Rewards Don’t Alter Misbehavior
Q. I am a third-grade teacher dealing with several boys who have difficulty with self-control. Our school psychologist recommended an approach involving praise and rewards for good behavior.
When I remarked I didn’t think you would endorse such an approach, she said your methods were “negative,” and punishment - because it causes resentment - eventually makes matters worse instead of better. I’d be interested in your reaction.
A. Praise and rewards are generally counterproductive in dealing with inappropriate behavior.
Praise works with children who don’t really need it. Positive reinforcement of any sort, when used with a misbehaving child, will work for a short time. Then it will stop working.
Additionally, the world does not work that way. When an adult misbehaves, he is not offered incentives to behave properly; rather, he is punished.
As with your school psychologist, many psychologists and other helping professionals will counter that praise is an essential element of any behavior modification plan.
At the heart of this conflict is the fundamental incompatibility of pragmatic and sentimental views of children and child management.
As usual, an objective approach upholds the pragmatic view.
A recent study reported in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology found that when praise was used in an attempt to modify the classroom behavior of children with serious problems, the children’s behavior improved for a short time, followed by a “dramatic decline” to square one.
On the other hand, when verbal reprimands were used exclusively (what certain of my colleagues would term a “negative” approach), the children’s behavior improved and remained improved.
Furthermore, a combination of praise and reprimands didn’t work any better than reprimands alone.