An evaluation of praise as a reinforcer for preschoolers' behavior

The team worked with six preschoolers who had no diagnoses. They wanted to see if praise alone could make kids work harder.

They compared two kinds of praise: general ("Good job!") and descriptive ("You stacked all the blocks"). They also tested if the kids needed food treats instead.

Each child went through short sessions where they could earn stickers for simple tasks. The rule changed each time: praise only, food only, or both together.

Only two of the six kids worked harder for praise. The other four needed food or toys to stay motivated.

For the kids who liked praise, the style did not matter much. Some did a little better with descriptive praise, some with general, but the jump was small.

Wilson et al. (1987) saw a similar pattern with autistic and ID kids. Prosodic praise barely worked for them. Together the two studies show that social praise is weak for many kids, no matter the label.

Mueller et al. (2000) tested choice of low-value items in preschoolers and also got flat results. Like Senn et al. (2020), they learned that small changes in how you give a weak reward do not turn it into a strong one.

Buskist et al. (1988) proved that staff guesses about reinforcers often fail. Their data back up Senn’s advice: always run a quick reinforcer check instead of assuming praise will work.

Before you build a whole program around praise, spend five minutes testing it. Place a few treats on the table and see which one the child reaches for first. If praise wins, great. If not, pair it with food or toys first, then fade the edibles later. This small step saves you from weeks of slow progress and frustrated kids.