This was always my 'go-to' feedback, telling children they had "done well", "tried hard", or "been good" - it did not dawn on me that this was not an effective type of feedback for the majority of children (Shute, 2008, p.129) - in my defence I saw a lot of this method being used on placement 1.
On reflection I can now see that although it made children feel good about what they were doing, it almost certainly did nothing to aid or develop their learning.
However, I did notice that with certain boys, especially those from single-parent (mother only) families, being told they were "good" or had "done well" certainly had an effect on their behaviour.