As people increasingly turn to LLMs to learn new information and skills, it is important to understand how the format of LLM responses – not just the content – might influence their learning and motivation.
From a young age, we care about what people think of us. We want to have a good reputation: we want those around us to think that we’re smart, kind, generous, etc. But when do we begin to recognize that others might be driven by the same reputational concerns – and what are the implications for learning?
Help is ubiquitous in everyday life, yet it can be deceptively difficult to calibrate. Providing too little help can lead to unproductive struggle, while providing too much – or ‘overhelping’ – can undermine independence and genuine growth. What makes some forms of help empowering and others dejecting?
Decades of research have found that the explicit feedback (e.g., praise) that parents and teachers give to students can strongly impact students’ motivation and beliefs about their potential. But what might parents’ and teachers’ actions - including the help they give - convey to students about whether they’re capable of succeeding?