Motivation

In class on Wednesday we talked about the over justification effect -- when giving external rewards for a desired behavior decreases the internal reward. I wanted to make it clear that not all reward giving decreases desired behaviors, infact it is often used and extremly effective in behavioral psychology. When an agent performs a desired behavior and they recieve a reward, it is known as positive reinforcement and you would be suprized on it's success. Tom Byrne, the Chair of the psychology department and behavior anaylst once said, "Teachers scoff because they think that behaviors cannot be influenced by M&Ms and gummy bears because 'it's not that easy'. But it is that easy." So why can gummy bears make someone behave a certin way and eventually cause them to establish an intenal reward, yet in the case of the over justification effect an external reward lowers the internal award? Well, these are behavioral interventions, they work to positivly reinforce a behavior that was not there to begin with. When tangible positive reinforcement occurs for individuals who already have an established internal award, they turn their focus on getting the external reward rather than enjoying the activity. Non tangible, or verbal reinforcement like saying, "good job" is helpful for both children who do not have an already established internal reward or the lack of one.
There was a study conducted that tested the effects of the poistive reinforcement phrases, "you worked hard" and "you are smart". The first group was given a test and after they had finished they were told that they did a good job and that they were worked hard. The second group recieved the same test and after they finished they were told that they did a good job and that they were smart. They both recieved a more difficult test and the group that was told that they worked hard not only did well, but was asking for more! The second group did not do so well. The two groups were then given the same test as they had in the beginning and the "hard working" group did the same or better and the "smart" group did worse. This shows that encouraging students to work hard is more important than being smart.
Question: What can teachers do to motivate their students?