Does giving children rewards, such as toys, candy, or money, undermine their interest in learning?\u00a0 Long ago E.L. Thorndike concluded that learning is controlled by its consequences.\u00a0 If a behavior is\u00a0reinforced, it is more likely to be repeated.\u00a0 Ever since then, generations of educators and parents have been rewarding children hoping to reinforce their motivation to learn.\u00a0 Unfortunately, many studies have shown that when children are given rewards for their behavior, they often lose interest in that behavior compared to students who are not given rewards.
Should we abolish grades, incentives, and even praise?\u00a0 First, it is important to make a distinction among various types of rewards.\u00a0\u00a0Intrinsic\u00a0rewards are ones that naturally follow from performing a behavior well, such as seeing a tennis ball go over the net when it is hit well.\u00a0\u00a0Extrinsic\u00a0rewards come from an outside source, such as praise from a teacher, or candy for reading a certain number of books.\u00a0 Extrinsic rewards have been shown to negatively affect motivation\u2014but only\u00a0under certain conditions.
Rewards can be categorized into three types of contingencies (what the reward is predicated on).\u00a0
Task-contingent rewards:\u00a0 Children are rewarded merely for participating in an activity without regard to any standard of performance.\u00a0 Most studies find that motivation and interest decline in task-contingent situations.
Performance-contingent rewards:\u00a0 Children are rewarded when they meet certain performance criteria.\u00a0 Research is mixed here; sometimes these rewards reduce interest in an activity, and sometimes they don\u2019t.
Success-contingent rewards:\u00a0Children are given rewards for a good performance that is linked to the achievement of a goal.\u00a0 These types of rewards have been shown to\u00a0increase\u00a0interest and motivation.
Alfie Kohn believes that a system of rewards (regardless of whether they are task, performance, or success contingent) are inherently limiting because they serve only to\u00a0manipulate\u00a0people\u2019s behavior.\u00a0 Once the rewards stop, argues Kohn, children\u2019s\u00a0attitudes\u00a0toward the learning or their\u00a0commitment\u00a0to learning may not change.\u00a0 Therefore, for learning to be rewarding in and of itself, it must be made meaningful\u2014something children want to do because it helps them make sense of their world.\u00a0 Kohn suggests the following ways to tap children\u2019s motivation and sense of discovery.
Allow for active learning.
Give reasons for assignments.
Elicit their curiosity.
Set an example.
Welcome mistakes.
Sources:\u00a0
Chance, P. (November, 1992).\u00a0 The rewards of learning.\u00a0\u00a0Phi Delta Kappan, 200\u2013207.
Kohn, A. (1993).\u00a0\u00a0Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A\u2019s, praise, and other bribes.\u00a0 New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Murray, B. (June, 1997).\u00a0 Rewards should be given when defined goals are met.\u00a0\u00a0APA Monitor, 26. <\/p>\n
Respond to the forum by answering the following questions:\u00a0Should adolescents receive money for grades? How much is reasonable, and would it be motivating? On the other hand, is buying a computer for straight A’s unreasonable? How would you handle this as a parent? What about sports, should everyone who tries out make the team? Explain your answer <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Does giving children rewards, such as toys, candy, or money, undermine their interest in learning?\u00a0 Long ago E.L. Thorndike concluded that learning is controlled by its consequences.\u00a0 If a behavior is\u00a0reinforced, it is more likely to be repeated.\u00a0 Ever since then, generations of educators and parents have been rewarding children hoping to reinforce their motivation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-16057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-paper-writing","tag-psychology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}