Psychological Perspectives on Praise

Praise is perhaps the most widely used technique to influence others. When used appropriately, praise can motivate people, make them feel better, and improve their social relationships. Often, however, praise fails to work as intended and may even cause harm. Psychological Perspectives on Praise reviews and integrates psychological theory and research to provide an overarching perspective on praise. With contributions from leading scholars in the field, this book amalgamates diverse theoretical and empirical perspectives on praise. The book starts with providing an overview of prominent theories that seek to explain the effects of praise, including self-enhancement theory, self-verification theory, attribution theory, and self-determination theory. It then discusses several lines of empirical research on how praise impacts competence and motivation, self-perceptions (e.g., self-esteem and narcissism), and social relationships. It does so in a range of contexts, including children's learning at school, employees' commitment at work, and people's behavior within romantic relationships. The book concludes by showing how praise can be understood in its developmental and cultural context. Revealing that praise is a message rich in information about ourselves and our social environments, this book will be of interest to social, organizational, personality, developmental, and educational psychologists; students in psychology and related disciplines; and practitioners including teachers, managers, and counselors who use praise in their daily practice.

Eddie Brummelman is Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam. He obtained his PhD at Utrecht University in 2015 and was Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow at Stanford University. His research focuses on the socialization of the self: how social feedback shapes children's self-views, such as self-esteem and narcissism. He is a recipient of awards including the National Postdoc Prize from the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities, the George Butterworth Young Scientist Award from the European Association for Developmental Psychology, and the Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science.

List of figures List of contributors Foreword: Praise in the Egosystem and the Ecosystem Jennifer Crocker PART I: CENTRAL THEORIES 1. Praise from a self-enhancement perspective: More, I want more? Frederik Anseel and Elena Martinescu 2. The saboteur within: Self-verification strivings can make praise toxic Ashwini Ashokkumar and William B. Swann, Jr. 3. An attributional approach to teacher praise Sandra Graham and Xiaochen Chen 4. Understanding the complexity of praise through the lens of self-determination theory Bart Soenens and Maarten Vansteenkiste PART II: COMPETENCE AND MOTIVATION 5. The effects of praise on children's intrinsic motivation revisited Jennifer Henderlong Corpus and Kayla Good 6. When praise-versus criticism-motivates goal pursuit Lauren Eskreis-Winkler and Ayelet Fishbach 7. Paradoxical effects of praise: A transactional model Eddie Brummelman and Carol S. Dweck PART III: SELF-PERCEPTIONS 8. Learning about others to learn about the self: Early reasoning about the informativeness of others' praise Mika Asaba and Hyowon Gweon 9. "You're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like you:" Differing reactions to praise among people with higher and lower self-esteem Linden R. Timoney and Joanne V. Wood 10. Can praise contribute to narcissism in children? Eddie Brummelman and Stathis Grapsas PART IV: SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS 11. Praise and relationship security Edward P. Lemay, Jr. 12. Praise and prosocial behavior Duane Rudy and Joan E. Grusec 13. Praise and the development of reputation management Gail D. Heyman 14. Evaluative feedback expresses and reinforces cultural stereotypes Andrea C. Vial and Andrei Cimpian PART V: DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURE 15. Developmental psychology of praise Sander Thomaes and Patty Leijten 16. The role of culture in parents' responses to children's performance: The case of the West and East Asia Eva M. Pomerantz, Janice Ng, and Florrie Fei-yin Ng Index