Consequently, whether to use pronouns or not depends on how we want to assign credit or blame, and how subjective or objective we want what is being said to seem.

Said another way, present tense suggests that speakers don’t just have an opinion, they are relatively certain about it.

The key is asking a related question that shows interest. Signaling that we are seeking relevant information rather than hiding it.

Questions like “What problems does it have?” do exactly that. Rather than implicitly assuming no issues, they assume there are some and want to root them out.

For another set of students, the researchers worded the praise slightly differently. Rather than praising the person, or telling them how smart they were, the researchers praised the process, or how hard they were working (“You must have worked hard at these problems”).