One of Dweck’s studies revealed the immediate impact of the word “smart.” Two groups of students were given a challenging task. On completion, one group was praised for being “really smart,” and the other was praised for working hard. Both groups were then offered a choice between two follow-up tasks, one that was described as easy and one that was described as challenging. Ninety percent of the students praised for working hard chose the harder task, whereas the majority of the students praised for being “smart” chose the easy task.14 When students are praised for being smart, they want to
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