In this psyblog article, it cited a study done with 51 preschool children who enjoyed drawing. The children were divided into three groups. The first group was told that they would get a certificate with a gold seal and ribbon if they took part. The second group got the same reward, but they weren't told about it until after the activity was finished. The third group didn't receive a reward at all. Each of the children were put in separate rooms to draw for 6 minutes and then their rewards were either given or not given, depending on which group they were in. Then, over the next few days, the children wre watched to see how much drawing they would do on their own. The group that expected the reward beforehand drew dearly half of the amount of time as the other groups and their pictues were rated by judges as being less pleasing.
The article says that this happened because of overjustification. They all liked to draw and were intrinsically motivated to draw because it was fun. When the children received a reward, their motivation changed, making it less enjoyable.
Another reason the article gave was because the reward made us think about unenjoyable activities. We are used to getting money for painful tasks, so when we get it for enjoyable tasks, we think that we shouldn't want to do the task.
This is also said to be true for adults when the reward is money. To a musician, who really likes music, the task can seem tedius when money gets thrown into it. To a student, who really likes reading, may not like reading if it is for school because school assignments are normally boring, so we make the connection that reading must be boring too.
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I disagree with the experiments findings. I think that when people get rewards for things that they have done, that they wish to do it more. I haven't seen anybody who has gotten a reward that has backfired on them. It just doesn't make much sense too me why people would do such a study that isn't very complicated to understand.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Tom, but i disagree too. When you get a reward sometimes, doesn't it make you feel good about youself? Duh... Of course it does. But with some people, it doesn't just make them feel good about themselves, it makes them conceited and big headed. So i guess rewards can make you feel good and make you "want to do it again". But then with some people, they shouldn't even get rewards because it will only make their head blow up 9 inches. They take advantage of the fact that it was a reward for doing something great, not a right to say they are better than somebody else. For some people the fact that feeling good about themselves for getting a reward is handing them a peice of paper telling them that because they did something good, they now have the right to act like they are top shit.* (Oops. Can i say that?)But with some people the concept of "A REWARD" to far.
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