Ben-Coyle-Ch6

 The sixth chapter of “The Talent Code” is about “keeping the flame lit,” so to speak. Chapter 5 discusses ignition that sparks motivation, but it is also important to keep the motivation alive. “Talent hotbeds are to primal cues,” writes Coyle, “what Las Vegas is to neon signs, flashing with the kind of signals that keep motivation burning.” The messages that come from primal cues should be all over, as it seemed to be at the baseball field noted in this chapter. Coyle also writes about the “Language of Ignition,” which is primal cues triggered by words. Coyle cites a study in which some children were praised for their intelligence, while others were praised for their hard work. The children who were praised for their hard work consistently outperformed their counterparts, and had more positive feelings about the puzzles they were asked to solve.

I think the notion that motivation has to be kept up with consistent messages is intuitive. What seems more novel, in my opinion, is the notion that the way in which the messages are worded matters a lot. It matters that we praise effort instead of current ability: people believe what we tell them. When we praise performance or intelligence, we perpetuate a poor relationship with mistakes. When we praise effort, we encourage a positive relationship with mistakes: we communicate that intelligence can increase with effort. This is a concept that is talked about frequently within the context of teaching mathematics, actually.

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