Rewards will make you lose interest, you know?

I told an old joke before to the effect that an old man used the method of diminishing rewards to make a group of children who laughed at him every day completely lose their interest in laughing at him. If you are interested, you can have a look at an old joke that the Japanese saw on June 3, pointing out the greatest harm of rewards.

Although this is a joke, it vividly reveals the fact that rewards will make people lose interest.

How do rewards make people lose interest?

The researchers tried to explain this phenomenon, and two of them were the most convincing.

1. When one thing (a) is regarded as the premise and means of another thing (b), the value of this thing (a) itself is devalued.

When parents tell their children that you will be allowed to watch TV for half an hour after finishing math homework (A), doing math homework (A) is undoubtedly painful for children.

In order to get the reward of watching TV, he will finish his homework, but what about next time? If there is no reward, will he still be interested in math homework?

Use what others are interested in (a) to stimulate him to do what you want him to do (b). In fact, you are conveying an idea to him that it is (a) painful or not worth doing-otherwise, why did you bribe him to do it?

You may say: no, at work, as soon as the company gives me a bonus, I work hard.

Is that really the case?

If the company gives you a bonus this time, you look very motivated. Next time the company won't give you a bonus, isn't there a gap in your heart? Aren't you bored?

In fact, there is a very important premise: when a person doesn't earn enough money and has no say in his work, he often cares about money. As a psychologist said, "when bread is scarce, people often live only for bread."

Therefore, it is not the bonus that improves your motivation, but the fact that you are short of money that causes you to be trapped by the bonus. Your motivation for work is only based on the bonus, not out of interest.

2. Rewards will make people feel manipulated, losing control and autonomy.

Without sense of control and autonomy, there is no interest. This is particularly evident in children.

There is a mother who knows her child's habits very well when she is breastfeeding her child. When the child tried to throw something on the ground, she caught it properly. When the child reached for the cup, she took it first, which perfectly prevented the child from "destroying" every time. Finally, one day, the child with a good appetite suddenly stopped eating. Dad came to help take care of the children. The mother observed that the father gave the child enough control and would not stop the child from "destructive behavior" that was not dangerous. The children ate happily and had a better appetite.

Sense of control and autonomy are the basic desires of each of us, and no one likes the feeling of being manipulated. It's natural.

Once you feel that you are being manipulated in something, you will have a sense of resistance and powerlessness, and naturally you will not be interested.

Rewarding is actually a sense of unequal status, rewarding people for being above others, rewarding people for accepting gifts, and a sense of proper control.

Maybe you can do something well for the benefit, but in all fairness, is it possible for you to love it from your heart? It's terrible.

In short, rewards reduce your interest and make you feel controlled and out of control by belittling the value of event (a) as a means.

My reflection

Seeing that people around me don't like learning and are degenerate, I will say: you can't go on like this. To learn, I have a method you can try. Before you want to watch TV or play mobile phone, tell yourself to read for half an hour, and then play after reading.

I always thought it was an ability to delay gratification.

But when I saw the reason why 1 rewards reduced my interest, I had a new idea. If watching TV and playing mobile phone is regarded as a reward for yourself, and the premise of winning the reward is learning, then learning becomes a means, not an end. This not only does not cultivate the interest in learning, but devalues the value of learning.

Looking back on my own experience, when I insisted on learning in this way (study first, then play), it really didn't take long to get away with it. There may even be inexplicable anxiety. Direct entertainment will make you feel guilty, but you don't want to study first. As a result, you will do nothing.

This way will consume your interest. A person's willingness to persist in doing something stems from his interest in the matter itself. Any behavior that relies on external rewards, whether given by others or decided by oneself, will not last long.

There are many hazards of rewards, and losing interest is the biggest hazard.

Text/If I bloom