Effort Praise Improves Resilience for College Students With High Fear of Failure

Abstract

Research on praise, in support of a growth mindset, has overwhelmingly focused on children. We explored how praise influences performance in college students. Colleges are often challenged to respond to students’ established mindsets in the face of increasingly demanding coursework. Specifically, we examined how fear of failure may alter the effects of ability praise and effort praise. When the task was overly challenging, participants surrendered regardless of the type of praise (Experiment 1). When the task was more manageable, effort praise motivated students with a high fear of failure (Experiment 2). These results collectively have implications for responsive teaching with regards to course design, pedagogical style, and student retention.