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| Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise and Other Bribes | 
 enlarge | Author: Alfie Kohn
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade)
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £5.44
You Save: £3.55 (39%)
New (24) Used (12) from £5.29
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 62301
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0618001816
Dewey Decimal Number: 153.85
UPC: 046442001816
EAN: 9780618001811
ASIN: 0618001816
Publication Date: March 21, 2000
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: New book. Due to problems with Standard Airmail delivery times from the USA, we have switched to using PRIORITY AIRMAIL ONLY. UK & European delivery is 7-10 days.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 7 | | NEXT » |
 "No one's passing out the M&M's" October 25, 2007
7 out of 15 found this review helpful
Major concerns of this book are the way we are treated in school and at work. Here are some statements about these matters whose truth struck me:
"Aside from any immediate return, we have to note the possible long-term effect of education."
"... we have to explain the behavior of those who pay for or approve those who teach.
"... the use of a standard wage as something which may be discontinued unless the employee works in a given manner is not too great an advance [from slavery]."
These concerned statements are not from Alfie Kohn: they are B.F. Skinner's, from his 1953 work "Science and Human Behavior". Kohn's book relies a lot on an unusually harsh way of presenting that science.
Alfie Kohn mentioned in the preface taking a psychology class based on Skinner's experimental work with rats and seemed put off by it. But the work with rats was just a start for Skinner and apparently a sound one: working with an apparently "simpler" organism gave Skinner a chance to uncover many principles. Hardly enough to "explain away" people - or rats. And these principles were present long before Skinner, just as evolution was present (at least for evolutionists) long before Darwin.
Although some of Skinner's works are cited as references for this book, Skinner's 1953 "Science and Human Behavior" isn't to be found among the references even though a entire section of it on "Controlling Agencies" is devoted to understanding the way schools, workplacees, governments, religion, and psychotherapist use control. Skinner knew that being ignorant of controls was unwise. Ahd he wrote about it because didn't want you to be ignorant about control.
"Punished by Rewards" seems like two book in one.
The first is a concern, not unlike Skinner's and probably most of us who have been to school and work, against being manipulated. That seems a good concern but hardly a concern one needs Kohn to point out. I'd trust you would see those problems yourself and, if motivated, I'm sure you could find ways to address them (and, to some extent, likely have).
The second book is a smearing of Skinner and Behaviorism, which Kohn associates closely with what he calls "pop behaviorism". What's "pop behaviorism"? Kohn writes its core is "Do this and you'll get that". Sound modern? Oddly, he admits that "rewards were in use long before a theory was devised to explain and systemize their practice". He also refers to "the popular version of behaviorism, whereby we try to solve problems by offering people a goody if they do what we want." Haven't people been doing this for thousands of years? Did they need Skinner and behaviorists to learn that? Is Skinner and the behaviorists responsible if abuses of their findings were made?
It was, after all, Skinner who noted many manipulations and sought to help us all to overcome them , as in "Science and Human Behavior" and his concerns about piecework and gambling systems. It was, after all, Skinner, who encouraged people to join together to design and live in alternative societies, as with his book "Walden Two". It was Skinner who warned against misguided practices that threaten all humanity in "Beyond Freedom and Dignity". The Skinner willing to explore being "beyond freedom and dignity" was the same Skinner who taught us about controlling agencies in "Science and Human Behavior".
In the preface, Kohn writes that Skinner "would have been appalled by the result", meaning this book. I'm not so sure. I think it is more likely that Skinner would have agreed with much of it for much the same reasons that W. Edwards Deming did, that it notes misuses of control. And if Skinner could brush off Chomsky's criticism by recognizing Chomsky didn't understand Skinner's work, there can be no doubt that he could have brushed off Kohn's criticism. When asked before this book was published, he was kind enough to interview with Kohn. Skinner, 80 years old, answers a series of pointed questions (included as an Appendix to this book) with ease, grace, wit and sensitivity.
Why Kohn felt the need to use Skinner and Behaviorism as punching bags in a book about rewards I don't know. It seems inconsistent with Kohn's concerns about competition and manipulation, doesn't it? Skinner and Behaviorism is, in good part, about reinforcement: reinforcments may not be rewards and rewards may not be reinforcements.
As to "pop behaviorism", a term which seems closely tied to Kohn, that describes a way of manipulating that goes back to the snake with Eve. Skinner's Radical Behaviorism appears to offer far better tools to understand and avoid "pop behaviorism" than Kohn does. But rather than oppose the two, I wish Kohn would reconsider Skinner's Radical Behaviorism, in which case he might be able to write a truly fine book by applying Skinner's work as well as learning from Skinner's maturity, depth of thought, and sense of fair play.
 Excellent and thought-provoking February 7, 2003
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
The book's central contention - that incentives are frequently counter-productive - has enormous implications for the way we organise our schools and our businesses. Kohn marshalls impressive research and combines it with an engaging writing style. So many of us believe that you "get what you reward" but Kohn presents a fascinating challenge to this view. So much of what he has to say about performance incentives is a major warning signal for educationalists and businesspeople.
Fantastic. For practical elaboration, see book Smart Love June 6, 1999
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
Excellent, ground-breaking work. His ideas are original and thought-provoking. I read this a couple of months ago, and felt he was on to something significant. He offers excellent evidence to back up his unusual claims. While he does offer some ideas to demonstrate how to practically apply his theories, I wanted more. This week, I discovered a book called Smart Love by Pieper and Pieper, which (in my mind) is a parents guide to actually living these ideas. Neither book mentions the other - I wonder if the authors are aware of each other. The Smart Love book immediately helped me in my day-to-day living with my 18-year-old, who lives at home. I highly recommend both books!
An excellent book, but only a partial solution April 8, 1999
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
This was an excellent and very readable book. As a post-graduate teacher certification candidate in a professional development school program I've seen a number of approaches to classroom management. Most teachers, including my wife, use a combination of Mr Kohn's collaboration, content and choice, mixed with some extrinsic rewards. These rewards do not have to be expensive, and many, like pencils, are also very useful to the students. What a teacher will do in the classroom depends on the age and grade level of the students and the individual's teaching style. This book was the first really effective and well-documented presentation of the position that "bribes" are counter-productive.
 More applicable to educators than business leaders November 18, 1998
4 out of 11 found this review helpful
Kohn makes some fabulaous points on what drives a child to learn at a young age, stressing the fact that rewards can cloud a child's intrinsic motivation, and natural curiosity of learning. However, I disagree with many of his arguments regarding motivation in the workplace. Basing my thoughts on past experiences I feel what he argues against really is effective.
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