Unfortunately, the program produced the opposite result they had hoped for.

 

Since there was a cash reward, people in India started to actually breed more cobra snakes, to then kill them, and get the reward money.

 

So the number of snakes born actually increased! 

 

And when the British government ended the program, thousands of snakes were released into the wild, making the problem even worse.

In Behavioral Science, getting the opposite result of what you were trying to reinforce is called perverse incentive or perverse reinforcement. 

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And it turns out that the most common way that parents and teachers use praise has been shown by scientists to cause a “perverse incentive” for children to try less and to take less creative risks.  

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A more recent example of this is what happened with basic supplies at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an attempt to ration grocery supplies, many stores put a limit on the amount of toilet paper any one customer could buy. But instead of equally distributing the supply, the limit triggered panic buying and a scarcity-fear which caused people to drive from store to store to hoard hundreds of toilet paper rolls in their homes. The limit created perverse reinforcement to buy more not less which led to the opposite result from what was intended.  

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But getting back to how to use praise with children, it turns out that the most common types of praise that parents give children is about intelligence (for example, “You figured out how to build the lego, you’re so smart!”) and about accomplishments (for example, “I’m so proud of you for getting an A grade at school.”). 

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And I bet you’re probably right now thinking, “Yes, that’s exactly what I say to my child… and what’s wrong with that?!”   Well, your child might feel good in that moment, but it turns out that  these kinds of praise can lead to poorer performance in the future, with lower self-esteem not higher! 

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In the first chapter of the book titled NurtureShock, the authors explain research showing that when a child is praised for their intelligence or for their accomplishments they are then less likely to keep trying for more because they start to fear they might not be able to keep up the high standard. They are less likely to try new things, especially if they think they might not get a top grade or finish first in a race. 

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In other words, they did well once and they don’t want to risk not doing well in the future. 

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The good news is there is an alternative! When parents keep their praise focused on the effort a child invests in an activity, and on the positive experiences the child has while learning, then children are much more likely to try even harder and to try more new things in the future.  

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So, for example, instead of saying “Good for you for getting all of your homework done” (note, this is a comment on their accomplishment), you could praise their effort by saying for example “I’m really proud of how focused you’ve stayed on your homework this evening.”

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The main take-away is that your child will have higher self-esteem and will be a better student when you reinforce HOW they are learning – their effort along the way – instead of focusing on the end result. 

 

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Have a lovely week!