Previous research has suggested that children praised for ability are more likely to attribute their failure to low ability compared to those who are praised for effort. At the same time, self-worth theory suggests that when an individual's self-worth is threatened, they are likely to use a self-serving attributional strategy and self-handicapping. From the perspective of self-worth theory, the present study investigated how ability and effort praise influenced children's failure attribution, self-handicapping, and their subsequent performance compared to simple informational feedback. Fifth graders (N = 103, average age = 11.2 years, SD = 0.71) were randomly assigned to three praise conditions (ability, effort, or no praise). The results revealed that children praised for ability were more likely to attribute their subsequent failure to non-ability factors and indicate more claimed and behavioral self-handicapping than children who were praised for effort or not praised at all. As behavioral self-handicapping created actual obstacles to progress, children praised for ability made significantly less improvement in their performance than those in the other two groups. In addition, the findings showed that children praised for effort also adopted the claimed self-handicapping and defensive attributional strategies compared to those in the no-praise conditions. These results indicate that parents and teachers should not haphazardly administer praise. Implications for parents, teachers, and future research directions, including the replication of this study in diverse cultural settings, conditions of effort praise, and effects of other types of praise, are discussed.

中文翻译：

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能力和努力赞美对儿童失败归因，自我残障和表现的影响。

先前的研究表明，与那些因努力而受到赞扬的孩子相比，因能力而受到赞扬的孩子更有可能将其失败归因于能力低下。同时，自我价值理论表明，当一个人的自我价值受到威胁时，他们可能会使用一种自我服务的归因策略和自我阻碍。从自我价值理论的角度，本研究调查了能力和努力赞美如何与简单的信息反馈相比，影响了儿童的失败归因，自我残障及其后续表现。五年级（N = 103，平均年龄= 11.2岁，SD = 0.71）被随机分配给三个表扬条件（能力，努力或不表扬）。结果显示，与那些因努力而受到表扬或根本没有受到表扬的儿童相比，被表扬的儿童更有可能将其随后的失败归因于非能力因素，并表现出更多的自称和行为自我障碍。行为上的自我障碍给进步带来了实际的障碍，被称赞能力的孩子比其他两组孩子的表现没有明显提高。此外，调查结果表明，与没有赞扬的孩子相比，被称赞努力的孩子们也采取了所谓的自我妨碍和防御归因策略。这些结果表明，父母和老师不应随意赞美。对父母，老师和未来研究方向的影响，