Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T19:44:55.483Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Behaviour Modification and the Overjustification Effect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2009

Lee Ogilvie  and
Margot Prior
Lee Ogilvie
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia
Margot Prior
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Behaviour modification procedures have been subject to criticism by proponents of the cognitive evaluation theory using as an empirical base, the overjustification effect. In this paper some of the tenets of the theory as applied to behaviour modification and the parameters of the overjustification effect are examined. It is concluded that methodological problems in the reported research and the lack of comparability between overjustification experiments and commonly used behavioural procedures invalidate the claim that rewarding a behaviour will lead to a decline in intrinsic motivation to engage in that behaviour.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , January 1982 , pp. 26 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, R., Manoogin, S. and Reznick, J. (1976). Undermining and enhancing of intrinsic motivation in preschool children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 34, 915–922.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baer, D. M. and Wolf, M. M. (1970). The entry into natural communities of reinforcement. Control of Human Behaviour, Volume 2, Ulrich, R., Strachnick, T. and Mabry, J. (Eds), Illinois: Scott Foresman.Google Scholar
Boggiano, A. K. and Ruble, D. N. (1979). Competence and the overjustification effect: A developmental study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37, 1462–1468.Google Scholar
Calder, B. J. and Straw, B. M. (1975). Self-perception of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31, 599–605.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Condry, B. J. (1977). Enemies of exploration: self versus other initiated learning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35, 459–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Charms, R. (1968). Personal Causation: The Internal Affective Determinants of Behaviour, New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Deci, E. L. (1971). Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 18, 105–115.Google Scholar
Deci, E. L. (1975). Intrinsic Motivation, New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Deci, E. L., Cascio, W. F. and Krussell, J. (1975). Cognitive evaluation theory and some comments on the Calder-Straw critique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31, 81–85.Google Scholar
Dollinger, S. J. (1979). Extrinsic rewards, reward associated messages and intrinsic motivation. Cognitive Therapy Research 3, 367–370.Google Scholar
Dollinger, S. J. and Thellen, M. H. (1978). Overjustification and children's motivation: Comparative effects of four rewards. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36, 421–428.Google Scholar
Fisher, E. B. (1979). Overjustification effects in token economies. Journal of Applied Beahviour Analysis 12, 407–415.Google Scholar
Garbarino, J. (1975). The impact of anticipated rewards in cross age tutoring. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 32, 421–428.Google Scholar
Greene, D., Sternberg, B. and Lepper, M. R. (1976). Overjustification in a token economy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 34, 1219–1234.Google Scholar
Hoppe, R. B. (1975). “Token” learning programs. American Psychologist 781–782.Google Scholar
Karniol, R. and Ross, M. (1977). The effects of performance relevant and performance irrelevant rewards on children's intrinsic motivation. Child Development 48, 482–487.Google Scholar
Kazdin, A. E. (1977). The Token Economy: A Review and Evaluation, New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Kruglanski, A. W., Friedman, I. and Zeevi, G. (1971). The effects of reward on some qualitative aspects of performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 18, 606–617.Google Scholar
Kruglanski, A. W., Friedman, I. and Zeevi, G. (1975a). Can money enhance intrinsic motivation: A test of the content consequence hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31, 744–750.Google Scholar
Kruglanski, A. W., Friedman, I. and Zeevi, G. (1975b). Effects of task intrinsic rewards upon extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31, 699–705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, D. Y., Syrnyk, R. and Hallschmid, C. (1976). Self perception of intrinsic motivation: Effects on institutionalized mentally retarded adolescents. American Journal of Mental Deficiency 81, 331–337.Google Scholar
Lepper, M. R., Greene, D. and Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the overjustification hypothesis. Journal of Personal and Social Psychology 28, 129–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lepper, M. R. and Greene, D. (1975). Turning play into work: The effect of adult surveillance and extrinsic reward on children's intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personal and Social Psychology 31, 479–486.Google Scholar
Levine, F. M. and Fasnacht, G. (1974). Token rewards may lead to token learning. American Psychologist 29, 816–821.Google Scholar
Macmillan, D. L. and Forness, S. R. (1970). Behaviour modification: Limitations and liabilities. Exceptional Children 37, 291–297.Google Scholar
McGraw, T. and McCullers, J. (1974). The distracting effect of material reward: An alternative explanation for the superior performance of reward groups in probability learning. Journal of Experimental Clinical Psychology 18, 149–158.Google Scholar
Notz, W. N. (1975). Work motivation and negative of extrinsic rewards: A review with implications for theory and practice. American Psychologist 30, 844–891.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogilvie, L. and Prior, M. (1981). The overjustification effect: Durability and generalizability. (Unpublished manuscript).Google Scholar
Reiss, S. and Sushinsky, L. W. (1975). Overjustification, competing response, and the acquisition of intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31, 1116–1125.Google Scholar
Ross, M. (1975). Salience of reward and intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 33, 245–254.Google Scholar
Upton, U. E. (1973). Altruism, attribution and intrinsic motivation in the recruitment of blood donors. Dissertation Abstracts International 34, 6260B.Google Scholar
Veroff, J. (1969). Social comparison and the development of achievement motivation. In Achievement Related Motives in Children, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Weinberg, R. S. (1978). Relationship between extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation. Psychological Reports 42, 1255–1258.Google Scholar
Williams, B. W. (1980). Reinforcement, behaviour constraints and the overjustification effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39, 599–614.Google Scholar
Zigler, E. (1971). The retarded child as a whole person. In Advances in Experimental Child Psychology, Adams, H. E. and Broadman, W. K. (Eds), New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Zigler, E. and Balla, D. (1972). Developmental course of responsiveness to social reinforcement in normal children and institutionalized retarded children. Developmetnal Psychology 6, 66–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.