I'm not familiar with these specific examples. There is a literature on the effects of token economies (money is a form of token economy) on school performance; see Achievement Place, I would suspect that the key is what happens after the money stops. If conditions simply return to those which preceded money contingent upon performance, then I would expect behavior to return to baseline levels. On the other hand, if the use of money reinforced the acquisition of new academic behaviors which continued to produce other types of more natural reinforcement (sometimes labeled 'intrinsic reinforcement' because it's less obvious) when the program ended, then I would expect the gains to continue. It's a question of program design.
Many of the 'intrinsic motivation' criticisms (such as Alfie Kohn) were based on the use of NONcontingent reinforcement. It's not surprising that when you give rewards independently of performance, that performance will suffer. Again, it all comes down to contingency. On Nov 4, 2013, at 5:15 PM, K. H. Grobman wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > I'm teaching high school students about behaviorism and I'd like some > dramatic examples that are particular relevant to their lives. Around 2008 > several school districts began interventions where students were being paid > for good grades. Many news reports suggested that, at least while the > payments continued, the programs were succeeding in raising grades. Other > researchers were concerned about the possible side-effects to intrinsic > motivation. Several years have gone by and, presumably, they are no longer > being reinforced with money for grades. I'm trying to figure out how > students in the experimental conditions compare to the control conditions. > If the money ended before graduation, do the groups have different graduation > rates? Do the groups have different rates of attending college or different > grades in their first semester(s) of college? Thank you for your help! > > Kevin Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=29778 or send a blank email to leave-29778-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
