Human motivation has always been a major area of interest for employers, supervisors, parents, and educators.  During the early twentieth century, the shift in psychology from a focus on the conscious and unconscious mind to the study of human behavior led to many of the notions that still govern how we approach human motivation today. 

Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner pioneered much of this research.  Put simply, his work showed that the consequences of a person’s behavior determined whether that behavior would be repeated.  For example, if a child was praised by his father for turning off the light when leaving a room, that child would be inclined to turn the light off next time when leaving that room.  However, if the child received an electrical shock from a faulty switch when attempting to turn off the light, chances are she would not attempt to turn that light off in the future.  In the research literature, positive consequences of behavior (i.e., the father’s praise) were termed “reinforcement” while negative consequences (i.e., the electric shock) were called “punishment.”

Today, this idea seems simple and just plain common sense.  But the impact it has had on our approach to parenting and education can’t be overstated.  Parents reward their children with praise, activities, possessions and the like for productive behavior and take away privileges when they misbehave.  Schools and classroom teachers develop systems to reward students who work hard and follow the rules with everything from food, to special privileges, to public recognition.   Students who are disruptive or neglect their assignments face negative consequences ranging from poor grades, to restricted activities, to suspension from school.

These strategies are used because they tend to work¾at least for many children¾in the short term.  However, as is so often the case when dealing with people (in this case, children), motivation is not quite that simple or straightforward.

In his latest book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink explores some of the more subtle aspects of human motivation.  Pink is not a psychologist.  He’s a journalist who spends most of his time writing about and consulting with the business world.  Yet he does a good job of laying out the research on motivation from the past 50 years. 

It turns out that rewards can actually foster cheating or unethical behavior, encourage short-term thinking, interfere with creativity, and “hook” people so that their performance deteriorates when rewards aren’t offered.  They can also diminish a person’s motivation.  This is especially true when the job or task is something a person finds fulfilling.  For example, if I want to exercise to improve my quality of life, having a friend offer to pay me for each time I go to the health club is unlikely to get me to exercise more often.  What starts out as an activity I want to do to improve myself becomes something someone else wants me to do.  And that interferes with my motivation.

Based on a number of studies that showed the disadvantages of external rewards, a group of psychologists began focusing in the 1970s on the importance of intrinsic, or internal, motivation.  They discovered that providing opportunities for people to have the freedom to engage in work they find meaningful and fulfilling resulted in much greater performance than external rewards.  Rewards have their place, particularly when the work is repetitious or boring.  But if not used carefully, their effects can actually be the opposite of those we desire, turning an exciting task into drudgery dictated by someone else.

The implications for educators are obvious.  The challenge is twofold.  On the one hand, schools must find ways to provide students with opportunities that they find important and meaningful.  On the other, we have to help students understand and value the importance of learning in their lives. While daunting, teachers and support staff in schools across our district are finding ways to meet these challenges on a daily basis.

Perhaps the challenges are more significant today than in the past, perhaps not.  Yet one thing is for certain¾the stakes have never been higher.