부모들이 아이를 지나치게 칭찬하는 것은 아이에게 안 좋은 영향을 줄 수 있다는 주장이 제기되었다.
영국 유니버시티 칼리지 런던에서 정신 분석 이론을 가르치는 스티븐 그로츠는 부모들이 자식들에게 “넌 정말 똑똑해,” “넌 예술가야”라는 식으로 능력을 과장하여 너무 자주 칭찬하는 것은 아이의 자존심에 장기적으로 악영향을 줄 수 있다고 주장했다.
<관련 영문 기사>
Empty praise can harm children: psychologist
Excessively complimenting children can harm their confidence, a U.S. psychologist claimed.
Stephen Grosz, who teaches psychoanalytic theory at University College London, alleged that parents may be putting their children’s confidence at risk by bombarding them with “empty” compliments, such as “You really are an artist,” or “You’re so clever.”
“Empty praise is as bad as thoughtless criticism -- it expresses indifference to the child’s feelings and thoughts,” Grosz was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying.
Such praises lead to negative consequences later in life, when the children grow up and realize they cannot live up to the false high expectations, he said.
For parents to avoid such problems, Grosz advised them to compliment children less frequently, and to praise the children’s efforts rather than their intelligence.
To back his theory, Grosz cited a study Columbia University psychologists which suggested children who were highly praised performed worse academically.
The researchers asked 128 children aged 10 and 11 to solve math problems. Then the participants were divided into two groups: the first group was told that they were clever, and the second group was praised upon their efforts.
Researchers found out when given more difficult problems, the second group performed better than the first.
From news reports
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)
