The February 19 2007 issue of New York Magazine has an interesting article about how praising your child’s intelligence might lead to unintended effects:

When parents praise their children’s intelligence, they believe they are providing the solution to this problem. According to a survey conducted by Columbia University, 85 percent of American parents think it’s important to tell their kids that they’re smart. In and around the New York area, according to my own (admittedly nonscientific) poll, the number is more like 100 percent. Everyone does it, habitually. The constant praise is meant to be an angel on the shoulder, ensuring that children do not sell their talents short.

But a growing body of research—and a new study from the trenches of the New York public-school system—strongly suggests it might be the other way around. Giving kids the label of “smart” does not prevent them from underperforming. It might actually be causing it.

This is interesting research and goes against conventional wisdom of parents where it is assumed heaping tons of praise upon a child can’t really have any negative effects. It’s a behavior that parents (and uncles like myself) find almost impossible to stop, because it comes so naturally to people to want to praise a child.

Yet, at least in the case of when it comes to their smarts, we should probably resist the temptation to do so, especially at the earliest of ages.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 14 Feb 2007
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.