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YouTube: Is Some Homophobia Self-phobia?April 6, 2012 by Walter

April 6th 2012.

Posted by University of Rochester

The Straits’ Sunday Times (Singapore): Richard Ryan comments on “Should You Reward Your Child for A Grades?”April 1, 2012 by Walter

April 1st 2012.

Say you are a parent trying to get your son to aim for all A*s in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). To get him to work hard, you promise him a reward – a trip to Disneyland or the sleek, new iPad, $150 for every A*.

Sounds like a sure-win strategy, and you know others who have used it to good effect. What child can resist the promise of a big reward?

And all you want is for him to ace the PSLE and make it to a top secondary school, because he will then sail through the rest of his school days and be set for life.

Hold on just a minute, says motivational psychology expert Richard Ryan from Rochester University, New York.

That is definitely the wrong tactic if you want your child to fly solo and take responsibility for his own learning.

‘If a parent were to say, ‘I will give you this if you achieve all As’, the child is likely to do it for that reward,’ he says. ‘It also means that subsequently, he will think, well, the only reason to learn is to get the reward. If I am not getting the reward that I want, I am not interested in learning.’

By Sandra Davie

Washington Post: Bribing Students: Another ‘Magical Solution’ That Doesn’t WorkMarch 20, 2012 by Walter

March 20th 2012.

A Cincinnati high school’s recent program to pay students to attend class and to follow school rules is another example. It’s the latest in a series of unfortunate efforts to use bribery to force students to learn.

Application of these kinds of incentives has been proven time and time again to produce the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice Effect.” Listen to Professor Edward Deci, widely considered the most respected researcher in the field of motivation:

“It is easy to get people to do things by paying them if you’ve got enough money and they’ve got the necessary skills,” he said. “But they will keep doing it only as long as you keep paying them. And even if they were doing it before, when you stop paying them the behavior drops to a lower level than when you started paying them. We’ve done thousands of experiments on this over 40 years and the data is incredibly robust.”

By Larry Ferlazzo

Wired.co.uk: How to Make Your Staff More CreativeFebruary 10, 2012 by Walter

February 10th 2012.

According to research by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan of the University of Rochester, New York, unreasonable time constraints, micromanagement, focused thinking and overreliance on financial incentives all reduce workplace creativity. So what can you do to foster an inventive environment?

By Andrea Kuszewski

New York Times: Guest Post | Helping Students Motivate ThemselvesJanuary 9, 2012 by Walter

January 9th 2012.

A recent Times article, “Motivating Students With Cash-for-Grades Incentive,” looks at efforts around the world to pay students for academic achievement.

In it, Edward Deci, a psychologist at the University of Rochester and author of of “Why We Do What We Do,” is quoted:

“It is easy to get people to do things by paying them if you’ve got enough money and they’ve got the necessary skills,” he said. “But they will keep doing it only as long as you keep paying them. And even if they were doing it before, when you stop paying them the behavior drops to a lower level than when you started paying them. We’ve done thousands of experiments on this over 40 years and the data is incredibly robust.”
“There is no evidence that paying people helps them learn — and a lot of evidence that it doesn’t,” Mr. Deci said. Then why do parents — and governments like the United Arab Emirates — resort to paying students? “Because it’s easy,” Mr. Deci said. “It’s much harder to work with people to get them motivated from the inside.”

By Larry Ferlazzo

The Psychology of Resolutions: Edward Deci explains why people have so much trouble with resolutions and offers his 5 tips on how to be more successful at keeping your ownDecember 28, 2011 by Walter

December 28th 2011.
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/p5XVSaSrAfo” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
Uploaded on December 28th 2011 by University of Rochester

YouTube: “The High Price of Materialism”December 11, 2011 by Walter

December 4th 2011.

Uploaded by The Center for a New American Dream

The New Republic: No Bribe Left Behind: Putting Newt’s Zaniest Education Policy to the TestNovember 28, 2011 by Walter

November 28th 2011.

Another objection rests on the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Edward Deci, a psychologist at the University of Rochester, says that extrinsic cash incentives create temporary motives. “You do the work, you get paid. … Then the money stops. Do you still keep going to work?” In 1999, Deci analyzed 128 studies on incentives that overwhelmingly supported his point that providing extrinsic incentives to perform certain tasks decreased whatever intrinsic appeal they had. A 2005 study by Stanford psychologist Mark Lepper bolstered Deci’s case, finding that students who were more intrinsically motivated to perform schoolwork had better grades and test scores than peers who depended upon extrinsic rewards. Opponents of incentives further argue that there are more effective ways to get students to read; expanding the range of school libraries to include books more relatable to low-proficiency readers and letting children choose, and keep, their own books for the summer—such measures, says University of Tennessee literary expert Richard Allington, are more beneficial in the long-term.
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By Simon van Zuylen-Wood

New York Times: Motivating Students With Cash-For-Grades IncentiveNovember 20, 2011 by Walter

November 20th 2011.

However widely held, do such views represent anything more than entrenched prejudice? Edward Deci maintains they do. “What we think of as the amount of motivation is not nearly as important as the type of motivation,” said Mr. Deci, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester and the author of “Why We Do What We Do.”

“There is no evidence that paying people helps them learn — and a lot of evidence that it doesn’t,” Mr. Deci said. Then why do parents — and governments like the U.A.E. — resort to paying students? “Because it’s easy,” Mr. Deci said. “It’s much harder to work with people to get them motivated from the inside.”

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By D. D. Guttenplan