Reinforcement, Reward, and Intrinsic Motivation: A Meta-Analysis

Cameron, Judy; Pierce, W. David

doi:10.2307/1170677

Cited by 334 publications

(518 citation statements)

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“…One camp of researchers and educators claims that normally a feedback message containing praise enhance motivation and leads to improvement in individuals' performance (Cameron & Pierce, 1994;Dev, 1997;Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). Shanab, Peterson, Dargahi, and Deroian (1981) investigated the influence of praise on motivation, operationalized through interest and persistence.…”

Section: Praisementioning

confidence: 99%

“…They found that praise during a puzzle-solving task led undergraduates to spend more time on the task and to rate their interest as higher than that of participants in a control condition who received neutral feedback. Similarly, meta-analytic studies examining the effects of praise on motivation have shown that positive statements have a tendency to increase intrinsic motivation across a variety of dependent measures (Cameron & Pierce, 1994;Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999). This effect, however, is not always strong, varies for different age groups, and often has been derived in the course of methodologically flawed studies (Henderlong & Lepper, 2002;Lepper, Henderlong, & Gingras, 1999).…”

Section: Praisementioning

confidence: 99%

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Response to Assessment Feedback: The Effects of Grades, Praise, and Source of Information

Lipnevich¹

2008

ETS Research Report Series

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This experiment involved college students (N = 464) working on an authentic learning task (writing an essay) under 3 conditions: no feedback, detailed feedback (perceived by participants to be provided by the course instructor), and detailed feedback (perceived by participants to be computer generated). Additionally, conditions were crossed with 2 factors of grade (receiving grade or not) and praise (receiving praise or not). Detailed feedback specific to individual work was found to be strongly related to student improvement in essay scores, with the influence of grades and praise more complex. Overall, detailed, descriptive feedback was found to be most effective when given alone, unaccompanied by grades or praise. The results have implications for theory and practice of assessment.

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Section: Praisementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Praisementioning

confidence: 99%

Response to Assessment Feedback: The Effects of Grades, Praise, and Source of Information

Lipnevich¹

2008

ETS Research Report Series

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“…Several studies, not included in Cameron and Pierce's (1994) overall meta-analysis because their features differed from the great majority of studies, used within-subject designs in which participants received repeated access to a task before reward until stable performance was achieved, followed by multiple sessions of rewarded performance and, finally, multiple sessions without reward. The change in intrinsic motivation due to reward was measured by comparing prereward duration of performance with postreward performance.…”

Section: Effects Of Repeated Experience On Intrinsic Task Interestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detrimental effects of reward: Reality or myth?

Eisenberger¹,

Cameron²

1996

American Psychologist

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713

544

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Based on seemingly overwhelming empirical evidence of the decremental effects of reward on intrinsic task interest and creativity, the use of reward to alter human behavior has been challenged in literature reviews, textbooks, and the popular media. An analysis of a quarter century of research on intrinsic task interest and creativity revealed, however, that (a) detrimental effects of reward occur under highly restricted, easily avoidable conditions," (b) mechanisms of instrumental and classical conditioning are basic for understanding incremental and decremental effects of reward on task motivation; and (c) positive effects of reward on generalized creativity are easily attainable using procedures derived from behavior theory.O bservers of American culture have long noted a I strong emphasis on individualistic values, including taking responsibility for one's own actions, pursuing personal interests, and exploring one's creative potential (e.g., Badia, 1990;Huber, 1971; Tocqueville, 1840Tocqueville, /1990. Consistent with the common presumption that individuals function most effectively and happily when they are guiding their own behavior (see Geller, 1982;Hogan, 1975), an increasingly dominant view has developed over the past quarter century contending that the strengthening of performance by reward (reinforcement) causes the unpleasant experience of being controlled by others and reduces task interest and creativity. Based on seemingly overwhelming empirical evidence of such effects, the value of using reward to alter human behavior has been challenged in literature reviews, textbooks, and the popular media. Conventional ViewThe following sentiments are characteristic of a diverse and growing literature claiming that reward inherently reduces task interest and creativity. According to an article published in the American Psychologist, "reinforcement has two effects. First, predictably, it gains control of [an] activity, increasing its frequency. Second .... when reinforcement is later withdrawn, people engage in the activity even less than they did before reinforcement was introduced" (Schwartz, 1990, p. 10). A widely cited literature review that appeared in the premier social psychology journal, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, concluded the following: Individuals who have been provided rewards "seem to work harder and produce more activity, but the activity is of a lower quality, contains more errors, and is more stereotyped and less creative than the work of comparable nonrewarded subjects working on the same problems" (Condry, 1977, pp. 471-472).The categorical assertion that rewards lessen task interest and creativity has profound practical implications. Increasingly, one hears and reads about how the use of reward systems in educational settings, hospitals, the workplace, and other institutions may do more harm than good. Articles and books written for laypeople and practitioners in education and business warn of the danger of behavior modification programs and incentive systems when...

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“…The child will never 'read for reading's sake. ' However, several theoretical reviews (Carton, 1996;Dickinson, 1989;Flora, 1990) and meta-analyses (Cameron & Pierce, 1994;Eisenberger & Cameron, 1996) of the empirical literature all have concluded the myth is just that, a myth. The belief that extrinsic reinforcement undermines intrinsic motivation is widely held but false in all but the most circumscribed, unrealistic situations.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A slightly detrimental effect of extrinsic rewards sometimes occurs in artificial laboratory situations when tangible rewards like money (as opposed to nontangible rewards like praise). are given regardless of performance (Cameron & Pierce 1994). For example, if a child is given money for reading regardless of how little or how accurately, there is a slight chance that the child will read less in the future.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Extrinsic Reinforcement for Reading During Childhood on Reported Reading Habits of College Students

Flora

Flora²

1999

Psychol Rec

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The effects of participation in the "Book it!" reading program and parental pay for reading on reported reading habits of college students was investigated. College students were surveyed about the amount they read per week, their intrinsic interest in reading , if they participated in the Book It! program and if their parents paid them money to read during childhood. If they participated in Book It! and/or were paid to read , they were also asked what effects these factors had on their learning to read , their enjoyment of reading, and on the amount they read. Neither being reinforced with money or pizzas increased or decreased the amount college students read nor influenced their intrinsic motivation for reading . Answers to direct questions about Book It! and parental pay for reading suggest that when a child is extrinsically reinforced for reading the child will increase the amount read , enjoyment of reading may increase, and if they do not yet know how to read fluently, the programs may help the child to learn to read. These results provide no support for the myth that extrinsic rewards for reading undermine intrinsic interest in reading. Rather, extrinsic rewards for reading set the conditions where intrinsic motivation for reading may develop. Any concerns that reinforcement programs for reading will decrease later reading behaviors are unfounded.Behavior is a function of its consequences. Consequences that increase the rate of behavior are reinforcers. Increasing the rate of a behavior with reinforcers is the process of reinforcement. If a child is given a pizza for reading and consequently reads more often , then that child's reading behavior has been reinforced . If a child reads about fighting dragons and riding dolphins and consequently reads more, then reading has been reinforced by the stories that the reading reveals. Likewise, if a child reads a book on chess strategies, begins to beat his or her chess opponents, and consequently reads more chess strategy

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Reinforcement, Reward, and Intrinsic Motivation: A Meta-Analysis

Cited by 334 publications

References 0 publications

Response to Assessment Feedback: The Effects of Grades, Praise, and Source of Information

Response to Assessment Feedback: The Effects of Grades, Praise, and Source of Information

Detrimental effects of reward: Reality or myth?

Effects of Extrinsic Reinforcement for Reading During Childhood on Reported Reading Habits of College Students

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