Rewards for Kids: Benign Incentives or Worrisome Bribes?

Every parent and teacher has faced the question: What can I do to change children’s behavior — to get them to listen quietly, or brush their teeth, or do their homework? Should I offer a prize of some kind — a cookie, a toy, a couple of bucks? Or will that mean they’ll never learn to make these choices on their own, when prizes aren’t present?

A recent podcast on the BAM Radio Network provides new food for thought on this perennial question. I joined the conversation to talk about some of the research on monetary rewards, which was discussed in a recent Time Magazine article, “Should Kids be Bribed to Do Well in School?,” by New America’s Schwartz Fellow Amanda Ripley, and in a science article I wrote for the New York Times in 2009, “Rewards for Students Under a Microscope.”

The guests on the BAM radio segment are Edward Deci, a psychology professor at the University of Rochester, and James Windell, a clinical psychologist for the Oakland County Circuit Court. 

Have a listen. Where do you draw the line on giving children tangible rewards?