The Old Man’s Reward

When parents are asked what they want most for their children, many indicate they want their children to grow up to be responsible, self-reliant and loving. Most parents would be disappointed if their offspring only demonstrated such qualities if offered some form of reward or payback. We naturally seem to recognize that the best form of motivation is that which comes from within (intrinsic), not that which is generated by a quest for rewards or simply to avoid punishment (extrinsic). By rewarding our children with stickers, stars, money, gifts, and heaps of praise, we are unwittingly fostering a reliance on extrinsic motivators. Researchers tell us that our intrinsic motivation evaporates once rewards or punishments (negative motivators) are introduced. We become more concerned about how others will judge our performance than we do about the intrinsic value of the task we are performing.

This concept is aptly captured in the story of the old man who endured the insults of a group of 10-year-old boys each day as they passed his house on their way home from school. One day after listening to another round of jeers about how old, ugly, and bald he was, he devised a plan. He approached the boys the next day and announced that anyone who came back the following day and yelled rude comments about him would receive a dollar. The next day the boys returned and yelled insults for all they were worth. True to his word, the old man ambled out and gave each a dollar. “Do the same tomorrow,” he told them, “and you’ll get twenty-five cents for your trouble.” The boys thought that was still pretty good and turned out again the next day to taunt him. He paid each of the hecklers a shiny new quarter. “From now on,” he announced, “I can give you only a penny for doing this.” The boys looked at each other with disbelief and at him with scorn and in no uncertain terms told him to forget it. And they never came back again.

The old man’s plan was elegantly simple. He rewarded the children for doing something they had been doing voluntarily and which they thought was fun. As soon as the reward was introduced, their intrinsic motivation disappeared and so did they. As parents, teachers, and managers, we want to realize that well meaning efforts to motivate by rewards is killing off interest in the very things we are hoping to encourage.

For more information about the detrimental impact of rewards, punishments, and praise, you may wish to read Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn (1993, Houghton Mifflin Company Publishers).