Here’s an example. A professor was asked to send weekly e-mail messages to students who had done poorly on their first exam for the class. These students were divided into three groups. The mail to one group of students included only a review question. A second group received the review question plus some advice–along the lines of “study harder.” The third group received (in addition to the review question) a classic message for self-esteembuilding–“You’re too smart to get a D,” or words to that effect.
And the results? The students who got the “self-esteem injection” performed notably worse on subsequent tests. —Superheated ‘Steem Can Burn You (Photon Courier)
A blog entry from 2003, that I came across recently via Comrade Snowball.
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(Avoiding the temptation to actually find the research, and look for what I expect to be a flaw in the study or the reporting of the results...)
Actually building self-esteem is very hard, pop-psych aside. Efforts to increase self-esteem can easily lower self-esteem, motivation, or both.
Susan's suspicion that the test participants may not have been unconvinced by the extra feedback is a good on. I'm not sure it's an issue of being personal, as being insincere. Sincere feedback would more likely make a difference, especially if it was actionable. Perhaps something that encouraged them to join a study group or attend the professor's or TA's office hours.
Another point, to add to Susan's suspicion regarding the findings, ... the assumption is that self-esteem is important for kids. College students may still have an inflated opinion of the value of their "effort", but unless they are first-semester freshmen, they have some sense of how a college professor's role as facilitator differs from the teacher's role as disciplinarian and force-feeder.
My quotation of Photon Courier's summary of somebody else's research tells only a small part of the story. So maybe I should have chosen a different quote...
Hmmm. First, I don't think anyone fell for injected b.s. Second, mentioning the "D" gave them either 1) all they were seeking or 2) hopelessness if they've really put all they can into it. Sometimes the "personal" approach doesn't work--it just piles on the guilt of displeasing someone rather than just a cut and dry course grade.