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Empty praise can harm children: psychologist

Excessively complimenting children can harm their confidence, a U.S. psychologist claimed.

Stephen Grosz, who teaches psychoanalytic theory at University College London, alleged that parents may be putting their children’s confidence at risk by bombarding them with “empty” compliments, such as “You really are an artist,” or “You’re so clever.”

“Empty praise is as bad as thoughtless criticism -- it expresses indifference to the child’s feelings and thoughts,” Grosz was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying.

Such praises lead to negative consequences later in life, when the children grow up and realize they cannot live up to the false high expectations, he said.

For parents to avoid such problems, Grosz advised them to compliment children less frequently, and to praise the children’s efforts rather than their intelligence.

To back his theory, Grosz cited a study Columbia University psychologists which suggested children who were highly praised performed worse academically.

The researchers asked 128 children aged 10 and 11 to solve math problems. Then the participants were divided into two groups: the first group was told that they were clever, and the second group was praised upon their efforts.

Researchers found out when given more difficult problems, the second group performed better than the first.

From news reports

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)