[FROM: Dennis Delprato (960105)]
(In a private message, Chuck Tucker asked for the references
below. Because my posts to Chuck have been bounced back (Chuck, do
you have a new address?) and because the issue first came up
on the NET, I am sending them via this route.)
One can begin researching the variables surrounding the
findings demonstrating the "undermining of intrinsic interest
with superfluous extrinsic rewards" with two reviews:
Lepper & Gilovich (1981). The multiple functions of reward:
A social-developmental perspective. In S. H. Brehm et al. (Eds.),
Developmental social psychology. NY: Oxford U. Press (pp. 5-31)
Lepper & Hodell (1989). Intrinsic motivation in the classroom.
In C. Ames & R. Ames (Eds.) Research on motivation. Vol. 3:
Goals and cognitions. San Diego, CA: Academic Press (pp. 73-
105)
These are reviews with the original research cited. If I were
to seriously pursue this issue, I would go to original data.
Despite being a major contributor to the area, Lepper still
could be inadvertently misrepresenting the findings. However,
in the above Lepper is very clear that the basic finding
is as quoted in the first paragraph above. Indeed, on p. 10
of the 1981 chapter we find the research area introduced thusly:
"[A particular reinterpretation] set the stage, in many respects,
for the study of the effects of functionally superfluous
extrinsic rewards, contingent on one's engagement in an activity
of initial inherent interest, on the subsequent intrinsic
interest in that activity when further external incentives or
pressures were absent." In other words, something not mentioned
by Kohn (that I could find) is inherently part of the fundamental
finding.
In the 1989 chapter we find Lepper endorsing just the procedure
Skinner would recommend (has recommended, e.g., The Technology
of Teaching, 1968) to enhance interest
when intrinsic reinforcers are not functionally effective:
"A number of investigations have found that such [extrinsic]
rewards may be important in enhancing interest among subjects
who do not find the activity of initial intrinsic interest
(references cited)."