Behavioral Teaching Methods: Learning Through Goal-Setting, Rewards, and Punishment

Joshua Wiebe - 301369958

(Word Count: 1800)

One of the biggest problems facing teachers is the age-old idea that school is forced, useless,

and boring. This is not a new trend: several generations ago, kids complained about having to

go to school as well. The main issue is that there are other things that are considered much

more valuable to students: time with their peers, video games, TV shows, YouTube, music,

playing outside; the list goes on. There are endless opportunities for fun, and school is not

something that has traditionally been viewed as enjoyable. This idea is perpetuated by the

media, with characters in children’s TV shows continually judging school harshly, joking

about failing classes because they do not care about them, and the idea that what is learned in

school will not be useful for everyday life. Teachers need to be careful in approaching this

problem, as any direct confrontation can lead to backlash and an increase in disengagement

from school.

When teaching children in this light, there are several important factors that need to

be considered to convey the material effectively, and to avoid the authoritarian ideals that

most students think all teachers adhere to. One of these is the consideration of behavioral

learning, and how children learn through motivation, punishment, and reward. Getting

students to be intrinsically motivated (that is, to be motivated by innate values and goals) is

much more important than extrinsic motivation (that is, motivation fueled by external factors

such as money, candy, and food.) There need to be clear, reachable goals for the students to

strive toward in order to be engaged in the material at hand. If they are not interested, they

will be more likely to view school as “boring” and “forced”, as opposed to “intriguing”.
 By motivating students in the appropriate way, we may be able to re-program how

they think about school and teach them lessons they will remember forever, as well as

furthering their knowledge in a fun and easy-to-comprehend manner.

This paper proposes that punishment and reward require a very fine balance in regards to one

another and that learning through motivation is an incredibly effective teaching method if one

rewards and punishes appropriately. Furthermore, this paper will argue that punishment has

its place in correcting student behavior in certain cases, and that praise is only positively

correlated with success if done correctly and is not overgeneralized as we so often do in

North American society.

Unfortunately, there is no “correct” way to teach children, but there is research to

suggest that techniques such as rewards and goal-setting can improve a child’s motivation to

learn, which is an extremely important concept to keep in mind. Adolescents have been

found to be “more receptive to rewards… [and] it may be useful to frame things in more

positive terms… saying ‘I will give you a pound to do the dishes’ might work better than

saying ‘I will take a pound from your pocket money if you don’t do the dishes.’” (Science

Daily, 2016). It seems as though adolescents differ from adults in the sense that adults will

take rewards, consequences, and punishment into account when making decisions, whereas

adolescents have a much easier time focusing on rewards and less so on the consequences of

alternative actions.

It is also important to note that goal-setting has a massive impact on learning, and

student engagement. Something that students seem to often complain about often is how class

“drags on” and time seems to slow down when they are being taught. One way to combat this

is with goal-motivated learning: that is, using the concept of approach motivation (“when

[something] makes you want to go out and pursue or achieve something” (Daily Science,

2012)) to spur learning. States high in approach motivation “make us feel like time is passing
quickly because they narrow our memory and attention processes, helping us to shut out

irrelevant thoughts and feelings” (Daily Science, 2012). This may be a useful tool when

dealing with highly distractable students: if the teacher chooses to teach in a way that

increases approach motivation (i.e. connecting topics to student’s lives and showing how they

can improve in various areas) it is very likely students will pay more attention and have better

retention for the material.

We know that goal-setting and rewards for achieving those goals are important for

learning, but how much is too much? North American society tends to put a lot of value on

overpraising children and making everybody feel as though they are a winner. There are

awards given to students who, in all honesty, do not deserve them. There are sports played

where they do not keep track of the score, and there is no real purpose to the game. This is

done in an attempt to lessen negative impacts on kids’ self-esteem and to give them all a

sense of accomplishment. There is nothing wrong with these ideas, as they are all done in a

genuine attempt to help the children create a positive self-image and to be able to encourage

themselves when their teachers and parents are not around.

However, research suggests these techniques can actually do more harm than good.

For example, researchers at Ohio State University discovered that children with low self-

esteem seem to be timider and more afraid of new challenging situations when people give

them too much praise (Science Daily, 2014). When children are identified as having low self-

esteem, they are twice as likely to be given excessive praise (i.e. when adults use words such

as “incredibly” and “perfect”). Children with high self-esteem tend to thrive on this praise, as

it boosts their already high ego, but children with low self-esteem seem to have a harder time

accepting this inflated praise.

Additionally, when children are showered with overly positive praise, they are more

likely to be narcissistic and even develop lower self-esteem than children who are evaluated
accurately and encouraged with warmth (Science Daily, 2017a). Genetics may play a role in

this situation, as children who are more inherently likely to respond to stress may take overly

positive praise as a “challenge” of sorts, where they are unsure if they can repeat the praised

task at the same level. There is also evidence that people who self-praise too much are more

likely to be distressed and depressed when any potential flaws are pointed out (Science Daily,

2011), illustrating the point that accurate praise from adults and others in authority is

important for children to develop an accurate and stable measure of self-esteem.

On the other hand, punishment has been put into the spotlight in recent years, with

many parenting books emphasizing positivity and highly criticizing punishment. Punishment

has become a tactic many parents are afraid of, not wanting to psychologically damage their

children or for their consequences to backfire. For example, research has been conducted that

shows that motivation through punishment can have the opposite effect parents want it to

(Science Daily, 2017b). If the consequence of an action is known before the action occurs,

“the brain uses [the known] behavioral consequences to trigger an action more easily, even if

the consequences are disagreeable to us” (Science Daily, 2017b).

However, not all psychologists agree in this regard. Although it is true that

punishment, when done incorrectly, can lead to a negative effect, in certain cases punishment

can be quite effective. “Scientifically supported parenting interventions for young defiant

children have found that timeouts and other types of assertive tactics can work if they’re

administered correctly” (Science Daily, 2015). In terms of children acting defiantly (i.e.

hitting others, blatant rudeness, disrespect to teachers, etc.) punishment has been found to be

more effective than reasoning or compliance. Furthermore, researchers found that “...timeout

used consistently for select behaviors and situations significantly reduced problem behaviors

over time”, indicating that using punishment appropriately can positively affect a child’s

outcome.
 It is important to keep in mind that punishment is only effective when done

appropriately. Physical punishment (at least in North American settings) never leads to

positive outcomes, and only leads to aggression, anger, and resentment. This paper is not

recommending over punishment, it is simply offering the suggestion that appropriate

punishment (such as timeouts, removal of desirable toys/screens, etc.) can be effective in

certain situations.

How does all of this tie together in terms of teaching? It is important to realize that

behavioral teaching is an effective teaching method when done in the correct way. As stated

by in the textbook Education Psychology:

Students can get “too much of a good thing”; reinforcers can lose their potency if they

are overused… there are some convergencies - principles that apply to all people:

1. No one eagerly repeats behaviors that have been punished or ignored...

2. When actions lead to consequences that are positive for the person involved, those

actions are likely to be repeated.

3. Teachers often fail to use reinforcement… they respond instead to inappropriate

behaviors… providing reinforcement attention in the process

4. To be effective, praise must be a sincere recognition of a real accomplishment.

5. Whatever their current level of functioning, students can learn to be more self-

managing. (Woolfolk, Winne, & Perry, 2015, p. 159.)

Principles one, two, and four perfectly summarize the ideas of this paper: punishment

can lead to the extinction of certain behaviors that are deemed unacceptable in teachers’ eyes,

and positive reinforcement can lead to the repetition of desirable behaviors if the praise is a

sincere recognition of a real accomplishment. If the punishment is done incorrectly it can

lead to the reinforcement of the behavior or a resentment of the person who presented the
punishment. Alternatively, if praise is given too often or given for frivolous things that are

not sincere, it is not effective and can actually damage the child’s self-esteem and self-image.

It is incredibly important that we find this balance between reward and punishment,

for the benefit of both teachers and students. From the research above, it seems logical that

reward should be given on the merit of the student, not necessarily on the merit of their

achievements, as this could lead to potential discouragement for students who are less

academically successful. Instead, one should focus on giving credit for the logical processes

between problem and solution, and offer constructive criticism while giving appropriate

amounts of praise. In addition to rewards, teachers should implement punishments for

troublesome students, such as timeouts and removal of recess breaks, but also be careful not

to over punish students and attempt to find compromises.

With these techniques, gentle encouragement and reward yet firm rules, as well as

attempting to help them internalize concepts such as approach motivation, teachers can

expect more engaged students that retain more information and apply the information to their

own lives, turning school into a more positive and rewarding experience.

References
Science Daily. (2011). Too much undeserved self-praise can lead to depression. Retrieved

from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111020024846.htm

Science Daily. (2012). Time flies when you’re having goal-motivated fun. Retrieved from

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120821144132.htm

Science Daily. (2014). When being called ‘incredibly good’ is bad for children. Retrieved

from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140102112041.htm

Science Daily. (2015). Punishing a child is effective if done correctly. Retrieved from

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150806144419.htm

Science Daily. (2016). Simple reward-based learning suits adolescents best. Retrieved from

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160620161058.htm

Science Daily. (2017a). Motivation through punishment may not work. Retrieved from

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170704093910.htm

Science Daily. (2017b). Self-esteem in kids: Lavish praise is not the answer, warmth is.

Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170928085101.htm

Woolfolk, A., Winne, P. H., & Perry, N.E. (2015). Educational Psychology (custom ed.).

New York, NY: Pearson Learning Solutions.