– Calling children “incredibly good” seems not to be so… good for them. According to a new study, while children with high self-esteem seem to thrive with inflated praise, this is not the case for their peers with low self-esteem. Paradoxically, kids suffering the most of exaggerated compliments are getting the more of them: in a related study, children with low self-esteem received twice as much inflated praise than children with high self-esteem.

– To evaluate the level of praise, the researchers, considered statements like “You’re good at this” or “Well done!” as non-inflated praise, while statements like “Super good” or “Fantastic!” were considered inflated praise.

Brad Bushman, co-author of the study

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