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Is too much praise good for you?


Still Waters

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A team of Japanese researchers at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences has discovered that the more a person is complimented the more the striatum part of their brain is stimulated, and the better they perform a task.

“Compliments are as good as cash at making us work harder,” ran the ensuing headline.

http://www.telegraph...ood-for-me.html

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I only praise my child's hard work when she has truly earned it... It encourages her to keep going ..well for the majority of the time..If only she would quit talking in class !!!

If you constantly gave a child praise, it could make them feel - I doesn't matter what I do, mommy will think I am the best, I could do a scribble on a sheet and she would think it is brilliant !!!

It could be worse.. My dad was good at putting down our efforts ..We could do nothing right by him If and when I did do well at school, he took the credit ... I got my confidence after I moved out ..

Edited by Beckys_Mom
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I dislike insincere praise..I do know when it it just mouth words or whether it is actually sincere and I think most people can tell the difference.

It's like lying to a person then expecting them to be grateful for that blatant lie.

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Praise can be a detriment as it can boost ego and promote arrogance in the wrong person.

But it can also positively boost confidence in the right person, and as the article implied, improve task performance.

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Personally I'd rather be left alone to do my work than to have someone come around and "praise" me simply because they feel they must do it to make me do more.

Be sincere or just say nothing...I guess meaningless praise doesn't work for all.

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I like praise, it makes me feel better about myself and helps my performance. Who doesn't like to hear...Yes Yes Yes!

I don't.

Praise is nice and can be useful but like I said, there are actually those of us who know when it is sincere and when it is just mouth words.

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I don't.

Praise is nice and can be useful but like I said, there are actually those of us who know when it is sincere and when it is just mouth words.

Yeah, I don't think you got the joke!

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Yeah, I don't think you got the joke!

Humor is hard to determine on forums I guess. :ph34r:

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Who doesn't want a little praise as long as its sincere. It does effect you just like being belittled would so I can see where being praised would motivate you to perform well at many tasks.

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Praise is ok in small doses,but you dont scream and shout if they dont do so well,you try and help them to do better next time.

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Praise is ok in small doses,but you dont scream and shout if they dont do so well,you try and help them to do better next time.

Encouragement and praise is how to raise a healthy, confident soul.

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I praise my 6 year old, who is a very, very bright little guy, when he does something well, remind him to always do his best even when it is easy to complete a project at half speed and to learn from his mistakes when he screws up and that everyone makes mistakes. Giving praise for nothing is counterproductive with him because he would see right through it and then wouldn't appreciate it when it is deserved. I think that works for most kids but YMMV.

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You are forgetting/ignoring an important keyword: "too much".

From my understanding, "too much" had already a pejorative connotation, no need to mention what comes after

Edited by FlyingAngel
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Not surprising ... often the intrinsic reward of praise or recognition of well done goes a long way in affecting an individual's beliefs on how to face situations and challenges competently and ultimately complete a task. Years of research support this concept of how self efficacy plays a major role in the way individuals perceive and behave in response to different situations. We all need feedback to function effectively.

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One thing that ticks me off about these studies is the absolute legitimacy assigned to the results because a guy with some letters behind his name from a supposedly substantive institute declares something as fdact becaause he or she did a study. The reality is this was a very small sample size of 48 and we don't know if those 48 were a cross-section of the population or from a group of highly motivated kids. And how old were these kids? Also, the National Institute for Physiological Sciences is far from a major university or state run institute. It appears to be a small school outreach group.

None of the above means the results aren't legitimate but they are from conclusive. The problem is The Telegraph is presenting them as such and the media does this all the time on a variety fo things.

Edited by Merc14
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I like praise, it makes me feel better about myself and helps my performance. Who doesn't like to hear...Yes Yes Yes!

lol I get your joke. Those words encourage my performance too!!

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lol I get your joke. Those words encourage my performance too!!

...what was I going to comment? You kind of threw my train of thought off kilter..... :blush::w00t:

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I think there is probably truth behind the idea that praise makes a person work harder and more efficiently. The problem in the US being that we are taught early to be sparing with praise, and so management reserves it for the very highest achievement, rather then everyday "at-a-boys".

Intel has a system where anyone can Recognize a co-worker, and give them $10 for it. And every department has thousands and thousands of dollars budgeted for this system, yet it is hardly ever used... Personnally I think it is managements fail to support workers recognizing the help from each other. Edit: This varies from dept to dept, I've heard. Some are very good at giving out recognitions.

Edited by DieChecker
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I always get warm fuzzys inside when i've been praised and they are way better then cold pricklys. :yes:

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Every person needs encouragement, even if it is given with the form of critising. Everything begins with the way you treat someone especially when in they're in a young age.

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I suspect that few of us suffer from too much praise or recognition of a task well done. I used to do supervisor training for Hilton international, and part of that training was a study that indicated what employees wanted to hear, what motivated them even more than a raise, was feeling appreciated. No, meaningless praise isn't helpful, but we can almost always find something positive to say that is honest, but not a lot of people expend the effort to do it.

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I suspect that few of us suffer from too much praise or recognition of a task well done. I used to do supervisor training for Hilton international, and part of that training was a study that indicated what employees wanted to hear, what motivated them even more than a raise, was feeling appreciated. No, meaningless praise isn't helpful, but we can almost always find something positive to say that is honest, but not a lot of people expend the effort to do it.

Well said and I completely agree! You've pointed out another thing we have no idea about from the story on this study which is just what do they consider a compliment? Is it positive feedback, as you mentioned or outright praise?

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