Comments on: Skip prodigal talent, praise the effort http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/03/16/skip-prodigal-talent-praise-the-effort/ Knowledge is Scrumptious Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:13:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Anonymous http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/03/16/skip-prodigal-talent-praise-the-effort/comment-page-1/#comment-418 Anonymous Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:25:00 +0000 http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/03/16/skip-prodigal-talent-praise-the-effort/#comment-418 Great Post Sukumar. Just catching up on the last couple of weeks. I can understand the logic behind the article. My read on it is - "Fear of Failure". When we appreciate intelligence, we seem to be introducing a "fear of failure" that makes the kids think that if they take on a hard task, they might fail and not look intelligent enough. When we appreciate hard work, we are lowering/removing that barrier as we are appreciating the effort. In this case, the kid is encouraged to try more harder tasks. I am not sure if this has to do anything with "wanting to please" factor that kids have or purely "fear of failure" barrier. Drawing analogy from this to the corporate world, I can see the "Effort" vs. "Talent" that is often used to measure individual's performance. I can think of a few situations where an individual is appreciated for their talent/intelligence only to see their performance dip a few years later. Maybe, this has to do with the "fear of failure" factor that sets complacency on the part of the individual. Connecting this with your other post on Indian Cricket team, we appreciate Sachin, Ganguly, Sehwag et al for their talent and we appreciate Yuvraj, Kaif, Dravid etc for their effort in the field. That's probably why the talented ones in the Indian team don't put any effort and have the 'fear of failure' riding with them all the time. The ones that are appreciated for their effort, keep putting more effort to improve themselves. I wonder if creativity also gets stifled when we appreciate "talent" and not effort! Very very interesting post. It has made me do more research on this in multiple different directions already. Great Post Sukumar. Just catching up on the last couple of weeks.
I can understand the logic behind the article. My read on it is – “Fear of Failure”. When we appreciate intelligence, we seem to be introducing a “fear of failure” that makes the kids think that if they take on a hard task, they might fail and not look intelligent enough.
When we appreciate hard work, we are lowering/removing that barrier as we are appreciating the effort. In this case, the kid is encouraged to try more harder tasks.
I am not sure if this has to do anything with “wanting to please” factor that kids have or purely “fear of failure” barrier.
Drawing analogy from this to the corporate world, I can see the “Effort” vs. “Talent” that is often used to measure individual’s performance. I can think of a few situations where an individual is appreciated for their talent/intelligence only to see their performance dip a few years later. Maybe, this has to do with the “fear of failure” factor that sets complacency on the part of the individual.
Connecting this with your other post on Indian Cricket team, we appreciate Sachin, Ganguly, Sehwag et al for their talent and we appreciate Yuvraj, Kaif, Dravid etc for their effort in the field. That’s probably why the talented ones in the Indian team don’t put any effort and have the ‘fear of failure’ riding with them all the time. The ones that are appreciated for their effort, keep putting more effort to improve themselves.
I wonder if creativity also gets stifled when we appreciate “talent” and not effort! Very very interesting post. It has made me do more research on this in multiple different directions already.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/03/16/skip-prodigal-talent-praise-the-effort/comment-page-1/#comment-417 Anonymous Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:55:00 +0000 http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/03/16/skip-prodigal-talent-praise-the-effort/#comment-417 Thanks Harish. Interesting perspective - you are saying actually effort enriches your knowledge and thereby increases the possibility of being seen as intelligent. I think that is a great point. Since this article is mainly about children (some what true for adults also), there is a certain population of children who are innately very intelligent. The point to be borne in mind if you believe this article, is to keep appreciating the effort and over time the effect that you correctly pointed out - acquiring enough knowledge through constant effort so as to be perceived as more intelligent. Thanks Harish. Interesting perspective – you are saying actually effort enriches your knowledge and thereby increases the possibility of being seen as intelligent. I think that is a great point. Since this article is mainly about children (some what true for adults also), there is a certain population of children who are innately very intelligent. The point to be borne in mind if you believe this article, is to keep appreciating the effort and over time the effect that you correctly pointed out – acquiring enough knowledge through constant effort so as to be perceived as more intelligent.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/03/16/skip-prodigal-talent-praise-the-effort/comment-page-1/#comment-416 Anonymous Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:07:00 +0000 http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/03/16/skip-prodigal-talent-praise-the-effort/#comment-416 Sukumar, Very interesting article. Just came to know about your blog and was reading through your past postings. I think you will be perceived intelligent, if you put your effort to gain knowledge and utilize that knowledge to achieve something great. I think intelligence is something virtual, but the effort that you put is tangible. So it does make sense to get praised for your effort than being intelligent. It needs effort to crack a hard puzzle and in this case, the kids who were praised on effort got motivated to put more hard work and hence they chose the toughest puzzle 2nd time. But that was not the case for the ones that got praised for intelligence. How can you get motivated to be more intelligent? Sukumar,

Very interesting article. Just came to know about your blog and was reading through your past postings.

I think you will be perceived intelligent, if you put your effort to gain knowledge and utilize that knowledge to achieve something great. I think intelligence is something virtual, but the effort that you put is tangible. So it does make sense to get praised for your effort than being intelligent. It needs effort to crack a hard puzzle and in this case, the kids who were praised on effort got motivated to put more hard work and hence they chose the toughest puzzle 2nd time. But that was not the case for the ones that got praised for intelligence. How can you get motivated to be more intelligent?

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/03/16/skip-prodigal-talent-praise-the-effort/comment-page-1/#comment-415 Anonymous Sat, 17 Mar 2007 08:21:00 +0000 http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/03/16/skip-prodigal-talent-praise-the-effort/#comment-415 Thanks Archana. I don't think there is going to be an universal answer. In my case, i can say i am happier when my work is appreciated than my intelligence per se. But the purpose of my post is to show that we should not be praising their innate capaabilities too much but rather praise their effort. I also think this is why the typical "gifted children" program fails to achieve much. When you tell the child that s/he is gifted it tends to make them work less or from what i have seen atleast not learn stuff either the child doesn't like or things that don't come naturally. the articles i linked to cover some examples of these and i have observed this in some gifted children i have come across. Thanks Archana. I don’t think there is going to be an universal answer. In my case, i can say i am happier when my work is appreciated than my intelligence per se. But the purpose of my post is to show that we should not be praising their innate capaabilities too much but rather praise their effort. I also think this is why the typical “gifted children” program fails to achieve much. When you tell the child that s/he is gifted it tends to make them work less or from what i have seen atleast not learn stuff either the child doesn’t like or things that don’t come naturally. the articles i linked to cover some examples of these and i have observed this in some gifted children i have come across.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/03/16/skip-prodigal-talent-praise-the-effort/comment-page-1/#comment-414 Anonymous Sat, 17 Mar 2007 04:29:00 +0000 http://www.sastwingees.org/2007/03/16/skip-prodigal-talent-praise-the-effort/#comment-414 Nice post, Sukumar. Very insightful. But I was thinking what would make me more happy; being praised for my intelligence or hardwork. I think it would be the former, what do you think? This logic definitely seems to make sense for kids, do you think it would work for adults too? Nice post, Sukumar. Very insightful.

But I was thinking what would make me more happy; being praised for my intelligence or hardwork. I think it would be the former, what do you think?

This logic definitely seems to make sense for kids, do you think it would work for adults too?

]]>