How does encouragement work

Thank you! Skip to content Many child care providers try to help children feel confident by praising them. Child care providers who encourage children point out how hard they have worked or how much they have improved.

Encouragement sets up children for success. If the teacher tells Sarah that she is reading bigger words now an example of encouragement , Mike does not have any reason to believe that he cannot also read big words. Encouragement teaches children to evaluate themselves on their own merits. It can be positive, negative, or a combination of both.

Praise and words of encouragement for employees also fall under this umbrella term. Praise is a purely positive form of feedback. Some experts regard praise and encouragement as side-by-side concepts, but we think of encouragement as a specific variety of praise. Encouragement focuses on the deed rather than the doer, internal satisfaction as opposed to external approval, and effort over outcome. Most research on the effects of praise versus encouragement has been conducted in a classroom setting, but the range of ages included in these studies taken in combination with a few fringe cases that examine praise and encouragement in other settings give us good reason to believe their findings are generalizable.

People praise because they want to encourage more of the behavior or end-product they are praising. There are several occasions when praise incites almost directly the opposite of its intended results. When the accolades are bigger than the accomplishment, this is inflated praise. Unlike words of encouragement for employees, exaggerated praise offers little benefit to its recipient.

Clearly disproportionate praise is an indication of either horrible judgement, or outright dishonesty. Either way, the praise loses meaning and the praiser credit. Imagine being zealously applauded for a simple task. You might wonder, are my abilities really so limited that this small feat is cause for celebration? Am I really that incapable?

Research confirms that praise for easy tasks leads to inferences of low ability. Lastly, many studies on inflated praise examine its effects as a function of self-esteem.

When people have high self-esteem, inflated praise feeds an unhealthy level of hubris. This discourages low self-esteem recipients from attempting anything at all in anticipation of what they see as inevitable failure. Rather than deferring to their own judgement to assess their quality of work, these recipients will start to judge work by its likelihood to elicit praise from another party. One of the key ways words of encouragement for employees are distinct from praise is that they focus on the deed , not the doer.

Person praise focuses on complimenting the individual rather than the action or outcome, which can cause problems for employees. While it may seem encouraging to tell employees that they are smart, or talented, or successful, this kind of praise actually pressures the recipient to live up to a projected identity instead of encouraging them to produce high quality work.

Understandably, this enables people to give up faster and exert less effort. After thirty days, the bullied plant is on the verge of death, while the plant receiving positive language is thriving. The use of plants in this study gives allows us all to visibly acknowledge the power of our words, even on life without complex emotions. However, there is power in the toxicity of people as well. Either you want to stay away from them, or you are sucked in and pulled down.

A new study, conducted by Y. Joel Young and colleagues at Indiana University Bloomington in , was conducted to evaluate encouragement as a character quality. These researchers hoped to find a way of measuring encouragement to enhance psychologists ability to counsel their clients. According to the study, a genuine natural of encouragement is a character strength that you benefit from just as much as those being encouraged.

Beyond the personal and sociological benefits of a positive attitude and regular words of encouragement, there are fiscal benefits. This is true at least in fundraising and sales, according to one study published in the Journal of Business Venturing.

The study states that entrepreneurs who express positive psychological capital, such as hope, optimism, and confidence, experience greater fundraising results. Essentially, those with a greater attitude, who both feel a sense of confidence and resilience and invoke those emotions onto others, experience better gains. A positive attitude is gained through words of encouragement and supporters who express them. Negativity and criticism is common in many parts of our lives.