Watching the video about Steven Levitt's daughter reminded me of a nearly identical experience my aunt had with my young cousin.
My cousin, for some reason, did not like to eat. My aunt was very worried about him and she was trying to figure out how to get him to eat his food so that he would get enough nutrition.
One day, she decided to try paying him to eat his food: every time he would eat something, he would get a dollar.
My cousin was very happy about this, and my aunt was glad to see him eating. But then my cousin realized that he could use eating to extort more money out of my aunt: once, when we were eating lunch together, he would refuse to eat anything until he was given a dollar. He would eat a few carrots, and then stop again and demand more money for eating any more food. My aunt, realizing her incentive scheme was falling apart, decided to stop paying him, realizing he would eventually get so hungry that he would have to eat, dollar or not. Unfortunately, he didn't eat his lunch that day, but fortunately for me, I got to eat his grapes!
Moral of the story: payment is a poor incentive for getting your kids to do what you want them to do (it always backfires).
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Yes! I totally agree with you. Levitt's daughter would only do potty when he gave her m&ms. But then she started abusing his reward system and would do potty all the time. So when Levitt stopped giving her m&ms, she wouldn't do potty anymore. Incentives can only result in temporary compliance; they are ineffective in producing lasting changes. Once the incentive is taken away, the person will revert back to their previous behavior. Furthermore, if someone has to bribe you to do a certain activity, it must be for something you wouldn't do otherwise. Our work is no longer self directed, but rather driven by the idea of a reward. So, in an office setting, if your boss offers to pay you more for a project, you may actually be less enthusiastic to approach it.
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