In Praise of Acknowledgment (over praise)

Some interesting stuff to think about for coaches from the world of teaching.

ac·knowl·edg·ment/akˈnälijmənt/
Noun:
1. Acceptance of the truth or existence of something.
2. The action of expressing or displaying gratitude or appreciation for something.

The value of acknowledgement over praise - Differentiating between acknowledgement over praise

Not in praise of praise
by Louise Porter, PhD - Child Psychologist
http://www.louiseporter.com.au/pdfs/the_value%20_of_acknowledgement_over_praise_web.pdf



http://www.mgol.net/2011/12/positive-reinforcement-words-of-praise-vs-acknowledgment/

“Many well-intentioned teachers have used praise to improve children’s self-esteem and self-image, but the outcome can be just the opposite.

Research from the field supports this conclusion. Alfie Kohn (1999), noted author of Punished by Rewards: The Trouble With Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes, explains the potential damage to children when adults use praise.

Children learn to depend on adults for figuring out what is right or wrong, instead of developing this ability themselves. Rather than rely on their intrinsic motivation to learn, learning or “performing” is done in order to please others.

Children lose the interest and ability to work and learn on their own.

By contrast, children who can evaluate their own performance with encouraging feedback from interested adults remain involved.

Moreover, they are self-correcting, that is, they can ask questions of themselves and work to solve problems on their own. Learning is inherently satisfying.

Furthermore, “praise” implies judgment.

Preschoolers know that if you can judge them favorably, you can also judge them unfavorably.

Exploring or trying something new might result in “failure” from the adult’s perspective, so children stick with what is safe and has earned them praise before.”

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FROM PROMOTING RESPONSIBILITY & LEARNING
Marvin Marshall's Monthly Newsletter
http://MarvinMarshall.com

Volume 11 Number 12, December 2011
Distributed to 15,945 subscribers


http://marvinmarshall.com/

In last month's newsletter, I shared how acknowledging a
person's behavior is more effective than praising the
person. For example, saying, "You treated your bother with
real consideration" is more empowering and has a greater
positive emotional impact than saying, "I am so pleased by
the way you treated your brother."

Reinforcing and empowering self-understanding is much more
useful for the person than praise, which shows no indication
for judging progress.

HERE ARE TWENTY POTENTIAL PERILS OF PRAISE (which are
eliminated by using acknowledgments):

1. Praise prompts a dependence on others for approval.
2. Praise can increase learned helplessness if young people
rely on approval in lieu of their own motivation.
3 Praise can generate disappointment for those who don't
receive it when others do. This can be interpreted as
"punished by praise."
4. When teachers, for example, use praise to tell students
they are good because they know a right answer, young
people can logically conclude that they are bad when
they do not know the right answer. This equating of
knowledge with goodness is dangerous.
5. Young people grow to depend on praise--and may even
demand it.
6. When praising behavior that adults want to encourage,
the message is that poor behavior is the norm. Young
people often live up to such expectations.
7. Praise often discourages creativity if the young become
more concerned about pleasing others or conforming to
adults' expectations than on finding their own
solutions to problems.
8. Praise can make some children fearful of not being able
to live up to expectations.
9. When praise is consciously employed as a technique for
influencing young people to choose some desirable
behavior, the prase is often perceived as insincere.
10. When students, for example, are praised every time they
sit up straight, wait in line, listen, or engage in
routine behaviors, they often start to experience the
praise as silly or irrelevant.
11. Young people who become accustomed to receiving frequent
praise come to interpret the absence of praise as a
negative evaluation.
12. Praise given to one person, or a even to a few, often
is translated by the others as a negative evaluation of
themselves.
13. Praising some children in front of their peers can be
counterproductive if these youngsters experience the
attention as embarrassing.
14. Praise given to have children feel better can prompt
a loss of faith in themselves and become discouraged.
15. The practice of profusely praising low-performing
students for trivial accomplishments can perpetuate
their putting forth minimal effort.
16. Praise given to students for minimal performance can
actually worsen, not improve their functioning.
17. Students may doubt their own ability or lose
confidence if they perceive that their performance does
not warrant praise--leading students to have thoughts
such as, "The teacher must really think I'm hopeless if
I'm praised for that!" or "How could the teacher think
that was good?"
18. When a youngster is experiencing a problem, it is often
accompanied by personal dissatisfaction. Praising here
either goes "unheard," has the youngster feel that the
adult doesn't really understand, or provokes an even
stronger defense of the person's low self-evaluation.
19. If the praise does not fit with the child's
self-image, it can invoke resentment as the youngster
may perceive it as an attempt at manipulation.
20. When a person feels that the praise is not sincere, but
delivered to manipulate behaving in a certain way, it
can undermine intrinsic motivation.

This does not mean that you should never use praise; it is
natural to praise. The point here is to limit its use and
consider using acknowledgments instead. An easy was to do
this is to just eliminate reference to yourself, as in,
"I am so proud of...."

People want to be recognized. Acknowledging what a young
person has done accomplishes this without some of the
problems of praise.