-
Punished by Rewards
- The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes
- Narrated by: Alfie Kohn
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $30.09
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Unconditional Parenting
- Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason
- By: Alfie Kohn
- Narrated by: Alfie Kohn
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One basic need all children have, educator Alfie Kohn argues, is to be loved unconditionally, to know that they will be accepted even if they screw up or fall short. Yet conventional approaches to parenting such as punishments (including "time outs"), rewards (including positive reinforcement), and other forms of control teach children that they are loved only when they please us or impress us. Kohn cites a body of powerful and largely unknown research detailing the damage caused by leading children to believe they must earn our approval.
-
-
Liberating!
- By Katie on 06-20-19
By: Alfie Kohn
-
Ungrading
- Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead)
- By: Susan D. Blum - editor, Alfie Kohn - foreword
- Narrated by: Emily Durante, Matthew Josdal, Alfie Kohn
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The moment is right for critical reflection on what has been assumed to be a core part of schooling. In Ungrading, 15 educators write about their diverse experiences going gradeless. Based on rigorous and replicated research, this is the first book to show why and how faculty who wish to focus on learning, rather than sorting or judging, might proceed. It includes honest reflection on what makes ungrading challenging, and testimonials about what makes it transformative.
-
-
Good book but the PDF is missing
- By Booklover on 05-10-22
By: Susan D. Blum - editor, and others
-
The Homework Myth
- Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing
- By: Alfie Kohn
- Narrated by: Alfie Kohn
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Homework Myth, nationally known educator and parenting expert Alfie Kohn systematically examines the usual defenses of homework - that it promotes higher achievement, "reinforces" learning, and teaches study skills and responsibility. None of these assumptions, he shows, actually passes the test of research, logic, or experience.
-
-
Intriguing argument
- By Zackery Zounes on 06-15-22
By: Alfie Kohn
-
Drive
- The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
- By: Daniel H. Pink
- Narrated by: Daniel H. Pink
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money - the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction - at work, at school, and at home - is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.
-
-
Not as good as A Whole New Mind
- By Michael O'Donnell on 04-30-10
By: Daniel H. Pink
-
The Myth of the Spoiled Child
- Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Children and Parenting
- By: Alfie Kohn
- Narrated by: Alfie Kohn
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Somehow, deeply conservative assumptions about how children behave and how parents raise them have become the conventional wisdom in our society. It's widely assumed that parents are both permissive and overprotective, unable to set limits and afraid to let their kids fail. We're told that young people receive trophies, praise, and A's too easily, and suffer from inflated self-esteem and insufficient self-discipline. However, complaints about pushover parents and entitled kids are actually decades old and driven, it turns out, by ideology more than evidence.
-
-
good theories, no tangible or practical ideas.
- By Ben on 05-12-15
By: Alfie Kohn
-
The Montessori Method
- By: Maria Montessori
- Narrated by: Keira Grace
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Italian doctor and educator Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome Medical School. This masterpiece of educational philosophy is still relevant today, as the author explains to parents and teachers how to free a child through its own efforts.
-
-
Hard to follow the narrator
- By cashmoney on 09-08-21
By: Maria Montessori
-
Unconditional Parenting
- Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason
- By: Alfie Kohn
- Narrated by: Alfie Kohn
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One basic need all children have, educator Alfie Kohn argues, is to be loved unconditionally, to know that they will be accepted even if they screw up or fall short. Yet conventional approaches to parenting such as punishments (including "time outs"), rewards (including positive reinforcement), and other forms of control teach children that they are loved only when they please us or impress us. Kohn cites a body of powerful and largely unknown research detailing the damage caused by leading children to believe they must earn our approval.
-
-
Liberating!
- By Katie on 06-20-19
By: Alfie Kohn
-
Ungrading
- Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead)
- By: Susan D. Blum - editor, Alfie Kohn - foreword
- Narrated by: Emily Durante, Matthew Josdal, Alfie Kohn
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The moment is right for critical reflection on what has been assumed to be a core part of schooling. In Ungrading, 15 educators write about their diverse experiences going gradeless. Based on rigorous and replicated research, this is the first book to show why and how faculty who wish to focus on learning, rather than sorting or judging, might proceed. It includes honest reflection on what makes ungrading challenging, and testimonials about what makes it transformative.
-
-
Good book but the PDF is missing
- By Booklover on 05-10-22
By: Susan D. Blum - editor, and others
-
The Homework Myth
- Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing
- By: Alfie Kohn
- Narrated by: Alfie Kohn
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Homework Myth, nationally known educator and parenting expert Alfie Kohn systematically examines the usual defenses of homework - that it promotes higher achievement, "reinforces" learning, and teaches study skills and responsibility. None of these assumptions, he shows, actually passes the test of research, logic, or experience.
-
-
Intriguing argument
- By Zackery Zounes on 06-15-22
By: Alfie Kohn
-
Drive
- The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
- By: Daniel H. Pink
- Narrated by: Daniel H. Pink
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money - the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction - at work, at school, and at home - is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.
-
-
Not as good as A Whole New Mind
- By Michael O'Donnell on 04-30-10
By: Daniel H. Pink
-
The Myth of the Spoiled Child
- Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Children and Parenting
- By: Alfie Kohn
- Narrated by: Alfie Kohn
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Somehow, deeply conservative assumptions about how children behave and how parents raise them have become the conventional wisdom in our society. It's widely assumed that parents are both permissive and overprotective, unable to set limits and afraid to let their kids fail. We're told that young people receive trophies, praise, and A's too easily, and suffer from inflated self-esteem and insufficient self-discipline. However, complaints about pushover parents and entitled kids are actually decades old and driven, it turns out, by ideology more than evidence.
-
-
good theories, no tangible or practical ideas.
- By Ben on 05-12-15
By: Alfie Kohn
-
The Montessori Method
- By: Maria Montessori
- Narrated by: Keira Grace
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Italian doctor and educator Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome Medical School. This masterpiece of educational philosophy is still relevant today, as the author explains to parents and teachers how to free a child through its own efforts.
-
-
Hard to follow the narrator
- By cashmoney on 09-08-21
By: Maria Montessori
-
Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation
- By: Edward L. Deci, Richard Flaste
- Narrated by: Douglas James
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you reward your children for doing their homework, they will usually respond by getting it done. But is this the most effective method of motivation? No, says psychologist Edward L. Deci, who challenges traditional thinking and shows that this method actually works against performance. The best way to motivate people - at school, at work, or at home - is to support their sense of autonomy.
-
-
Enlightenment to Motivations
- By Anonymous User on 07-19-22
By: Edward L. Deci, and others
-
Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education
- By: Alex Shevrin Venet
- Narrated by: Erin deWard
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fresh look at trauma-informed practice, Alex Shevrin Venet urges educators to shift equity to the center as they consider policies and professional development.
-
The Self-Driven Child
- The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control over Their Lives
- By: Ned Johnson, William Stixrud PhD
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many of us know we're putting too much pressure on our kids - and on ourselves - but how do we get off this crazy train? We want our children to succeed, to be their best, and to do their best, but what if they are not on board? A few years ago, Ned Johnson and Bill Stixrud started noticing the same problem from different angles: even high-performing kids were coming to them acutely stressed and lacking any real motivation. Many complained that they had no real control over their lives.
-
-
Practical, wise, and well researched
- By Andrew on 07-12-18
By: Ned Johnson, and others
-
The Explosive Child
- A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children
- By: Dr. Ross W. Greene
- Narrated by: Dr. Ross W. Greene
- Length: 2 hrs and 38 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Ross Greene, a distinguished clinician and pioneer in the treatment of kids with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges, has worked with thousands of explosive children, and he has good news: these kids aren't attentionseeking, manipulative, or unmotivated, and their parents aren't passive, permissive disciplinarians. Rather, explosive kids are lacking some crucial skills in the domains of flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem solving, and they require a different approach.
-
-
Short but effective
- By D. Mcmillan on 01-12-15
-
Nonviolent Communication
- Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with Your Values
- By: Marshall Rosenberg PhD
- Narrated by: Marshall Rosenberg PhD
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Nonviolent Communication, this renowned peacemaker presents his complete system for speaking our deepest truths, addressing our unrecognized needs and emotions, and honoring those same concerns in others. With this adaptation of the best-selling book of the same title, Marshall Rosenberg teaches in his own words.
-
-
This is an amazing life changing book!!!
- By Olesya on 08-03-16
-
Speaking Peace
- Connecting with Others Through Nonviolent Communication
- By: Marshall B. Rosenberg
- Narrated by: Marshall B. Rosenberg
- Length: 2 hrs and 34 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our words have the power to create profound healing or incredible suffering. Yet even with the best intentions, it is often difficult to express ourselves in ways that build harmony and trust. Speaking Peace presents a seminal four-part model you can use immediately to connect to the spirit of love and generosity within you and start contributing to the well-being of everyone you relate to.
-
-
Condensed repeat
- By Kim Van Genderen on 08-24-17
-
Beyond Behaviors
- Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children's Behavioral Challenges
- By: Mona Delahooke PhD
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Beyond Behaviors, internationally known pediatric psychologist Dr. Mona Delahooke describes behaviors as the tip of the iceberg, important signals that we should address by seeking to understand a child's individual differences in the context of relational safety. This accessible book offers professionals, educators, and parents tools and techniques to reduce behavioral challenges and promote psychological resilience and satisfying, secure relationships.
-
-
A must read for anyone who works with children.
- By Kay on 08-16-19
-
Siblings Without Rivalry
- How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too
- By: Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish
- Narrated by: Kathe Mazur
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Siblings Without Rivalry guides the way to family peace and tranquility with humor and compassion for both parents and children. Action oriented and easy to understand, it's packed with sensitive yet sensible ways to turn quarreling siblings and frustrated parents into an open, communicative family.
-
-
Amazing! Fast results, cannot believe it.
- By Tracy on 05-20-15
By: Adele Faber, and others
-
Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings
- How to Stop the Fighting and Raise Friends for Life
- By: Dr. Laura Markham
- Narrated by: Dr. Laura Markham
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Popular parenting expert Dr. Laura Markham, author of Peaceful Parents, Happy Siblings, has garnered a large and loyal readership around the world thanks to her simple, insightful approach that values the emotional bond between parent and child. As any parent of more than one child knows, though, it's challenging for even the most engaged parent to maintain harmony and a strong connection when competition, tempers, and irritation run high.
-
-
Not for all mothers
- By A mother on 03-05-17
-
Raising Human Beings
- Creating a Collaborative Partnership with Your Child
- By: Ross W. Greene
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Raising Human Beings, the renowned child psychologist and New York Times best-selling author of Lost at School and The Explosive Child explains how to cultivate a better parent-child relationship while also nurturing empathy, honesty, resilience, and independence.
-
-
Great parenting advice!
- By J. Reece on 05-09-17
By: Ross W. Greene
-
The Montessori Toddler
- By: Simone Davies
- Narrated by: Susie Berneis
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This guide offers a step-by-step plan that helps parents cultivate daily routines so that they can turn life with toddlers into a mutually rich time of curiosity and learning.
-
-
A good book with a lot of ideas
- By Dewey on 07-23-21
By: Simone Davies
-
Brain-Body Parenting
- How to Stop Managing Behavior and Start Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids
- By: Mona Delahooke
- Narrated by: Emily Ellet
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over her decades as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Mona Delahooke has routinely counseled distraught parents who struggle to manage their children’s challenging, sometimes oppositional behaviors. These families are understandably focused on correcting or improving a child’s lack of compliance, emotional outbursts, tantrums, and other “out of control” behavior. But, as she has shared with these families, a perspective shift is needed.
-
-
Groundbreaking
- By bug on 05-16-22
By: Mona Delahooke
Publisher's Summary
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.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about Punished by Rewards
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael
- 05-19-18
Punished by Rewards
Every now and then a paradigm shifting book comes along my way. It's that time again. I went into this book a bit sceptical, amused by the cover and its premise, and wondering how the author was going to convince me that 'praise' could be detrimental, and other ridiculous ideas that sound like they come from hippy liberals who are still traumatised by never winning a ribbon on school sports day. It's not what you think though. Kohn methodically and scientifically deconstructs behaviourism's punishments and rewards, and shows how they are counter-productive to the goals of those using them, and ultimately demotivating and detrimental to those 'upon' whom they are used. It’s not at all about making all people ‘the same’, or promoting mediocrity – it’s about focusing people on the long term, and on what really matters, and what actually works.
How could rewards be 'bad'? I've always felt the tension, but never known another way. "Kids, clean your room and you'll get a lollipop." It teaches them that cleaning their room is something they wouldn't want to do without a reward, it makes it an obstacle between them and the reward, and it makes them focus on the reward, not the important issue – why you want them to want to have a clean room. Remove "clean room" and insert it with any other task - maths homework, greeting elders, behaving in class, meeting a quota, reading a book, etc., - and switch the reward - A's, praise, raise, stickers, screen time, etc., - and it's the same formula. As he kept saying, "Do this and you'll get that" makes them focus on the 'that', not the 'this'.
The natural response here is, "Well, what's the alternative?" Unfortunately (but logically), the solution isn't a quick fix. It's much more involved and holistic. You don't just replace incentive systems with non-incentive systems, or something like that. You need a paradigm shift from focusing on extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation, which means more discussion, more understanding, more customisation and collaboration, less manipulation, threats and ultimatums. Kohn does give a lot of practical ideas, and many of them don’t require that the whole world change before you implement them – he suggests ways that you can do it ‘less bad’, rather than 100% perfectly, ie., how you can minimise the negative effects of extrinsic incentives while still working within the system. I appreciated that.
On the downside, I thought that Kohn occasionally ignored a few alternatives while trying to universalise an issue, or only took one possible negative interpretation of an action where the reality might be more complex, but these moments were few and I was able to see past them to his research and points and make my own conclusions. It was also difficult (from the audio version) to check his sources and see if he was being selective in the research he used to back his points, but I have enough life experiences of behaviourism to know exactly what he was talking about most of the time. I don’t really need a scientific study to tell me that incentivising my kids for their ‘good’ behaviour teaches them nothing about why they should be ‘good’, other than to get a ‘carrot’. You can’t ‘pay’ them to have a ‘good heart’.
This is a book that’s going to stay with me for a while, and will require some more learning and reflection and adjustment.
As for narration, Kohn was the best choice for narrating this, even though he sounds a bit like Wallace Shawn ("inconceivable!"). He knew exactly how to deliver his message, with the right warmth, harshness, deliberation and humour.
25 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tyler B
- 12-28-19
Communism disguised as parenting/managing advice
This book is not about teaching you how to parent or manage workers. He talks ad nauseam about how bad rewards/merit based systems are. You wait for the big reveal of a new paradigm for teaching children or dealing with employees only to find he offers no alternatives systems or theories, something he readily admits FINALLY at the end of the book. My wife and I were confused why he wasn’t presenting a solution. But then it became obvious that the book is not a parenting/management book. It is a communist attack on capitalism.
Alfie uses communist framing of problems to denounce merit based systems and goes so far as to encourage people to think about dismantling the current societal systems (aka capitalism). He offers no solutions for dealing with children. He gives away his ideological bent by clearly stating communist beliefs and phrases such as: all profits should be distributed to workers as all profits come from labor, needs based pay over performance based pay, framing of conflict as proletariats vs bourgeoisie, and several other clear odes to communist philosophy. It’s a tired and terrible dogma. The greatest irony is that he posits many times that threatening and manipulating people is wrong in any circumstance...yet he argues for a system where the state threatens and manipulates people completely and rather backing those threats with 5 minute time-outs or no video games they are backed with state guns.
The book is interesting for the first 30 minutes as you hear about the shortcomings of rewards and their sometimes counterintuitive effects on motivation and performance. It quickly turns repetitive and if you are familiar with Marxism you begin to see where Kohn is taking the book. If not you will just be wondering when he’ll stop telling you what NOT TO DO and when he will tell you what TO DO.
If you skip to the end you’ll hear about how he encourages young adults to tear down the societal structure that be and he believes only then may we hope to find a better solution to dealing with each other than rewarding each other.
The book is misleading, he should make it clear that he’s not interested in helping us parent/manage better and is instead just arguing for a communist revolution. If he made it clear this was a propaganda piece I wouldn’t be nearly as disappointed in the book, the publisher, and the author.
21 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Johnny Q Public
- 05-23-18
Skeptical at first, I've been won over
I began this book skeptical of Kohn's thesis. I was going to listen with an open mind, but in a world full of people spending 40 hours or more a week chasing a paycheck, I anticipated to be presented with a half-baked theory that stretched thin evidence past limits of sober credulity sprinkled with powerful -- if not quite believable -- anecdotes. Instead, Kohn makes a compelling case, and if anything, the numerous research citations become tiring. If the reader perseveres, Kohn goes on to describe alternative approaches to parenting, teaching, and leadership. This isn't a page-turning beach read, but Kohn has successfully convinced me that some deeply held beliefs are misguided and pointed the path to a better way. And I'm already seeing some small successes in applying these lessons to my everyday life. I'm very glad I purchased this book.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dave
- 02-27-20
The dumbest book I have ever read
Alfie should read at least one book on economics. Pick any book. It doesn't have to be entry level at college, it could be a book targeted towards six year olds. It really doesn't matter, because he's started from zero.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Eric D. Stein
- 01-17-21
Bitter
I just couldn't get over the pure bitterness to philosophies that were not compatible with the narrative. I agree with some of the ideas in this book, but the messenger was annoying, and the practicality of the alternatives to rewards are limited.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Will Szal
- 05-12-19
Lowering Performance and Enhancing Hierarchy
Punishments and rewards are so ubiquitous they disappear from critical inquiry:
* Grades in academia
* Awards, such as the Nobel Prize
* Performance-based compensation
* Grants based on deliverables
* Fines and jail time in the criminal justice system
* Repercussions in parenting
In his 1993 book, Punished by Rewards, social scientist Alfie Kohn exhaustively reviews hundreds of scientific studies on behaviorism. Counter to the collective faith in "pop behaviorism," he concludes that
Punishments and rewards definitively decrease performance.
To elaborate a bit on some of the instances in which Kohn investigates this topic:
* Letting people set their own rewards doesn't change their maleffect
* Children raised with rewards have lower self-esteem and have less intrinsic motivation
* Praise is no better
* Performance-based rewards result in worse performance than volume-based rewards
* The only instance where rewards don't have a negative effect on performance is when they are eternal and for menial task devoid of creativity or fulfillment (in such instances, we may be better off discontinuing such working conditions to begin with)
To postulate a theory on the effect of rewards:
In the long run, rewards actually deter the behaviors they seek to incentivize.
Rewards compromise personal agency and contribute to feelings of being manipulated.
So why do they dominate our societal infrastructure? Why do families and organizations continue to turn a blind eye to the devastating evidence that punishments and rewards are worse than doing nothing?
Radical behaviorism has returned to infamy, heralded by Shoshana Zuboff's recent book on surveillance capitalism.
You may have been hearing lately about B. F. Skinner, the founder of this school of thought. Skinner believed in a machine-mentality of humans. Given our plastic psychologies, humans can respond to rewards and be turned into machines, but this is not an ethical course of action.
As Zuboff elucidates, Silicon Valley has become the poster child of pop behaviorism. Many founders have become disenchanted with the human-as-machine analogy.
If rewards don't enhance performance, how are they useful?
Rewards establish and reinforce hierarchies of power and control.
They elevate the rewarder and demote the rewarded.
A consideration for why this would be desirable is beyond the scope of this post.
From its inception, the cryptocurrency space has been pervaded by a behaviorist tone.
Section six in Nakamoto's whitepaper is entitled "Incentive," (which has a distinctly different implications than a word such as compensation).
The term "reward" appears a dozen times in the Ethereum whitepaper.
As I have explored before, the mainstream cryptocurrency community has a strong right-wing streak.
So it might come as no surprise to many that token designers might aspire to engineer motivation in the participants of their economies.
Given that the cryptocurrency space is still in its infancy and very much in an experimental phase not yet backed by definitive theory, what is at risk if we do not critically investigate our behaviorist bent?
Cryptocurrency's dependency on a reward-mentality risks perpetuating a machine paradigm that extinguishes the possibility for creative solutions and emergent outcomes.
Given the many existential threats currently faced by humanity, these are risk that we cannot afford. Conversely, what opportunity is there for the creation of new economies grounded in intrinsic motivation?
At my startup, Regen Network, we come from a living-systems paradigm that seeks to develop the will and ableness of stakeholders in our network towards an aim of planetary regeneration. Given that we operate in the spheres of both regenerative agriculture and cryptocurrency, how can we leverage their strengths while reconciling their sometimes-divergent ideologies?
* How do we create an economy where network participants are motivated by intrinsic will as opposed to extrinsic reward?
* In a global economy pervaded by scarcity and insufficiency, how do we shift the economics of agriculture to compensate regenerative behavior, capitalizing regenerative agriculture and funding the right livelihood of land stewards?
* How do we create a technology platform that enlivens human relationship with land (as opposed to further removing humans from a felt-sense of living systems)?
These are some of the questions we're currently grappling with. We hope that others will join us in discernment and architecting of a regenerative world.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alethea B.
- 08-15-19
Astonishingly good
I don’t think I’ve ever read a more shocking, thought-provoking, tremendously entertaining, deeply needed book that’s so much more than a book — it’s a force for the good. What a wake-up call for a way (a series of ways) to make the world a better place! Full of truth and compassion, this book left me shimmering with hope and excitement.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David Madden
- 05-06-19
Great for Parents
A powerful book that changed my view of parenting and leadership! I appreciate Alfie
Kohn’s courage and ideas.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ruslan Vasylev
- 03-15-19
Good book!
Good book. It felt a little too long and, perhaps, repetitive at times. Nevertheless, I'm glad that what needed to be said about the subject was said.
The overall approach feels right. Liberal where things concern peoples/children's choices, yet conservative in virtues.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Qager
- 05-17-18
It’s a must
If you are a parent, teacher or manager, this audiobook should be your top priority.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Pollyanna G
- 05-13-18
Eye-opening and insightful evidence-based book
This is one of those books that confirms a suspicion that you can't quite articulate. I read this after reading one of Alfie Kohn's other books 'Unconditional Parenting', which I absolutely love. When it comes to parenting advice, I have learned to only trust the writings of those authors whose works are backed up by actual research, rather than solely opinion based. Alfie Kohn's books are all meticulously researched and many research studies are cited in the book. You just can't ignore the evidence that punishments and rewards are detrimental to intrinsic motivation, and have no place in the classroom, or home. I am fairly terrified at the prospect of sending my child, who has such a beautiful and natural love of learning, to school, for fear that stupid incentive programmes will gradually destroy this natural urge to learn. I am seriously considering home education as a result of reading Alfie Kohn's books among many others that address issues around how our education systems are formulated.
Having said that it's strongly evidence-based, the book is not at all dry. Alfie Kohn has an excellent sense of humour which really comes across and makes this an immensely readable book, anyone who's seen his youtube videos will know this. It's fantastic that the author himself narrates the book as his dryness really comes across.
Like 'Unconditional Parenting', I feel this book is a must-read for all parents, teachers and those with an interest in raising children, although its principles are also applied to businesses and organisations. It might be an uncomfortable read for those who have relied on punishments and rewards but it's never too late to change.
I was so happy to find this as an audiobook as I have very little time for 'actual reading' but can listen to audiobooks while working.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jussie
- 04-28-19
3 hours left and still no alternative to rewards
one person can tolerate hearing the same argument only so many times. no more please!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- kamal
- 08-21-18
Balanced, clear and practical
I will certainly use the introspection tools mentioned at the end of each chapter in my day to day life.
The book itself conveys a nice balanced ethic, individuals are given the highest respect through treating them as a reason in themselves, and therefore reasoning with them.
It is almost an incidental fact that the first half of the book is dedicated to pointing to the huge amount of evidence from both laboratory studies and real-world interventions that show the harms done by rewards; specifically framed in such a way as to be conditional. The manifold harms stem from reducing intrinsic motivation, shifting the locus of control away from the praised person, reducing the passive person's attention to a very narrow single goal orientated view and even worse the reward-giver stands to gain more by yielding unbalanced power over the praised than the praised is likely to gain from receiving the praise.
I think this book is a must-read for anybody wanting to encourage and foster mutually respectful and productive relationships with persons of any age (older or younger).
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 10-30-21
What you thought you knew about rewards but didn't
It's a bit long and repeats itself at times, but really drives the point that rewards in any shape or form aren't good for intrinsic motivation and the impact that has on various aspects of our lives. Recommend!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Natalia A
- 11-09-17
A must read for anyone hoping to use respectful upbringing, teaching and/or management
I read the book 7 years ago. I couldn’t agree with and support this approach any more. Rewards & punishments annihilate any chance of humans feeling motivated or moved to do things. A must read.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- indykatley
- 05-10-22
Excellent read for teachers, parents and employers
A quite long audiobook with very valuable information, made pleasant to listen by the exceptional narration of Alphie Kohn. He knows how to present all the information in a clear but funny manner. Excellent audiobook.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anom
- 01-29-22
gamechanging
Read by the author for maximum reading nuance, this book is a wonderful endictment of all manner of systems of control we surround ourselves in, and the cost.
its amazing that as lucky as many of us are, we have built a world that fails so hard to make us content.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Oli
- 03-19-21
Ready to have your world turned upside down!?
Amazing book, great research and a polemic against the Behaviourist and increasingly culturally embedded dogma of Carrots and Sticks being our only options for Motivation. Paying Attention and Promoting Intrinsic Interest in everything is the key. Game Changer.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 09-07-19
Amazing! Essential reading especially for teachers.
Great that its read by the author as it includes all his passion. It’s is long though and could be edited a bit more.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 03-28-19
Changed My Perspective!
What a fascinating viewpoint on rewards. I was recommended this book and it did not disappoint. It completely changed my vision of childcare and I’ve been eagerly putting his guidance into practice- with exciting results. You suddenly become so aware of the bad habits both parents and employers own!
-
Overall

- Robert Nicholson
- 03-07-20
Interesting, but repetitive at times
Liked the subject and still seems relevant (original book published in the late 90s). The odd interjected joke was welcome given some sections were repetitive (explaining the same concept just with different variables). I found the afterword the most enjoyable section as it gave a solid idea how the concept was received the real-world.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Red AC
- 05-27-18
Insightful, intriguing and fresh.
This is an academic book, with lots of research. If that’s not your thing, you may not enjoy it. However, I believe every person could benefit by reading this book as it contains insightful looks at parenting, teaching and managing.
The fact that it has an epilogue with updates is a bonus as well. Thank you Mr Kohn for this wonderful book.
Now, implementation is the hurdle!