Rewards

• useful with animals and very young children
  • children need dependency to feel safe and to learn to behave in socially accepted ways
• builds dependency on reward/reward giver
  • the learner can spend a lot of time and energy concentrating on what will please the instructor instead of reflecting on what they personally need to learn next
• decreases self directed learning
  • once again intrinsic desire to learn is lost when you need an external reward or punishment in order to motivate yourself to learn
• increases competition
  • rewards only work when they are perceived to be in short supply. If a group of individuals want a limited number of rewards (marks, placements, attention), then someone is going to do whatever they can to win.
• decreases effective team work
  • medical students have been competing successfully all their school lives and this competition decreases their ability to be team players. Competitive people prefer to work alone, be in charge or continue the competition into the workplace. The more competition is expressed in passive/aggressive behaviour, the less effective the medical team becomes at problem solving and planning.

References

A jury yesterday awarded $1.6 million to a female neurosurgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital, finding that she was subject to a hostile work environment and that, when she complained, the hospital retaliated against her.

Dan Pink lecture on the surprising science of motivation at TED or this animated video if you want a quick overview.


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