Praise: Despite Good Intentions, How Much is too Much?

By David Smith, M.Sc., CSCS., SDL (He/Him)

Praise is often used with best intentions. After all, who doesn’t love some positive reeforcement with a pat on the back and a “good job!” when you do something well. Just like anything else, too much praise can turn into a bad thing and have the opposite of the intended effect. When it comes to positive reenforcement, praising can be seen as “blocking” (in improv terms), in that the praises offers a short term endorphin hit but otherwise does not internalize good behaviors as it pertains to growth. That is, the athlete says “thank you” and feels good for a moment, reenforcing the observed behavior but does not inspire change. In fact, any efforts to improve upon the action behavior often stop there.

• Excessive use of praise leads athletes to become desensitized and inattentive to feedback.
• Reenforces talent and skill, rather than effort.
• While it may reenforce the observed behavior, it fails to reenforce growth or development upon improvement of said behavior.
  • For example, if the athlete executes a skill and is praised for it. They will assume their skill level is adequate and less likely to try and improve upon it.
• Develops more of a fixed mindset and ego oriented attitude.
• Leads athlete’s to put more pressure on themselves and drive negative self talk behaviors if they fail to meet those standards of expectation.
• Praising only works when the athlete exhibits a “good” behavior but can contribute to fear of making mistakes if the same behavior or outcome is not repeated.

Rather than praising, it’s much more productive to use affirmations. Affirmations involve observing and pointing out good behaviors, bringing visibility to the desired action behaviors and helping the athlete to better internalize it as a positive effect of their efforts. This way, you are

• Reenforcing the athlete’s effort to improve and encourages them to continue developing along that trajectory.
• Reenforces the athlete’s effort to improve, rather than talent or skill.
• Athlete’s feel seen and their effort is being recognized.
• Leads to more positive self talk behaviors, athletes are more likely to encourage themselves when they make a mistake.
• Drives intrinsic curiousity and motivation toward self improvement.
• Affirmations are used to reenforce “good” behaviors but also help athletes learn from their mistakes, driving more constructive feedback and development.

It’s also key to follow up with athletes later on, continuing to observe their action behaviors. Pay attention to the effects that the affirmations (or praises) have on the athletes and see how they respond. Praise can be useful and beneficial, but it needs to be used tactfully and in the right moments so that it remains an effective and positive tool.

As practitioners, we want to make sure that our work serves to benefit the athletes, so its important that we evaluate and reflect upon our own interactions with the athletes as well. By observing how the athlete responds in their action behaviors following affirmation/praise helps us to better understand our influence on their overall mindset. Ensuring that we can adapt accordingly to the unique needs of our athletes.