Psychologists take opposing views of how external rewards, from warm praise to cold cash, affect motivation and creativity. Behaviorists, who study the relation between actions and their consequences, argue that rewards can improve performance at work and school. Cognitive researchers, who study various aspects of mental life, maintain that rewards often destroy creativity by encouraging dependence on approval and gifts from others.
The latter view has gained many supporters, especially among educators. But the careful use of small monetary rewards sparks creativity in grade-school children, suggesting that properly presented inducements indeed aid inventiveness, according to a study in the June journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
"If kids know they’re working for a reward and can focus on a relatively challenging task, they show the most creativity," says Robert Eisenberger of the University of Delaware in Newark. "But it’s easy to kill creativity by giving rewards for poor performance of creating too much anticipation for rewards."
A teacher who continually draws attention to rewards or who hands out high grades for ordinary achievement ends up with uninspired students, Eisenberger holds. As an example of the latter point, he notes growing efforts at major universities to tighten grading standards and restore failing grades.
In earlier grades, the use of so-called token economies, in which students handle challenging problems and receive performance-based points toward valued rewards, shows promise in raising effort and creativity, the Delaware psychologist claims.
1. Psychologists are divided with regard to their attitudes toward .
A. the choice between spiritual encouragement and monetary rewards
B. the amount of monetary rewards for students’ creativity
C. the study of relationship between actions and their consequences
D. the effects of external rewards on students’ performance
2. What is the response of many educators to external rewards for their students?
A. They have no doubts about them. C. They approve of them.
B. They have doubts about them. D. They avoid talking about them.
3. Which of the following can best raise students’ creativity according to Robert Eisenberger?
A. Assigning them tasks they have not dealt with before.
B. Assigning them tasks which require inventiveness.
C. Giving them rewards they really deserve.
D. Giving them rewards they anticipate.
4. It can be inferred form the passage that major universities are trying to tighten their grading standards because they believe .
A. rewarding poor performance may kill the creativity of students
B. punishment is more effective than rewarding
C. failing uninspired students helps improve their overall academic standards
D. discouraging the students’ anticipation for easy rewards is a matter of urgency
5. The phrase "token economies" (Para. 5) probably refers to .
A. ways to develop economy C. approaches to solving problems
B. systems of rewarding students D. methods of improving performance
参考答案：23. D B C A B
心理学家对于外在奖励，包括热情的称赞和冷冰冰的金钱刺激，会怎样影响人们的积极性和创造性持截然相反的看法。研究行为和结果关系的行为学家认为奖励能够改善工作学业表现；而认知学派研究人员却认为由于奖励助长了人们期望得到别人认同的心理和对物质奖励的依赖心理，往往会破坏创造力。
后一种观点赢得了许多支持者，尤其是教育家们的支持。然而，谨慎地使用少量金钱奖励会激发小学生的创造力表明适当地给予物质刺激有助于激发创造性。
“如果孩子们知道他们在为奖励而努力，并能专心于较有挑战性的任务，他们会表现出极大的创造性，”位于Newark的特拉华大学的Robert Eisenberger 说，“但是如果孩子表现不佳，也能得到奖励或者造成孩子对奖励过分的期待就很容易扼杀创造性。
Eisenberger 认为，如果一位教师总用奖励吸引学生的注意力，或者给表现一般的学生奖励，那么他培养的学生最终是缺乏创造性。作为后一点的例证，几所重点大学都在逐步尽力严格评分标准并恢复不及格制度。
特拉华大学的心理学家Eisenberger认为，在低年纪阶段实施所谓的象征性的奖励体系 － 即学生完成任务，得到以表现为基础的分数，最终得到奖励，有希望提高学生的成绩和创造性。
