Kimberly linked to an excellent article in her comment on an earlier entry about rewards. (I'm so excited to have actual comments!!!) It's worth reading the article in full, but the gist of it is that kids become intrinsically motivated when they are praised for efforts rather than abilities. It looks at the work of Stanford researcher Carol Dweck, which has been floating around the education community for awhile. This excerpt highlights her work:
Dweck sent four female research assistants into New York fifth-grade classrooms. The researchers would take a single child out of the classroom for a nonverbal IQ test consisting of a series of puzzles—puzzles easy enough that all the children would do fairly well. Once the child finished the test, the researchers told each student his score, then gave him a single line of praise. Randomly divided into groups, some were praised for their intelligence. They were told, “You must be smart at this.” Other students were praised for their effort: “You must have worked really hard.”Then the students were given a choice of test for the second round. One choice was a test that would be more difficult than the first, but the researchers told the kids that they’d learn a lot from attempting the puzzles. The other choice, Dweck’s team explained, was an easy test, just like the first. Of those praised for their effort, 90 percent chose the harder set of puzzles. Of those praised for their intelligence, a majority chose the easy test. The “smart” kids took the cop-out.
Dweck had suspected that praise could backfire, but even she was surprised by the magnitude of the effect. “Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control,” she explains. “They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child’s control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure.”
Intrinisic motivation seems to be closely linked to what Dweck calls a "growth mind-set", as opposed to a "fixed mind-set". Which makes sense - if we believe this is just how we are and we can't change, then why bother to try. I love the bit of this article from Stanford Magazine where Dweck takes her research out of the classroom and talks about how our mind-set affects every aspect of our lives:
At the Association for Psychological Science convention in May, Dweck will give the keynote address. The topic: “Can Personality Be Changed?” Her short answer, of course, is yes. Moreover, holding a growth mind-set bodes well for one’s relationships. In a recent study, Dweck found that people who believe personality can change were more likely than others to bring up concerns and deal with problems in a constructive way. Dweck thinks a fixed mind-set fosters a categorical, all-or-nothing view of people’s qualities; this view tends to make you ignore festering problems or, at the other extreme, give up on a relationship at the first sign of trouble. (The growth mind-set, though, can be taken too far if someone stays in an abusive relationship hoping her partner will change; as always, the person has to want to change.)
A growth mindset is about stretching and is not worried about making mistakes. Dweck is confident people can change from a fixed mind-set to a growth mind-set, and she herself says she changed her fixed mind-set to a growth mind-set through her work. The first step is just being aware of those areas of your life where you might be holding a fixed mind-set. If you want to explore this more, this is a good 30 minute audio interview with Dweck that discusses mind-set. Dweck also has a whole book on the topic, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, which I've requested from my library. When I get it I'll let you know if it offers anything beyond the articles.
In addition to watching myself for self-talk borne out of a fixed mind-set, I am going to change how I respond when I meet up with someone who has lost weight. Right now I usually say something like, "You look great!" I think from now on I am going to comment instead on how impressed I am with the work they must have done to get healthier.
