giovedì 18 febbraio 2016

Praise: Substitution versus Income Effects, Bryan Caplan

Praise: Substitution versus Income Effects, Bryan Caplan
  • Touchy-feely parents shower praise on their kids.   "Great job!"   "You're super smart!"   "Wonderful."   Old-school parents do the opposite.   "You could have done better."
  • I suspect, is emotional rather than strategic. Parents praise or withhold because that's what feels right to them.
  • accordingly.The pro-praise story: Praise is a form of reward.
  • The anti-praise story: Yes, praise is a form of reward. But the more rewards kids rack up , the more satisfied they feel. The more satisfied they feel, the less effort kids exert.Framed
  • pro- and anti-praise debate boils down to the intermediate micro analysis of the substitution and income effects.
  • Touchy-feel parents also typically avoid shaming their kids.   Old-school parents, in contrast, shame freely.  
  • Here, then, old-school parents seem to rely on the substitution effect - the greater the cost of bad behavior, the smaller the quantity.  
  • Touchy-feely parents, in contrast, seem to tacitly appeal to the income effect: A shamed kid will act even worse because he has so little left to lose.
  • Personally, my parenting style embraces the substitution effect in both directions.....That's definitely more consistent
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