Rewards and Motivation

I was looking for this article for a different reason, but I found it was related to tutoring so I thought I would link to it here:

Studies Find Reward Often No Motivator

The basic premise is that if you pay someone to do an activity, they become less likely to do that activity on their own. This cute joke illustrates the point nicely:

An elderly man, harassed by the taunts of neighborhood children, finally devises a scheme. He offered to pay each child a dollar if they would all return Tuesday and yell their insults again. They did so eagerly and received the money, but he told them he could only pay 25 cents on Wednesday. When they returned, insulted him again and collected their quarters, he informed them that Thursday's rate would be just a penny. "Forget it," they said -- and never taunted him again.

This article has relevance both for me and my students.

In one study, girls in the fifth and sixth grades tutored younger children much less effectively if they were promised free movie tickets for teaching well. The study ... showed that tutors working for the reward took longer to communicate ideas, got frustrated more easily, and did a poorer job in the end than those who were not rewarded.

In other words, volunteers performed better as tutors than those being paid.

While I find myself occasionally getting frustrated and having trouble communicating ideas, I think for the most part I've managed to avoid this pitfall. (I've been aware of this psychological quirk thanks to a class I took in college.) Whenever I find myself thinking of tutoring as a job and wishing that the hour would end soon, I try to trick myself into thinking I'm just a volunteer. It doesn't work perfectly, but it helps the time go by faster when I'm bored or frustrated.

Now, how to use this psychology to benefit my students? I don't directly give rewards for good performance such as grades or treats, but I do praise good work. After reading the article, I wonder if I praised the students too much, but I'm not convinced that's the case. After all, the article makes the following distinction:

There's a difference ... between saying, "I'm giving you this reward because I recognize the value of your work" and "You're getting this reward because you've lived up to my standards."

The first one is good or at least okay, whereas the second one is the motivation killer. Luckily because my students don't have to worry about meeting any expectations or getting passing grades when they work with me, I think I'm safe from destroying any motivation they might have. At least, I hope so!