Results that are recognized get repeated

Whenever you praise, be it work or at home, you will reinforce the behaviour and make it much more likely that it will be repeated in the future. In today's competitive world criticisms will nearly always outnumber praise and a shortage of time often leads managers and parents to give both praise and criticism at the same time. This is not an effective strategy to encourage or discourage a particular behaviour: e.g. "you did a great job on the dishes but your bedroom's a real mess!" However, we do need a mixture of both. Since there is no perception without contrast, praise is diminished without criticism and vice versa. Praise tends to have a motivating effect on people's performances as well as doubling up as feedback from which to learn