Behavioral Learning

I just have been reading about behavioral learning in children, and I thought this was interesting:

"...Consider what happened when psychologists gave nursery-school children the chance to draw with felt-tip pens. The children already liked this activity and readily took it up during free play.
First, the researchers recorded how long each child spontaneously played with the pens. Then they told some of the children that if they would draw with felt -tip pens for a man who had com "to see what kinds of pictures boys and girls like to draw with Magic Markers," they would get a prize, a "Good Player Award" complete with gold seal and ribbon. After drawing for six minutes, each child got the award, as promised. Other children did not expect a reward and were not given one.

A week later, the researchers again observed the children's free play. Those children who had expected and received a reward were spending much less time with the pens than they had before the start of the experiment. In contrast, children who were not given an award continued to show as much interest in the activity as they had shown initially...Similar results occurred when older children were or were not rewarded for working on academic tasks."

We know a psychology professor at BYU-Idaho who has decided, with his wife, to never use the "Skinnerian" method with their children (rewards for good behavior, punishments for bad). They do have consequences for their actions, but their children are free to choose. After hearing him talk about this, I've noticed just how much our society gives external rewards and punishments for behaviors. Children are not lab rats, and we must assume that they have the capacity to do good just for the intrinsic reward of doing what is right.

Public school, of course, has to operate on the behaviorist principles, and give out grades, tests, quizzes, and rewards for learning. It isn't the best way to inspire children to learn.
Again, from the book I'm reading:

"The fact that schools rely heavily on grades and other extrinsic incentives may explain why the average college graduate reads few books. Like all extrinsic rewards, grades induce temporary compliance but not necessarily a lifelong disposition to learn"

"Extrinsic rewards do not always weaken the impact of intrinsic ones. If you get money, a high grade, or a trophy for doing a task well, rather than just for doing it, your intrinsic motivation is not likely to suffer..."

If we do use extrinsic rewards, the book says, we should use them sparingly.

"As one mother once wrote in a Newsweek essay, children need to discover for themselves "the pleasure of health and strength from exercise, the joy of music from songs, the power of mathematics from counting and all of human wisdom from reading"

Interesting to think about. Now you'll notice this happening all the time.