or alter a person's behavior by the person giving the praise.
Negative consequences of praise
Some people become dependent on the approval others and actively seek their praise. As a result they become very good at finding what other people and giving it to them to receive praise. This results in making them dependent or codependent on other people. When this happens they will continue to try to discover what others desire for the purpose of pleasing others. This does not mean it is not good to please other people. However, it can become a problem when a person places too much of their energy into pleasing other people at the expense of their own well being. These people become pleasers and approval junkies who are too dependent on the opinion of others.
Other people: children, adolescents, and adults can rebel against praise. They may believe they are being manipulated and do not want to yield to the manipulation. Or they may believe they can't achieve at the level of others' expectations. Therefore, they may not attempt a task if they are not confident in completing easily with superior results. Or they see it as a competition which is dependent on the other person's idea of what will be determined as competent. Lastly, they may conclude that every time they perform and receive praise, the person giving the praise raises the standard for receiving praise. Each time, making it more difficult, so they begin to believe the cost is too great or they fear they will never reach a performance that satisfies the praise giver. Which can cause them to refuse to engage in the activity so as not to be involved in that kind of manipulation.
The long-term effect of praise is or can be dependence on others.
Positive consequence of Praise
Praise can have positive consequences. It can make a person feel good and appreciative of their actions. It can encourage and motivate them to repeat their actions and to perform even better.
To analyze how praise can be both positive and negative, let's start by thinking of praise as either general or specific.
General praise does not identify the behavior that caused the praise to be given. For example, if a teacher wants to celebrate Marty's good work or to praise him with the hopes he will continue the teacher may say or write on the work ...
Congratulations! Fantastic work, Marty!
Specific praise identifies the behavior associated with the praise. Again the example of a teacher wanting to celebrate Bob's work or to praise him so he will continue to come to class and work the teacher may say or write on the work ...
Bob, when you come into class and get to work, as you did yesterday, you completed the assignment and scored above 85%. Well done!
The difference is that Bob has been told more specifically what it was he did that is worthy of the praise.
Some more examples:
- Mary is the first one ready to go. Very good, Mary.
- I see that Mary has her materials on her desk and is ready to go.
- Now class, do exactly as I tell you and you will do just fine.
Activity - Stargirl passage about random acts of kindness with discussion questions.
Positive praise:
- Describes the specific behavior that is desired.
- Provides information to assess and monitor learning to achieve goals.
- Communicates appreciation for certain behaviors that are desirable traits in social settings.
- Can be used to describe the level of behavior so a person can monitor their progress to achieve their goals.
- Can encourage a person to continue a task, behavior, or to improve it. However, encouragement statements might be more appropriate.
- Can focus attention on the attributes that can lead to success.
Example of negative uses of praise
- When students believed the praise is meant to manipulate them.
- When it does not provide specific information or examples of what behavior is desired or required to receive the praise.
- Is given randomly so if a student does the desired behavior, but doesn't receive praise.
- Is given to entire groups when not all members are deserving.
- Creates a competitive environment so students begin to compete with each other at the expense of productive learning.
- When students believe the praise is distributed arbitrarily.
- When it sends the message the teacher is responsible for controlling the behavior of the students and not the student's themselves.
- When it sends the message the reason to perform certain behaviors is for others and not for their individual benefit.
Summary
Praise is often a form of external control that can make some students dependent on teachers or others for self-esteem. Reliance on creating dependency is a way to control students that desire approval from others. Students' positive responses provide the teacher a false sense of accomplishment and feeling of power at the expense of the student developing their self-efficacy.