Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes

What it’s about

Drawing on hundreds of psychological studies, Alfie Kohn dismantles the deeply held belief that the best way to get people to do something is to reward them when they comply. From gold stars and grades in classrooms, to incentive plans and merit pay in workplaces, to praise and bribes in the home, Kohn shows that 'Do this and you'll get that' rests on the shaky foundations of pop behaviorism and reliably backfires. Rewards, he argues, are not the opposite of punishments but two sides of the same controlling coin: both secure temporary compliance while corroding the conditions—collaboration, meaningful content, and genuine choice—under which excellence, learning, and ethical behavior actually flourish. Provocative yet rigorously documented, the book challenges readers to abandon the seductive simplicity of behavioral manipulation and rethink how we manage employees, teach students, and raise children, replacing control with respect, problem-solving, and support for intrinsic motivation.

The through-line

Who it’s for

A parent, teacher, or manager who wants the people they care for or lead to do good work, learn deeply, and become responsible, caring, and motivated.

The problem

The rewards, grades, incentive plans, and praise they rely on aren't producing lasting motivation, quality, or good behavior. They feel frustrated, even guilty, suspecting that the strategy they default to may be backfiring but not knowing what else to do.

The plan

1. Recognize that rewards and punishments are two sides of the same controlling coin.
2. Abolish or minimize incentives, grades, and manipulative praise.
3. Shift focus from controlling behavior to addressing reasons and building relationships.
4. Create the conditions for intrinsic motivation through collaboration, meaningful content, and genuine choice.
5. Support autonomy and use problem-solving instead of bribes and threats.

The payoff

Employees, students, and children become intrinsically motivated, doing better, more creative work. · Relationships are characterized by trust, openness, and support rather than judgment and flattery. · Children grow into responsible, caring, self-directed people who make their own ethical decisions.

See our guide

• Study People And Organizations With Scientific Rigor →
• Design Short-Term Incentive And Variable Pay →
• The Behavioral Science Underneath It All →
• Build A People Analytics Function →
• Motivation — Does This Team Have The Energy, Commitment, And Reason To Act? →
• Design The Organization And Change It →
• Do Research That Holds Up →
• Design Surveys People Answer Honestly →
• Understand What Drives Individual Performance →

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Additional reading

• Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior · Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan

  This book provides the comprehensive theoretical framework (Self-Determination Theory) that underpins much of Kohn's critique, explaining how rewards undermine the fundamental human needs for autonomy and competence.

• The Hidden Costs of Rewards: New Perspectives on the Psychology of Human Motivation · Mark R. Lepper and David Greene (Eds.)

  This edited volume from 1978 was a landmark collection of early research and theory on the negative effects of rewards, which Kohn draws upon heavily.

• Creativity in Context · Teresa M. Amabile

  Summarizes the author's extensive research, which Kohn cites as definitive proof that rewards and other extrinsic pressures kill creativity.

• Out of the Crisis · W. Edwards Deming

  Kohn relies on Deming's influential critique of performance appraisals, merit pay, and other extrinsic motivators from the perspective of quality management in business.

• The Competitive Ethos and Democratic Education · John G. Nicholls

  Kohn uses Nicholls's distinction between task-orientation (learning) and ego-orientation (performance) to explain why rewards like grades are so damaging to genuine learning.

Featured in these guides

• The Behavioral Science Underneath It All →Pole in “Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode”
• Build A People Analytics Function →Pole in “Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode”
• Motivation — Does This Team Have The Energy, Commitment, And Reason To Act? →Cited source
• Design The Organization And Change It →Pole in “Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode”
• Study People And Organizations With Scientific Rigor →Pole in “Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode”
• Do Research That Holds Up →Pole in “Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode”
• Design Short-Term Incentive And Variable Pay →Cited source
• Design Surveys People Answer Honestly →Pole in “Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode”
• Understand What Drives Individual Performance →Pole in “Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode”

Where other books disagree

• Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode →
• Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode →
• Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode →
• Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode →
• Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode →
• Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode →
• Do Extrinsic Rewards Motivate or Corrode →