Suzy has difficulty organizing, planning, and remembering. She remembers to do her homework, but sometimes she forgets to put it in her backpack. Here teacher plans to reward students who complete their homework. “Students who hand in all of their homework over the next three weeks will earn a party on Friday.” To qualify for the party, everyone is expected to keep all of their homework papers in a folder for three weeks.
Suzy’s mom wants to motivate her to keep her room clean. She tells Suzy, “If you clean your room, I’ll let you watch videos on the tablet.” Suzy answers her mom; “I have a book to read, and I don’t care if my room is clean. I think I’ll pass on cleaning it up.”Suzy doesn’t see why a clean room is necessary. While she enjoys watching videos, the reward doesn’t pose enough of a motivation to overcome her inertia.
Suzy is excluded from the party. Here room continues to be a mess unless someone else cleans it up.
One common practice in schools and homes is to offer concrete rewards for target behaviors. Popular believe is that lack of motivation is the problem.
Why isn’t motivation enough? Why not use concrete rewards?
At a certain point, they stop working. In addition, they do little to teach the lagging skills that make it difficult for an individual to do a task in the first place.
