Research
Praise, personal letters and awards: what the research says
Decades of studies point the same way. Praise lands best when it names something a person really did, not a label for who they are, and it can backfire when it ranks them against others. A sincere thank-you letter means more to the person who gets it than the writer expects. Below is a plain summary of the studies, with links, and learnerborn's own numbers from 398 sample notes, letters and award certificates.
By Scott Mackley, founder of learnerborn · Updated
What the studies found
Six findings worth knowing before you write
Most of these studies are about children. The gratitude studies are about adults. Each summary stays within what the study found.
Praise what they did, not who they are
In experiments with young children, praise for the process ("you found a good way to do it") left children more willing to keep going after a setback than praise for the person ("you're a good girl" or "you're so smart"). Children praised as a person were more likely to feel bad about themselves and give up when they later made a mistake. The effect turns on small changes in wording.
Kamins, M. L., & Dweck, C. S. (1999); Mueller, C. M., & Dweck, C. S. (1998); Cimpian, A., Arce, H. C., Markman, E. M., & Dweck, C. S. (2007)
Kids who need praise most are hurt most by the wrong kind
In one study, adults were more likely to give person praise to children with low self-esteem. In another, when those children then failed, person praise left them with more shame than process praise did. Praise that points to something real the child did is the safer kind, especially for the kids who struggle.
Praise works when it is sincere
A review of the research on praise and children's motivation found that praise helps when children see it as sincere, when it credits things they control like effort and strategy, and when it doesn't set up comparisons with other children.
Being compared with classmates matters more as kids get older
Young children's view of themselves is barely affected by how they compare with classmates. That changes through the school years, and by early adolescence comparison with others is a major way students judge themselves. An award that names one winner is felt by everyone who didn't win, and more so with older students.
Ruble, D. N., Boggiano, A. K., Feldman, N. S., & Loebl, J. H. (1980); Dijkstra, P., Kuyper, H., van der Werf, G., Buunk, A. P., & van der Zee, Y. G. (2008)
Feedback about the task beats praise about the person
A large review of feedback in schools found that feedback about the task and how it was done is far more useful than praise aimed at the person, which carries little information about what to do next.
A thank-you letter means more than the writer thinks
People who wrote a gratitude letter expected the recipient to feel less surprised and less happy, and more awkward, than recipients said they felt. In a separate study, writing and delivering a gratitude letter produced one of the largest short-term lifts in happiness among the exercises tested.
Kumar, A., & Epley, N. (2018); Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005)
Our own numbers
What 398 sample notes turned into
These come from the letters and award certificates learnerborn wrote for its sample sets, from notes about invented people in real kinds of groups. We publish them so anyone can check how short notes become personal letters.
- 398
- people written for, with invented names, across more than 100 groups: classes, teams, studios, camps, staff and volunteers
- 25 words
- the typical note a leader wrote about one person (median)
- 122 words
- the typical letter written from that note (median)
- 347
- different award titles across the 398 people, so almost every title belonged to one person
- 2
- titles that used a ranking word (both "Best"). Every other title named the person's own moment or strength
How we counted: each person counted once; word counts split on spaces; medians, not averages, so a few long notes don't skew them. Three in four notes were under 30 words. We'll update these as the set grows.
How learnerborn puts this to work
The research shaped the rules every letter and certificate follows.
- Every person gets a title made from their own moment, never a ranking.
- Letters praise what the person did and how they grew, not who they are.
- Each letter is written only from the leader's own notes.
- Every leader reviews each piece and can change anything before printing.
What the research doesn't say: none of these studies tested learnerborn, and none promise a result for any one child. They describe what tends to help and what tends to hurt. For the how-to, see how to write a personal letter to every student and end of season award ideas that celebrate every player.
Sources
- Kamins, M. L., & Dweck, C. S. (1999). Person versus process praise and criticism: Implications for contingent self-worth and coping. Developmental Psychology, 35(3), 835 to 847. doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.35.3.835
- Mueller, C. M., & Dweck, C. S. (1998). Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(1), 33 to 52. doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.1.33
- Cimpian, A., Arce, H. C., Markman, E. M., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Subtle linguistic cues affect children's motivation. Psychological Science, 18(4), 314 to 316. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01896.x
- Brummelman, E., Thomaes, S., Overbeek, G., Orobio de Castro, B., van den Hout, M. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2014). On feeding those hungry for praise: Person praise backfires in children with low self-esteem. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(1), 9 to 14. doi.org/10.1037/a0031917
- Henderlong, J., & Lepper, M. R. (2002). The effects of praise on children's intrinsic motivation: A review and synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 128(5), 774 to 795. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.5.774
- Ruble, D. N., Boggiano, A. K., Feldman, N. S., & Loebl, J. H. (1980). Developmental analysis of the role of social comparison in self-evaluation. Developmental Psychology, 16(2), 105 to 115. doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.16.2.105
- Dijkstra, P., Kuyper, H., van der Werf, G., Buunk, A. P., & van der Zee, Y. G. (2008). Social comparison in the classroom: A review. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 828 to 879. doi.org/10.3102/0034654308321210
- Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81 to 112. doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487
- Kumar, A., & Epley, N. (2018). Undervaluing gratitude: Expressers misunderstand the consequences of showing appreciation. Psychological Science, 29(9), 1423 to 1435. doi.org/10.1177/0956797618772506
- Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410 to 421. doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410
A letter or award that names what they really did.
Start with first names and a few notes. You'll have an award certificate, a letter or both for each person, ready to review and print.
Certificates from $3, letters from $6 each for groups of 16 or more.