Critism

I read an article on newsweek regarding praising children, or anyone actually, including yourself. I learnt that there are two types of praise, 'person praise' and 'process praise'. For example, after someone has solved a problem, we usually flatter them by saying 'You are so smart!!!!!!'. That's 'person praise'. 'Process praise' goes like 'That's a smart move!!!!!!'.

Psychologist undertook experiments on the effects of the approach employed and found out that the 'process praise' encouraged more persistence in solving future problems compared to 'person praise' in the subjects. Perhaps it's because that when a person is praised directly, arrogance ensues and that abates the passion for self-improvement. The person is finds no need to improve oneself. Overconfidence will eventually lead to ignorance and errs in the future.

On the other hand, 'process praise' will only send the message that the moves made were correct. The person will strive to solve more problems to gain sweet praise. The focus will be on solving problems, not so much on improving self-esteem, which may lead to a flawed character. This should be the form of praise used in positive conditioning, that is, a method of learning new habits.

Negative criticism works in the same way. 'Person critiques' debilitates self-esteem, leading to weak performance whilst 'process critiques' leads to creativity and perseverance.

My experience with criticism has lead me to notice the importance of adjusting the quality and quantity of criticism according to the situation. Regarding the quality of one's criticism, as a rule of thumb, people that are well educated and has a good character generally give good advice. Will you take the comments from your professor lightly? One should pursue knowledge and adopt an ethical behavior, or avoid giving senseless comments all together that reveal ignorance and immaturity.

The quantity of criticism is an equally important aspect. Too much criticism jeopardizes human relations whereas too little brings only a minor impact. Criticism of a moderate amount accompanied by relevant comments, be it negative or positive in nature, is constructive.

Hence from a practical perspective, this knowledge can be utilized in self-criticism or in criticizing others. With the right approach, human performance can be improved without incurring negative attitudes. I hope that this information proved to be useful. ^^