Research on praise, in support of a growth mindset, has overwhelmingly focused on children. We explored how praise influences performance in college students. Colleges are often challenged to respond to students’ established mindsets in the face of increasingly demanding coursework. Specifically, we examined how fear of failure may alter the effects of ability praise and effort praise. When the task was overly challenging, participants surrendered regardless of the type of praise (Experiment 1). When the task was more manageable, effort praise motivated students with a high fear of failure (Experiment 2). These results collectively have implications for responsive teaching with regards to course design, pedagogical style, and student retention.

支持成长观念的赞美研究绝大多数集中在儿童身上。我们探讨了称赞如何影响大学生的表现。在课程要求越来越高的情况下，大学通常面临挑战以回应学生的既定思维方式。具体来说，我们研究了对失败的恐惧如何改变能力表扬和努力表扬的影响。当任务过于艰巨时，无论赞美的类型如何，参与者都投降了（实验1）。当任务更易于管理时，努力赞美激发了学生对失败的高度恐惧（实验2）。这些结果对课程设计，教学风格和留学生率方面的响应式教学具有共同的意义。