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Rewards: An Ominous Force

© Tara Kimball

Abstract

What is a reward? According to The American Heritage Dictionary, a reward is "something given or received for worthy behavior." ("reward",1994) A reward could be in the form of a bonus on a paycheck, someone patting you on the back for a job well done, or sparklyly sticker. Rewards are given to adults and children and can be found in virtually every culture and for every conceivable reason. Rewards definitely give an individual a solid reason for doing an activity, but are we as individuals performing the activity for the activity or for the rewards attached to it? Must we earn rewards in order to be motivated or can motivation in itself be all the reward we need? These questions have been asked by many individuals over the years and thus thoroughly researched. The results have proved to provide more negative than positive feedback, and has caused our society to have mixed emotions on the subject of using rewards in order to change behavior and to motivate individuals. However, regardless of the results of research studies done on motivation and reward systems society continues to hold the use of rewarding in high regard. Due to societies ignorance, many individuals are becoming less motivated due to these rewards rather than becoming more in tune with their intrinsic motivation.

Rewards: An Ominous Force

Our daily lives are constantly bathed by the seduction of rewards. It would be ludicrous to think that we are not at any time driven to perform an act solely due to a reward that is promised to us. We live in a sociedo-gettersetters that "do that for this". Our society has become very accustomed to the accepted belief of using rewards to motivate individuals. In more brazen terms, using rewards in this fashion constitutes the act of controlling individuals rather than working with the individuals to motivate tKohn (Kohn,1994) Many individuals, suAlfie Kohne Kohn, would vehemently debate the belief of using rewards by saying "that its assumptions are misleading and the practices it generates are both intrinsically objectionable and counterproductive." (1993) For one to complete a task for a reward is to say that the individual is ultimately being controlled. Rewards, whether tangible or verbal, undermine one's natural motivational drive and eventually these rewards will become the necessary factor in one performing a said task. Then why do we as a society continue to use this appalling form of motivation? Simply put, it is "how we ourselves were raised and managKohn (Kohn,1993) We continue the asinine practice of rewarding due to familiarity and tend to deny the negative factors involved.

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