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Extrinsic motivation (which is what this is) is tricky for several reasons. First of all, it kills intrinsic motivation. Once you start to reward someone mater
by kqr 5y ago
Extrinsic motivation (which is what this is) is tricky for several reasons.
First of all, it kills intrinsic motivation. Once you start to reward someone materially for behaviour, you have to continue in perpetuity because they no longer see any reason to do the thing "for its own reward", as we say.
Second, you replace an imperative (one washes one's dishes) with a business transaction (is the proposed payout really superior to the opportunity loss of my time?)
Third, you introduce odd incentives to optimise and find loopholes that allow you to get away with as little as possible for as much as possible.
It simply becomes a very different game. It seems like that worked out for you, which is great, but I'd be very careful about doing it with my children.
- andrei_says_ 5y agoAlfie Kohn’s book Punished by Rewards goes in depth with this and provides tons of research. It is mind blowing how ingrained extrinsic motivation methods are in our families, culture, and institutions - despite being clearly counterproductive and downright harmful.
- kqr 5y agoI think our obsession with extrinsic motivation is a fairly recent phenomenon, that came with the industrial revolution and the capitalist bureaucracies it spawned to control workers. So it's not that surprising. But I'm glad more and more people are starting to see it for the historic anomaly it is!