About:
Students tend to respond to educational disappointment in two different ways. They show a helpless response, in which they attribute their failures to a lack of ability resulting in negative emotions and lowered motivation. Alternatively, they focus on the effort they put in and maintain their persistence and emotions are unaffected. The response students show are largely dependent on the type of feedback, and more specifically the type of praise they receive.
Feedback can be given on a number of different levels. Process feedback focusses on how the task was completed (‘You did a good job drawing’), whereas person feedback includes direct praise and criticism of the person (‘You are a good drawer’). Research results about the effects of different types of praise are mixed. It remains unclear how different types of praise compare to each other and which type is the most helpful for student development. There is some evidence, which suggests that person feedback leads to a helpless response, whereas process feedback might help students persist after a failure. The importance of studying praise in educational contexts is underscored by the notion that half of all feedback delivered by teachers is praise.
The difference in the wording of process and person feedback is so small, that teachers may use them interchangeably and not be aware of the different effects. Knowledge on the effect of different types of feedback could have important implications for the delivery of feedback in educational settings.
Research Objectives
• To examine the effects of person and process praise compared to objective feedback
• To examine how different types of praise following successes can elicit positive and negative responses to educational failure
Programme & Methodology:
Study 1
• 1145 British school children aged 9-1
Study 2
• 114 British university students
Studies 1 & 2:
• Participants read scenarios and were asked to imagine themselves as the main character.
• In each scenario, they succeeded in an educational task and received either person, process or no praise.
• Participants then read two scenarios where they failed at a task.
• Following each scenario participants evaluated performance, affect and persistence.
Findings:
• Participants receiving person praise reacted most negatively on all dependent measures.
• No differences between process praise and objective feedback.
Impact:
Important implications for policy makers and educators.
• Highlights types of feedback that are most helpful in both school setting and a university setting
• Offers suggestions for educators
New and important contributions to research