Parents, You Should Praise Your Kids for Working Hard – Not for Intelligence

Studies show that praising children for their hard work is better than praising them for being intelligent.

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For parents, though, it’s natural to get excited when your child makes the honor roll or gets all As on a report card. You want to let everyone know how brilliant your kids are. But it seems you’re actually hindering them when you heap on the praise for this reason.

Instead, we should be telling them how proud we are of their hard work.

When children see parents become overjoyed at a grade or other recognition for their intelligence, they come to believe their accomplishments came to them because of what they already have.

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In other words, they think, “I’m naturally smart. I didn’t do anything to get this high grade.”

Studies going back decades consistently show kids who are praised for being smart ended up performing poorly academically.

A more recent study published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience by Jennifer A. Mangels reinforced the findings. She and her team of researchers asked a sample of undergraduate student questions about intelligence, including if they believed people have a certain amount of intelligence which couldn’t be changed.

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Those that agreed with the statement that a person’s amount of intelligence can’t be changed were put into the group where they were said to have a “fixed” or “entity” view of intelligence.

Those that disagreed were put into the group where they were said to have an “incremental” or “growth” view. They believed there were ways to increase intelligence.

Then, all the students had to take a computerized test on a variety of subjects while their brain activity was being monitored. During the test, they also had to indicate how confident they were in their answers. If their answer was right, the computer let them know. If an answer was wrong, the computer gave the right answer.

Students were then given an opportunity to retake the test, but only the questions they answered incorrectly.

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Both groups did equally well and were equally confident for the first testing. But for the second round of testing, the “growth” view group did better. The brain activity records showed that this group had paid more attention to the corrections they were given, and were better able to learn from their mistakes.

Because they believed they could perform better, they paid attention and learned the right answers.

If you tend to think that intelligence is fixed, consider this: studies have shown a person’s IQ is improved through education and training programs. Even environmental factors can contribute to gains in intelligence.

If you can convince yourself that intelligence can be improved, your attitude will pass that to your children. Above all, they need to hear hard work is the key to performing well – not the luck of the IQ draw.

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Why Grit Is More Important Than IQ When It Comes to Success

One of my professors in college told us about a former student who was now a bigshot at a company in New York City and how well they were doing. A classmate of mine said to me, “Well, I guess you can have an okay career after you leave here.” I didn’t respond, but I’ve always believed that, ultimately, it really is up to you how far you go in your professional life. Yes, education and connections definitely help along the way, but just because you went to a certain school or a door is opened for you doesn’t mean that anything is guaranteed after that. You have to work hard and keep improving if you want to fulfill your dreams.

And, by the way, everyone has their own definition of what success means. For some, it’s a prestigious job on Wall Street, for others, it’s flipping pancakes at the local diner in their hometown where they know everyone.

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But back to my original point: intelligence might not be the best indicator of future success in life. Instead, it might be what psychologist Angela Duckworth calls “grit.” Duckworth believes that a special blend of passion and persistence is what makes high achievers special. In other words, not high IQ scores, high SAT scores, or a diploma from a prestigious university.

Posted by Angela Duckworth on Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Duckworth believes that grit is about being resilient and hardworking, and always wanting to improve. And another important aspect of this mindset: being able to overcome failure, which is tough for all of us. Passion is another key element in being successful. Duckworth says of some of the successful people she’s studied, “Even if some of the things they had to do were boring, or frustrating, or even painful, they wouldn’t dream of giving up. Their passion was enduring.”

Duckworth believes that effort is more important than IQ and she came up with two equations to explain her concept.

• Talent x effort = skill

• Skill x effort = achievement

Duckworth says, “Talent is how quickly your skills improve when you invest effort. Achievement is what happens when you take your acquired skills and use them.”

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Bottom line: grit, heart, and busting your rear end really do count and pay off. So even if you didn’t get into the best school, don’t have a bunch of family connections, and get rejected from a job (or multiple jobs), keep pushing forward. Be gritty and you’ll go far.

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Dinosaur-Obsessed Kids Have Higher Intelligence

I’ve noticed a ton of kids who belong to my friends and family are totally obsessed with dinosaurs. They wear dinosaur shirts, read dinosaur books, and play with dinosaur toys day in and day out. And that’s great news, according to a study that says kids who are obsessed with dinosaurs are smarter than kids who aren’t.

In the psychology world, this phenomenon is called “intense interests.” Roughly one-third of kids develop an intense interest in their lives but for most the obsession usually fades after the age of six.

Photo Credit: Flickr,Mike Mozart

A study from the University of Indiana and the University of Wisconsin found that an intense interest can “enhance perseverance, improve attention and enhance skills of complex thinking as the processing of information”, especially when the interest demands a conceptual domain.

Intense interests have also been shown to improve linguistic skills and are a good indicator of higher understanding. It’s also been shown that the way children study dinosaurs helps them develop strategies to tackle problems throughout their lives.

Interestingly, kids’ intense interest in dinosaurs develops in the first year of life without encouragement from their parents. As mentioned earlier, most of these obsessions pass and only 20% of kids still have the intense interest when they enter school.

Researchers believe that once kids start school and have to devote time to learning new things, they lose their free time to explore their interests. It is suggested that in order to keep your child’s interest alive as they grow up, parents should teach their kids facts about the subject as opposed to letting them have “pretend adventures.”

Make sure those kids keep learning on their own after they start school, and remember, if your child is obsessed with T-Rex, that’s a good thing!

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It Turns Out Kids Who Are Obsessed with Dinosaurs Are Actually Smarter

Do you know a kid who absolutely LOVES dinosaurs? My nephew is obsessed with them, and I was the kind of kid who could describe a paleontologist’s job in great detail back in second grade.

If that describes your kids, that’s great news since a recent study found that kids who are obsessed with dinosaurs are smarter than kids who aren’t.

In the psychology world, this phenomenon is called “intense interests.” Roughly one-third of kids develop an intense interest in their lives but for most the obsession usually fades after the age of six.

Photo Credit: Flickr,Mike Mozart

A study from the University of Indiana and the University of Wisconsin found that an intense interest can “enhance perseverance, improve attention and enhance skills of complex thinking as the processing of information”, especially when the interest demands a conceptual domain.

Intense interests have also been shown to improve linguistic skills and are a good indicator of higher understanding. It’s also been shown that the way children study dinosaurs helps them develop strategies to tackle problems throughout their lives.

Interestingly, kids’ intense interest in dinosaurs develops in the first year of life without encouragement from their parents. As mentioned earlier, most of these obsessions pass and only 20% of kids still have the intense interest when they enter school.

Researchers believe that once kids start school and have to devote time to learning new things, they lose their free time to explore their interests. It is suggested that in order to keep your child’s interest alive as they grow up, parents should teach their kids facts about the subject as opposed to letting them have “pretend adventures.”

Make sure those kids keep learning on their own after they start school, and remember, if your child is obsessed with T-Rex, that’s a good thing!

The post It Turns Out Kids Who Are Obsessed with Dinosaurs Are Actually Smarter appeared first on UberFacts.