{PBR} THE TROUBLE WITH CARROTS
The troubling truth is that rewards and punishments are not opposites at all; they are two sides of the same coin. And it is a coin that does not buy very much.—Alfie Kohn
After presenting various studies to support the idea that rewards are ineffective and even detrimental to performance in the workplace, school and family, Kohn presents four of five reasons he believes this to be the case. ‘[The problems I describe are more than explanations,’ he writes, ‘[T]hey are also serious indictments in their own right... Collectively, they constitute the central case against pop behaviorism.’
{Note that this blog series is comprised of my basic notes and personal reflections. If you find these interesting, I highly recommend that you get a copy of Kohn’s book Punished by Rewards, so you can benefit from his full and original arguments.}
{I. REWARDS PUNISH}
We began by questioning Kohn’s argument that rewards punish. {Even after reading this section, we discussed whether it would be better called ‘Rewards Control,’ as that does seem to be the focus.} We agreed that we do not feel punished when we have failed to earn a promised reward—as long as we have actually failed to meet a clear criteria; there are cases where the criteria continues to be enlarged as the rewarder capitalizes on his control.
But Kohn went on to describe for us the way rewards might be used in—frankly—a bullying manner.
I have seen teachers use group rewards in order to single out an offender in a way that is certainly intended to punish {i.e. promising ‘cookies for everyone who can sit still,’ while staring at one particular child with a doubtful—even ominous—expression}.
Then there are parents who promise a trip to the circus for good behavior all week. But all week long, the circus is not a pleasant prospect so much as it is a threat wielded at every hint of misbehavior: ‘I don’t think we’ll be going to the circus, after all...’ {From experience, I would guess that most children cease believing the circus worth the trouble. At any rate, this is not the joyful, ‘positive’ atmosphere we are likely to picture at the word reward.}
The connection I found most fascinating, however, was that in the people using them. There is not one group of mean people more likely to use punishments, and another group of nice people more likely to use rewards. Studies have shown that those who use one form of behavioral motivation are not less but more likely to use the other. One method may be more or less socially acceptable than the other, but their appeal and result are very much alike.
‘The new school, which exhorts us to catch people doing something right and reward them for it, is therefore not all that much of an improvement over the old school, which had us catching people doing something wrong and punishing them if they ever did it again. What is mostly taking place in both approaches is that a lot of people are being caught. This is more than a play of words. What we are talking about it the experience of being controlled...’ [p 53]
Discussion—What benefits are gained by the experience of not achieving a goal after working towards it? How might that be different than failing to achieve a reward? (ex. internal versus external motivation} Can they be separated, as in working to get a good grade so you can enter medical school?
Can you think of ways you have ever felt punished by a reward? What did you believe about the motivation in offering a reward?
{II. REWARDS RUPTURE RELATIONSHIPS}
This is for me one of the most lamentable reasons a culture of rewards creates a hostile environment for creativity and progress.
‘Rewards... are typically based on the faulty assumption “that the organization’s effectiveness is the simple additive combination of individual’s separate performances,” in the words of organizational psychologist Jone L. Pearce—a reductive world view that overlooks the nature of group interaction... As one pair of educational psychologists likes to say, “All of us are smarter than any of us.”’ [p 54]
Competition is a powerful natural force we will never get rid of in this life, nor should we try. But an undue use of competition fosters ‘strifes and jealousies’ that prevent ‘the positive relationships that promote optimal learning or performance.’
Such effects are made worse by practices that explicitly set ‘competitors’ against each other by creating conditions of ‘artificial scarcity.’ Kohn mentions a ‘Genius of the Week’ badge similar to something I saw implemented in kindergarten. The prize in this case was given for ‘best’ behavior, and it was instructive to see ambitious children prod others into misbehavior. ‘The central message that is taught here,’ Kohn write, ‘is that everyone else is a potential obstacle to one’s own success.’ That is a very sad way to think about good behavior, learning, or quality work!
‘What is the harm, we say, when all those springs of action are in the child already? The athlete is beginning to discover that he suffers elsewhere from the undue development of any set of muscles; and the boy whose ambition, or emulation, has been unduly stimulated becomes a flaccid person. But there is a worse evil... [T]he worst of using other spurs to learning is that a natural love of knowledge which should carry us through eager school-days, and give a spice of adventure to the duller days of mature life, is effectively choked; and boys and girls ‘Cram to pass but not to know; they do pass but they don’t know.’ The divine curiosity which should have been equipment for life hardly survives early school days.’
—Charlotte Mason
‘We need not delay over that desire of power, ambition, which plays its part in every life; but the educator must see that it plays no more than its part... It is within a teacher’s scope to offer wholesome ambitions to a boy, to make him keen to master knowledge rather than manage men; and here he has a wide field without encroaching on another’s preserve.’
—Charlotte M. Mason
Another kind of relationship damaged by rewards is the vertical relationship—the relationship between rewarder and rewarded {or, not rewarded}. As parents, as teachers, as employers, is our hope not to create an atmosphere which allows children, students, and employees to openly communicate problems and safely ask for needed direction or assistance?
But what if the person to whom you might turn for help is also the one who sits in judgement of your performance?
‘You will not be working collaboratively in order to learn or grow; you will be trying to get him or her to approve of what you are doing... A powerful inducement has been created to conceal problems, to present yourself as infinitely competent, and to spend your energies trying to impress (or flatter) the person with power.’ [p 57-58]
‘The presence or absence of rewards is, of course, only one factor among many that affect the quality of our relationships. But it is a factor too often overlooked in its tendency to cause flattery to be emphasized in place of trust and to create a feeling of being evaluated rather than supported.’ [p 58-59]
Discussion—Can you think of a time that someone you knew was placed in a position to reward you{or to be rewarded by you}? Do you feel that the dynamics of that relationship changed in any way? If so, how?
{III. REWARDS IGNORE REASONS}
Kohn previously touched upon this third reason when exploring the appeal behind behaviorism, the idea that ‘human beings are no more than what they do.’ Even the best of us have been seduced at times by this idea: ‘Change what they do and you have dealt with the problem.’
It means never having to ask why.
Is your toddler having trouble staying in bed because she feels deprived of quiet time with you? Is your student ignoring his homework because he’s given up trying to understand concepts that are always explained the same way? Are your employees doing an indifferent job because they feel defeated by a system that holds them accountable for things they can’t control? It doesn’t matter, behaviorism says to the tired parent, teacher, employer; you don’t have to deal with the messiness of motivation. Just make your threats bad enough or your promises good enough, and the issue will go away.
Does it, though?
‘Rewards are not actually solutions at all; they are gimmicks, shortcuts, quick fixes that mask problems and ignore reasons, They never look below the surface.’ [p 60]
Like Kohn, most of us believe there is more to a person than what they do; we care about that person’s needs, desires, motivations, personality... ‘Merely controlling an individual’s behavior with bribes or threats misses most of what is going on,’ Kohn points out; in fact, ‘behavioral interventions exclude from consideration the factors that may matter the most.’
Discussion—Can you remember a time you used a reward as the solution to a problem? What behavior were you trying to change? What possible reasons can you imagine for this behavior? What different ways might the problem have been solved? Why did you use a reward?
How have you seen rewards used as solutions in the family, the school or the workplace?
{IV. REWARDS DISCOURAGE RISK-TAKING}
Even when we were originally interested in a task for its own sake, our approach to the task changes fundamentally when there is a prospect of extrinsic reward.
‘Not only are we less apt to notice peripheral features of the task [‘incidental learning’], but in performing it we are also less likely to take chances, play with possibilities, follow hunches that might not pay off. Risks are to be avoided whenever possible because the objective is not to engage in an open-ended encounter with ideas; it is simply to get the goody.’ [p 63]
Studies that have sought to condition animals and humans to creativity have produced only repetitive approaches. Researcher Barry Swartz concluded, ‘Once one finds some response pattern that works reliably [to secure a reward], it is pointless, even foolish, to deviate from it.’
For this reason, we are much more likely to choose the most familiar and simple tasks necessary to gain the prize. In fact, studies have concluded that ‘the bigger the reward, the easier the task that people choose’; more disturbingly, ‘when the rewards stop, those who received them earlier continue to prefer to do as little as possible.’
Consider again the program that offers free pizza to children who read a certain number of books. What kinds of books do you expect to see on their lists? How thoughtfully do you expect them to read those books? How do you expect this to influence their future selections?
My sister, who loves to read, remembers choosing books that were short and easy, and reading them rather too quickly and carelessly. These were not books she enjoyed, and not the books she chose when reading for her own pleasure. After the program would end, she would take a break from any kind of reading.
‘If it has escaped our notice until now that rewards—grades, of course, being only one example—have these unhappy effects this may be because we assume that people naturally avoid challenging themselves, that it is “human nature” to be lazy. The evidence shows that if anything deserves to be called natural, it is the tendency to seek optimal challenge, to struggle to make sense of the world, to fool around with unfamiliar ideas. Human beings are inclined to push themselves to succeed at something (moderately) difficult.’ [p 66]
But a culture of rewards punishes this optimal approach to learning. We only pursue this kind of ‘struggling’ and ‘fooling around’ when we feel safe to do so. A culture of grades too often penalizes students more interested in learning than in rubrics, and causes adventurous students to retreat into self-protective mode.
Discussion—This quote reminds me of John Holt’s excellent book How Children Learn, which I highly, highly recommend to all parents and teachers. Holt paints a vivid picture for us of the love for learning natural to all people but often schooled out of them. Also helpful {but less delightful} is How Children Fail.
Discussion—Can you think of a time that you were offered a reward for doing something you already enjoyed doing? How did working for a reward affect your approach or attitude to the task? Did you notice any effects even after you were no longer pursuing a reward?
In this next chapter, Kohn will address the fifth and—he believes—most tragic reason rewards fail to improve performance—‘Cutting the Interest Rate.’
• ‘The stick,’ Kohn says, ‘is in the carrot.’ Or wielded by the carrot, as in this humorous cartoon. •
March 7, 2014