Can teachers' inflated praise make children from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds seem less smart? We conducted two preregistered experiments to address this question. We used hypothetical scenarios to ensure experimental control. An experiment with primary school teachers (N = 106, ages 21-63) showed that when a child from a low-SES…

The educational system today often relies on incentives in order to motivate students. However, it might also encourage students to engage in deceptive behaviour (e.g. malingering) in order to reach certain benefits. Hereby, we investigated whether students would intentionally fabricate symptoms (i.e. malinger) when confronted with a…

Caregivers are often encouraged to praise children to reduce externalizing behavior. Although several theoretical perspectives suggest that praise works (e.g., praise reinforces positive behavior), others suggest it may not (e.g., children dismiss praise or experience it as controlling). This longitudinal-observational study examined whether (a)…

The present study investigates the effects of different kinds of praise on 108 students in vocational education, using a similar design as the original mindset studies. Students worked on a set of Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices and either received praise for effort, received praise for intelligence, or were in the control group. Results…

One of the causes of the science teacher shortage is the low enrollment in science teacher education. In the Netherlands, science undergraduates can enroll in a half-year teaching course that leads to a teacher qualification for junior secondary education. The goal is that these undergraduates continue in teacher education to obtain a full…

This study tested effects of a program that offers teachers universal classroom management strategies, on teachers' burnout symptoms and self-efficacy, and their teaching behaviors. Data were collected from 147 teachers (mean age = 38.4 years, SD = 10.8) in 15 special secondary education schools for students with emotional and behavioral problems,…

Background: Changes in reward processing are thought to be involved in the etiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as other developmental disorders. In addition, different forms of therapy for ADHD rely on reinforcement principles. As such, improved understanding of reward processing in ADHD could eventually lead to…