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Punished by Rewards Paperback – 30 September 1999
by KOHN ALFIE (Author)
$102.75 —
Paperback, 30 September 1999
Audio CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
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Punished by Rewards: Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A'S, Praise, and Other Bribes
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The basic strategy we use for raising children, teaching students, and managing workers can be summarized in six words: Do this and you'll get that. We dangle goodies (from candy bars to sales commissions) in front of people in much the same way we train the family pet. Drawing on a wealth of psychological research, Alfie Kohn points the way to a more successful strategy based on working with people instead of doing things to them. "Do rewards motivate people?" asks Kohn."Yes. They motivate people to get rewards." Seasoned with humor and familiar examples, Punished By Rewards presents an argument unsettling to hear but impossible to dismiss.
Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason
The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards"
No Contest: The Case Against Competition
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Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community, 10th Anniversary Edition
The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing
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ASIN : 0618001816
Publisher : Mariner Books; New edition (30 September 1999)
Paperback : 448 pages
Dimensions : 15.01 x 2.87 x 22.61 cm
Best Sellers Rank: 238,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
227 in Psychology of Motivation
23,342 in Parenting & Family
58,239 in Politics, Philosophy & Social Sciences
"a clear, convincing demonstration of the shortcomings of pop-behaviorism, written with style, humor, and authority," Kirkus Reviews
"Every parent, teacher, and manager should read this book -- and hurry." -- Thomas Gordon, founder of Parent Effectiveness Training
ALFIE KOHN's published works include Punished by Rewards, No Contest: The Case Against Competition, Beyond Discipline, and What to Look for in a Classroom. Described by Time as "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of educational fixation on grades and test scores," he has traveled across the country delivering lectures to teachers, parents, and researchers.
Hellouise Paienne
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is about respect as opposed to control, it's also a manual for successful outcomes
Reviewed in Australia on 21 June 2017
This is definitely worth reading
For business or pleasure
Life improves with this knowledge
Increase profit, strengthen relationships and achieve great learning outcomes
Peter Carlton
5.0 out of 5 stars must read for all parents
180 degree u-turn for reward systems
5.0 out of 5 stars busting the myth of behaviorism
Reviewed in Australia on 6 May 2014
This book deconstructs the basic assumptions inherent in modern education, assumptions that have been formed by adherence to behaviorist philosophies. What this book points towards is more meaningful relationships with students and greater respect for young people as learners.
5.0 out of 5 stars Read it so hard it fell apart!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 June 2019
This book is great, one every teacher and parent should read, but pretty in-depth and dense.
If you're not going to buy it please take away this message - you *should* actively comment on how you NOTICE your child's hard-work, efforts, abilities, strengths, eg "you've drawn a very colourful picture, tell me about it" "you climbed right up to the top all by yourself!" and it's okay to let your voice and tone speak for your approval, and direct your child to how they might feel "Wow! You must feel so proud of yourself"... However, do try and try as hard as you can not to JUDGE their work with a "well done" "good job" "it's beautiful" or other similar judgy compliment (even though it's a "positive" judgement) - because ultimately you want your child to learn not to rely on other people's praise, even yours, but to assess their own work and to be able to be proud of themselves even when the external praise doesn't come. If not they will never really be satisfied until every last person approves of their work, you want them to be happy with their own approval. You also don't want their brains to get a kick from praise because it will quickly rely on it (praise is essentially verbal/social reward) because it quickly forms a neuro-transmitter addiction - so they slowly lose the ability to feel our human natural internal reward for the things they learn and the things they do since it is overtaken for the need for more addictive external reward. Taken to the extreme you have a kid who only works/learns for money/toys/sweets or whatever, and when these things diminish the effort diminishes.
Also, please take away the idea that is absolutely absolutely beneficial and even essential to tell your child you love them and you are proud of them - just try to keep these unrelated to and separated in time from the things they have just done, as it sends a similar message that you love them because of what they achieve, which gives a message of insecurity "they won't love me if I stop achieving xyz". Your actions, your attention and your look of pride will tell them all they need to know on these occasions - so use these occasions to direct your child's attention to how they might feel IN THEMSELVES, how they should feel self-pride and enjoy their moment.
You can see, I've read and annotated my book to the extent that it fell apart, this is partly because it's a secondhand book (arrived in fine condition) but mostly that I have read the living heck out of it!
bluecampion
5.0 out of 5 stars The antidote to 'assertive discipline'
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 July 2015
Behavioural approaches are rife in schools. The problem is, children aren't puppies and relationships matter far more than tangible rewards. If children are from 'nice' homes, it often works - but then these children are rarely more than silly. For insecure, deprived children, with the potential for highly disruptive behaviour, stickers and detentions just don't work in the long term. In many schools I've worked in, poor behaviour is blamed on teachers not implementing the rewards/sanctions policy properly, This book suggests that the rewards/sanctions policy is to blame. Certainly my own experience suggests that building relationships with children works far better - children don't misbehave nearly so much if they feel valued and know you enjoy spending time with them. When stickers do work, it's not because they got a sticker, it's because someone they respect and whose regard they want gave it to them.
5.0 out of 5 stars Every teacher should read this
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2021
If you're bribing your kids with stars to behave during your boring classes, this is a wake-up call. Make your lessons interesting and relevant so you don't have to bribe them. Fantastic book.
Angelika parker
5.0 out of 5 stars Read it!
A book that makes sense in so many ways. It's amazing how many teachers and bosses, think that rewards makes people work better and do not realise that they only set low level goals that give absolutely no sense of achievement.
joss40
1.0 out of 5 stars Reward me with a refund plz
I feel punished for buying it