Reward or Punishment?

Monday 21 January 08

The debate around to what degree punishment can stop young people behaving badly is never ending. A new report is now also focusing attention to the extent to which rewards can make them behav well.

The questions might be if it is wise to use incentives to "reward" young people for good behaviour? In the past one can see successful use of rewards and incentives in health promotion while other have stated that it should not be necessary to "bribe" young people to do good things. They should "behave well" as result of seeing the long term advantage of dooing so - their contribution to society, and the improvement of their educational, career and realationships prospects. In health promotion however, rewards and incentives are widely used to promote healthy eating to young people, and this is now generally accepted as an effective technique to change behaviour.

A study that looked at two pilot schemes in Bradford and York designed to increase young people's self-esteem and stimulate a greater appreciation to the positive contribution they can make to their communities. Both schemes sought to reward young people for positive behaviour and taking part in practical community based activities. The context was a wish to tackle intergenerational tensions and perceived anti-social behaviour. The framework was that young people collect "points" through activities such as dog walking, litter collecting and helping out at community events, and then use those points to claim rewards such as meals out and visits to the cinema.

What do you think of such a scheme? Do you think it worked?
Would you take a more active part in your community or "behave well" if you got rewards such as meals out and cinema tickets?

Use our FORUM and say what you think is most effective;

REWARD OR PUNISHMENT?