Professor Dweck believes that if you praise children for being smart, they develop a “mind-set” that they have a certain amount of intelligence and that their IQ is fixed. If they then encounter a problem they can’t solve, they may think, I’m not smart enough to do this, and give up. Professor Dweck recommends that you instead praise children for trying hard. Teach them that intelligence is not a fixed quantity but instead depends on their mind-set. If you try harder, you can become smarter.
