Re: MIT... well, I went there, but it was >20 years ago, so I can't speak to what it's like now with any significant credibility. That said, I am at least peripherally involved in its social milieu... in fact, I'm having my wedding reception there later this year... so I guess I'm not completely disconnected.

The impression I get is that the "praise-free zone" nature of the place hasn't changed and isn't likely to. There's a strong cultural bias towards what I think of as the UNIX attitude towards feedback -- "there's no reason to provide any return values on success; if something had gone wrong we would have told you" -- which means that creating your own reward structure is an important skill.