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Reward vs Punishment: The great Debate


spartan max2

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Hey there,

 

I was just curious peoples thoughts her on the question of

What is a stronger motivator for peoples behavior? offering rewards for doing an action or punishment for doing an action.

Obviously a mix of both is best but if you only could choose one which would you pick to alter peoples behavior. This is a commonly debated question in the psych world, so have at it :P

Edited by spartan max2
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Rewards, most definitely. Any kind of punishment would have the opposite of the desired effect - at least on me. The idea of punishing someone (child or adult), even in a small way, just doesn't sit right. i realize that psychologists are mixed about this (some even advocate rewarding and punishing at the same time), but study after study does show that positive reinforcement, be it in the form of rewards or whatever, goes a lot further in motivating people's behavior.

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I think reward. Because I'm personally most motivated to do something if there is a reward. Even if that reward is just satisfaction. Punishment is a de-motivator to me. 

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Perhaps both, because we may not do things for fear of punishment and we may do things looking forward to rewards. So, both may be positive motivations.

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Are they not the same? Could lack of punishment not be considered a reward?

Depends on the extreme of either, while punishment generally limits freedom, reward encourages a desired behavior. Therefore, punishment might provoke defiance. 

Taken to the right extreme, both are equally effective.  For long term happy servant, only reward could work. Punishment would create unhappy defiant slave hell-bent on escape.

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