In an experiment, people who had been praised for their decision-making skills were 40% more likely to escalate their commitment to a bad decision (in this case, a bad hire) than people who hadn’t been praised. But those who had been praised for their creativity, rather than their decision prowess, were 40% less likely to escalate their commitment than those who hadn’t been praised, says Adam Grant of The Wharton School. The experiment, by Niro Sivanathan of London Business School and others, suggests that any time you give positive feedback for a skill or trait, the person being praised is at risk for becoming overconfident in that particular domain, Grant says.
