Punished by Rewards
The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993 / 1999)
http://www.alfiekohn.org/books/pbr.htm http://bit.ly/9exoYR
I think that this book is worth reading.
以下は、しばらく前に私がblogで書いたもの。( in Japanese )
「外発的報酬は内発的動機づけを減退させる」とするならば、……
読み始めた本の中にあった気になる言葉。「自分のすることに対する人間の興味は、報酬を与えられると一般に減退する。」という文がその後に続いている。
アルフィ・コーン（田中英史訳）『報酬主義をこえて』（叢書・ウニベルシタス７０４、法政大学出版局、２００１年）１０４ページ。原題は、「Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes」。
古いジョークがあるという。「学校帰りに家の前を通りかかる悪童どもに毎日悪態をつかれていた老人」の話である（同書、１０５～１０６ページ）。子供たちは、悪態をつくことに報酬（最初は１ドル）を老人から受け取ったことから、それが金のためだと考えるようになり、報酬をわずか（１セント）しかもらえなくなったときには、悪態をつくことに興味を失ってしまいいなくなったということである。この話もよくわかる気がする。「サラリーマン」にとっては気になる話だ。
［追記］
アルフィー・コーン（Alfie Cohn）のウェブページがあった。
http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.html
Did you see this lesson, YTK?
Thank you, Dooo. I have opened the file you mentioned.
“In fact, the more we use artificial inducements to motivate people, the more they lose interest in what we’re bribing them to do. Rewards turn play into work, and work into drudgery.”(Alfie Kohn)
When I worked in HR I found the reward system being used quite divisive. It did not help to create or contribute to any kind of team spirit but rather to envy and greed (and in some cases, blatant fiddling of figures).
I must say, however, that I was once offered a lot of money to work a few hours on New Year’s Eve 1999 and didn’t say no to it. I even was home before midnight!
this link: RSA ANIMATE: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us - YouTube is very interesting about motivation. Money is a poor motivator for anything that requires more than rudimentary cognitive ability.
Thank you, Commasplice. I found the video very interesting.
@ Yutaka: Yes, it does. We also say ‘Personnel’ as in “I’m going up to Personnel to complain about you…”
@ commasplice: What a great video, fascinating content, brilliant presentation. Thank you!
Sorry, two more comments: Alfie Kohn’s article is also interesting. Let’s hear it for all teachers: “So how should we reward teachers? We shouldn’t. They’re not pets. Rather, teachers should be paid well, freed from misguided mandates, treated with respect, and provided with the support they need to help their students become increasingly proficient and enthusiastic learners.” All we need to do now is to get them interested in the LingQ approach.
The Dan Pink video made me think of the main tutors/contributors to LingQ. Amazing work out of interest and love for the subject!
I am full of admiration for what our members have created at LingQ and for how they help our members as tutors.
I am not always equally impressed with teachers in our public schools system.
Let’s say North American since I have a fair amount of contact with language teachers in both Canada and the US.
Thank you for answering my question, Steve.
So you are criticizing some of the language teachers in public schools system in Canada and the US for their unsatisfactory performance?
“So how should we reward teachers? We shouldn’t. They’re not pets. Rather, teachers should be paid well, freed from misguided mandates, treated with respect, and provided with the support they need to help their students become increasingly proficient and enthusiastic learners.”
Funny how Kohn does not go on to mention that teachers who have no real interest in teaching ought to be fired. Being let go is a real life consequence which would be very effective at shaping a better teaching force.
I know that most teachers really have their heart in the job, and accomplish amazing things with the limited resources they have.
But the way unions work, it has become impossible to get rid of way too many so-called teachers who have found that showing up every day and hanging out in a public school is a good way to collect a guaranteed paycheck whether they bother teaching or not.