Psychology I / Motivation and Drive-Reduction Theory
Practice question · Multiple choice

Children who enjoy drawing are paid to draw. When payment stops, they draw less than children who were never paid. What has the reward done?

Hints
  1. Ask what the child now believes about why they were drawing.
  2. The control group was never given a reason. Why does that leave them better off?
Show the answer

D. Replaced the internal reason with an external one

Why

The overjustification effect: an external reward overwrites the internal one, and withdrawing it leaves nothing behind. Reinforcement is not universally helpful, where motivation already exists, paying for it can be the thing that destroys it, which is a genuine problem for incentive schemes in schools and workplaces.

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