The Effect of Verbal Praise on Maze Completion

Abstract

COPYRIGHT 2016 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 21, NO. 1/ISSN 2164-8204) Verbal praise is often used to reinforce desired behaviors. It provides feedback about specific performance and may guide future performance. Praise has been shown to increase athletic performance (Anderson, Crowell, Doman, & Howard, 1988) and effort on subsequent trials of a task following task-relevant praise (Baumeister, Hutton, & Cairns, 1990). Research has suggested that praise influences not only the behavior itself but also attitudes about tasks performed. Although praise is often directed at specific behaviors, it also influences attitudes about specific tasks, motivation, persistence to complete tasks, and attributions of task performance. Early work by Mueller and Dweck (1998) investigated how type of praise influences children’s effort and motivation. They hypothesized that praise directed at ability (intelligence) and praise directed at effort, when administered after success, would lead children to have different goals for their achievement and have different responses when confronted with failure or challenge. Fifth graders completed a series of 10 matrices, each progressively becoming more difficult. Results found that students praised for intelligence were more concerned with performance goals, and the students praised for effort were more concerned with learning goals. Additionally, students praised for effort wanted to continue learning, and students praised for intelligence were concerned with looking smart. When examining explanations for failure, Mueller and Dweck (1998) found that students praised for effort blamed their performance on their effort, and the students praised for intelligence blamed their performance on their ability. They concluded that students praised for effort enjoyed the tasks much more than the students praised for ability. Droe (2013) found similar results in a music setting. Music students received either praise for effort, praise for talent, or no praise following a rhythm-tapping test and then rated their motivation and performance attribution (learning goals or performance goals). Similar to Muller and Dweck (1998), Droe (2013) found that students praised for their effort were more likely to choose learning goals, and students praised for musical talent were more likely to choose performance goals and had a more positive attitude toward task persistence. ABSTRACT. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between verbal praise and performance. Past literature has supported the positive impact that encouragement has on performance. Praise has been found to increase athletic performance (Anderson, Crowell, Doman, & Howard, 1988) as well as academic performance. However, the type of encouragement can lead to different outcomes. Participants in the current study completed a difficult line maze while either being praised in the form of encouraging comments (“You’re doing fine,” “You’re doing great”) or less encouraging comments (“You’re taking too long,” “ Hurry up”). Time to complete the maze was recorded in seconds. Analyses showed that praise in the form of encouraging comments significantly reduced the time to complete the maze (p = .001) and to complete the maze in general (p < .001). Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. The Effect of Verbal Praise on Maze Completion