A study has examined if in small children who do something deserving, praising the child (“What a great child you are…!”) or instead praising the action (“Great work…!”) determine different effects by the age of 5 years. Results show that kids of 7-8 years who were praised for the action were more deeply involved in complex tasks and adopted more elaborate strategies to solve problems respect to children who were complimented for how good they personally were. In explaining these results researchers found interesting replies to a question about whether intelligence and certain personality traits (dedication, continuity etc.) were fixed (you are born that way) or malleable (you develop the traits). Almost all the kids who when young had their actions praised said that intelligence and personality traits were malleable, whereas those who were personally praised generally replied that the two features were fixed. Praising the action sends the message that work and effort underlie one’s successes, whereas praising the person suggests that one’s efforts don’t really count because what matters is one’s innate ability which is fixed. The study also highlighted a rather unworthy tendency: parents of boys tend to praise the action, but those of girls prefer praising the person.