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"If you score above 90, we'll buy you a phone." Many Indian families have made a deal like this, and many students make smaller ones with themselves, such as one episode after one chapter. Do rewards help, or do they quietly turn studying into a chore? The research gives a more useful answer than yes or no.
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation means doing something because it is interesting or satisfying in itself. Extrinsic motivation means doing it for something separate, such as marks, money, praise or avoiding trouble. Most studying involves both.
What research found about rewards and interest
The classic experiment: rewards for drawing
Mark Lepper, David Greene and Richard Nisbett ran a field experiment in 1973 with children who already showed interest in a drawing activity (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology). Some agreed in advance to draw in order to get an award. Some got an unexpected award afterwards, and some got none. Later, the children who had expected the award showed less interest in the activity than the children in the other two groups.
What the 1999 meta-analysis found
Edward Deci, Richard Koestner and Richard Ryan combined the results of 128 studies on rewards and intrinsic motivation. Rewards given for doing a task, for completing it or for reaching a performance level all reduced how much people later chose to do the task in their free time. The effect sizes were d = −0.40, −0.36 and −0.28. Tangible rewards and expected rewards, taken as groups, also undermined motivation, and tangible rewards tended to do more harm to children than to college students.
Positive feedback worked the other way. It increased both free-choice behaviour (d = 0.33) and self-reported interest (d = 0.31).
But rewards still affect performance
A 2014 meta-analysis by Christopher Cerasoli, Jessica Nicklin and Michael Ford (Psychological Bulletin) looked at performance rather than interest, across school, work and sport (k = 183, N = 212,468). Intrinsic motivation predicted performance whether or not incentives were present. It was the better predictor of the quality of performance, while incentives better predicted the quantity. Intrinsic motivation mattered less when incentives were tied directly to performance.
Put together, incentives are linked more with how much work gets done, and intrinsic motivation more with how well it is done. The authors concluded that the two are not necessarily in conflict. But expected tangible rewards can reduce your interest in things you would have done anyway.
A reward audit for students
Ask four questions about any reward you use:
Is the task routine or interesting? The research measured lost interest, so a reward for routine work, like making 40 formula cards, has less interest to undermine. Rewards for a subject you love can change why you do it.
Is it for effort or for a result you do not fully control? "One episode after 90 minutes of practice" depends on you. "A phone for 95%" depends partly on the paper.
Is it small and immediate, or big and far away? Small, frequent rewards for turning up can help build a routine. A big prize months away is less likely to change what you do today.
Would I still do some of this without it? If yes, try dropping the reward and noticing your progress instead.
For parents
The meta-analysis found that positive feedback increased interest, while expected tangible rewards reduced it. In daily life, that favours specific feedback over prizes. "You redid the three problems you got wrong yesterday and got two right" tells your child what they did and why it mattered. Promising a large prize for marks is the kind of expected reward the research links with lower interest. For more, see choice and autonomy in parenting and high expectations vs pressure.
Building interest that does not depend on rewards
Interest grows when you understand something well enough to see why it works. When a concept finally clicks, that satisfaction is a reward in itself. If a topic feels dry because you only know its formulas, try seeing it in action. The Fermi Simulation Lab has interactive simulations for ideas that are easier to see than to read. If putting things off is the real problem, read why procrastination is about feelings.
