Punished By Rewards: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes
Revised for the twenty-fifth anniversary of its publication, Alfie Kohn's landmark challenge to carrot-and-stick psychology features updated reflections and research in a major new afterword by the author.

Our basic strategy for raising children, teaching students, and managing workers can be summed up in six words: Do this and you’ll get that. We dangle goodies (from candy bars to sales commissions) in front of people in the same way that we train the family pet.

Since its publication in 1993, this groundbreaking book has persuaded countless parents, teachers, and managers that attempts to manipulate people with incentives may seem to work in the short run, but they ultimately fail and even do lasting harm. Drawing from hundreds of studies, Kohn demonstrates that we actually do inferior work when we are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives—and are apt to lose interest in whatever we were bribed to do.

Promising goodies to children for good behavior, meanwhile, can never produce anything more than temporary obedience. Even praise can become a verbal bribe that gets kids hooked on our approval.

Rewards and punishments are two sides of the same coin—and the coin doesn’t buy much. What is needed, Kohn explains, is an alternative to both ways of controlling people. Hence, he offers practical strategies for parents, teachers, and managers to replace carrots and sticks.

Seasoned with humor and familiar examples, Punished by Rewards presents an argument that is unsettling to hear but impossible to dismiss.
1128719644
Punished By Rewards: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes
Revised for the twenty-fifth anniversary of its publication, Alfie Kohn's landmark challenge to carrot-and-stick psychology features updated reflections and research in a major new afterword by the author.

Our basic strategy for raising children, teaching students, and managing workers can be summed up in six words: Do this and you’ll get that. We dangle goodies (from candy bars to sales commissions) in front of people in the same way that we train the family pet.

Since its publication in 1993, this groundbreaking book has persuaded countless parents, teachers, and managers that attempts to manipulate people with incentives may seem to work in the short run, but they ultimately fail and even do lasting harm. Drawing from hundreds of studies, Kohn demonstrates that we actually do inferior work when we are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives—and are apt to lose interest in whatever we were bribed to do.

Promising goodies to children for good behavior, meanwhile, can never produce anything more than temporary obedience. Even praise can become a verbal bribe that gets kids hooked on our approval.

Rewards and punishments are two sides of the same coin—and the coin doesn’t buy much. What is needed, Kohn explains, is an alternative to both ways of controlling people. Hence, he offers practical strategies for parents, teachers, and managers to replace carrots and sticks.

Seasoned with humor and familiar examples, Punished by Rewards presents an argument that is unsettling to hear but impossible to dismiss.
18.99 In Stock
Punished By Rewards: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes

Punished By Rewards: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes

by Alfie Kohn
Punished By Rewards: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes

Punished By Rewards: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes

by Alfie Kohn

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Overview

Revised for the twenty-fifth anniversary of its publication, Alfie Kohn's landmark challenge to carrot-and-stick psychology features updated reflections and research in a major new afterword by the author.

Our basic strategy for raising children, teaching students, and managing workers can be summed up in six words: Do this and you’ll get that. We dangle goodies (from candy bars to sales commissions) in front of people in the same way that we train the family pet.

Since its publication in 1993, this groundbreaking book has persuaded countless parents, teachers, and managers that attempts to manipulate people with incentives may seem to work in the short run, but they ultimately fail and even do lasting harm. Drawing from hundreds of studies, Kohn demonstrates that we actually do inferior work when we are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives—and are apt to lose interest in whatever we were bribed to do.

Promising goodies to children for good behavior, meanwhile, can never produce anything more than temporary obedience. Even praise can become a verbal bribe that gets kids hooked on our approval.

Rewards and punishments are two sides of the same coin—and the coin doesn’t buy much. What is needed, Kohn explains, is an alternative to both ways of controlling people. Hence, he offers practical strategies for parents, teachers, and managers to replace carrots and sticks.

Seasoned with humor and familiar examples, Punished by Rewards presents an argument that is unsettling to hear but impossible to dismiss.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781328450524
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 08/07/2018
Pages: 480
Sales rank: 178,895
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

ALFIE KOHN's published works include Punished by Rewards, No Contest: The Case Against Competition, Beyond Discipline, and What to Look for in a Classroom. Described by Time as "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of educational fixation on grades and test scores," he has traveled across the country delivering lectures to teachers, parents, and researchers.
 

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Part 1 The Case Against Rewards

1 Skinner-Boxed: The Legacy Of Behaviorism 3

Pigeons and Rodents and Dogs

Bring In the Reinforcements

Behind the Appeal of Behaviorism

2 Is It Right to Reward? 19

Saving Room for Just Deserts

Treating People Like Pets

3 Is It Effective To Reward? 35

Do Rewards Change Behavior?

Do Rewards Improve Performance?

4 The Trouble With Carrots: Four Reasons Rewards Fail 49

I Rewards Punish

II Rewards Rupture Relationships

III Rewards Ignore Reasons

IV Rewards Discourage Risk-taking

5 Cutting The Interest Rate: The Fifth Reason Rewards Fail 68

The Old Man's Plan

The Scope of the Effect

The Reason for the Effect

"But If We Just …"

Minimizing the Damage

6 The Praise Problem 96

"Good Work!" vs. Good Work

Hooked on Praise

Encouraging Words

The Fear of Spoiling

Part 2 Rewards In Practice

7 Pay for Performance: Why Behaviorism Doesn't Work in the Workplace 119

Incentives Prevail

Incentives Fail

Why Incentives Fail

Money

The Five Problems with Rewards … at Work

8 Lures for Learning: Why Behaviorism Doesn't Work in the Classroom 142

The Motivation to Learn

Making Students Learn

Tighter Control: The Case of Special Education

"How'm I Doin'?"

9 Bribes for Behaving: Why Behaviorism Doesn't Help Children Become Good People 160

The Price of Obedience

Punishing Children

The Consequences of "Consequences"

"And If You're Good …"

Part 3 Beyond Rewards

Introduction 179

10 Thank God It's Monday: The Roots of Motivation in the workplace 181

Step 1 Abolish Incentives

Step 2 Reevaluate Evaluation

Step 3 Create the Conditions for Authentic Motivation

Collaboration

Content

Choice

11 Hooked on Learning: The Roots of Motivation in the Classroom 198

Remove the Rewards

Need We Grade?

The Straight-A Student: A Cautionary Tale

From Degrading to De-Grading

Learning as Discovery

The Three C's Again

Collaboration: Learning Together

Content: Things Worth Knowing

Choice: Autonomy in the Classroom

12 Good Kids Without Goodies 228

Beyond Control

Solving Problems: Return of the Three C's

Caring Kids

The Role of the Schools

The Chance to Choose

Degrees of Freedom

Barriers to Choice

Freedom from Rewards

Afterword, 1999 257

Afterword to the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition 276

Appendix A A Conversation with B. F. Skinner 309

Appendix B What Is Intrinsic Motivation? 320

Appendix C The Behavionsts Talk Back 327

Notes 335

References 413

Name Index 449

Subject Index 453

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