Show 50: Excerpt - Dr. Carol Dweck On Praising Children's Efforts, Not Smarts

TELLING YOUR CHILD that they are smart seems like an encouraging and positive thing to say, right? Well, studies on intelligence have shown that saying "You're so smart!" can actually prevent kids from choosing to take on subsequent, challenging tasks for fear that they might fail and so risk appearing not smart. Psychology professor at Stanford University, Dr. Carol Dweck is an internationally-recognized expert in intelligence research. Her study's results have found that praising children's efforts - saying "You worked hard and did well!" instead - encourages them to continue learning and growing all throughout life. These academic studies have informed two mainstream projects - the book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success and the online curriculum Brainology - both are based on her idea of the "growth mindset".

Kids These Days! producer Sarah Gonzales recently spoke with Dr. Dweck from her office in Palo Alto, California.