External Rewards And Children's Motivation

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It is a common belief that praising a child, no matter how, is beneficial to his or her wellbeing. However, recent research examining external rewards and children’s motivation seems to contradict this long-held notion; in fact, some praise might actually be more harmful than helpful. To start, it is important to give praise that is informational and not controlling or undermining. Children that received a more controlling-type praise, such as “You can do better on the next puzzle,” showed less interest in the task than those who received more informational-praise like “You did very well” (Kast & Connor, 1988). However, negative feedback is better than no feedback at all. College students who received negative verbal feedback, compared to those that received neutral feedback, reported higher task-interest rates and engaged in those tasks more often (Shanab, Peterson, Dargahi, & Deroian, 1981). …show more content…

Researchers compared the intrinsic motivation of preschool children who received tangible rewards, such as money or awards, to those that received positive verbal reinforcements and found that the children who received the verbal reinforcements displayed increased intrinsic motivation in the future, while the tangible regard group showed decreased motivation (Anderson, Manoogian, & Reznick, 1976). Verbal rewards also enhance the child’s interest in tasks, while tangible rewards, such as money and prizes, can be damaging to the child’s interest (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999). The positive effects of verbal reinforcement is not limited only to school-age children. College students reported higher interest rates in tasks when they received verbal rewards compared to those that received money or prizes (Deci et al., 1999). Conclusively, verbal rewards are better than tangible rewards for a child’s motivation and

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