Addressing Misconceptions

Incentives Are Not Bribes

It is important to recognize that a common misconception is that students are being bribed to do things they should be doing. The definition of a bribe is to persuade someone to do something illegal or dishonest, typically by a gift of money or other incentive. If we use this definition, recognizing a student for consistently arriving to class with his or her needed materials by giving a ticket, is not a bribe. Tickets are as much a reminder for teachers to provide regular positive feedback as they are a way to recognize positive student behavior.

Further, no substantiated research exists that shows that reinforcing expected behaviors does not damage intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is doing something because it is inherently interesting or enjoyable with no motivation of it leading to a separable outcome. How much of the school day (or work day for that matter) is intrinsically motivating?

Intrinsic motivation is predicated on a student's ability to be internally regulated with the capacity for self regulation. These skills are still developing during the adolescent period. We want students to develop the capacity for self-regulation, but, for children and adolescents, this requires extrinsic motivators.

There are four types of motivation:

• External Regulation- I do this because someone is making me. As soon as that stops, I will stop.
  • Ex. "Wally, if your dumb brother tags along I'm gonna.... Oh hello Mrs. Cleaver, I was just telling Wallace how pleasant it would be for Beaver to accompany us to the movies."- Eddy Haskell
• Introjection- I am doing this because it is important to someone I care about and I would like to please them.
  • Ex.
• Identification- I am doing this because it will benefit me in the long run even though I may not like it.
  • Ex. "I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.' Muhammad Ali
• Integration- I am doing this because I want to do it.
  • Ex. "We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in Your hands to make a difference."- Nelson Mandela

We would like for students to ascribe to the later two types of motivation, but this requires a scaffolded approach to socio-emotional and behavioral instruction. In all PBIS models, including the Be AMITY! model, we are applying behavior principles to teach behaviors that have not yet been mastered and to promote the frequency of these behaviors. As we progress in implementation, we will continually evaluate program efficacy and strive for improvement through collaboration with staff, students, families and community members.