"Give a dog a good name" — attribute a virtue to someone and they will work to deserve it. "Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to, and he will make prodigious efforts rather than see you disillusioned." Carnegie gives the field case of a father who praised his misbehaving son as a good boy: "That was the turning point in the boy's life." The mechanism generalizes: "praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be 'hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.'" The final instrument is encouragement framed as ease: "Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct" — people live up to the difficulty level you imply.

— In our words · Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)