Paying for a task may cut later free time; praise may keep it up

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   56 college students took part in three experiments. Two lab studies used 24 psychology students each. A newspaper study used eight headline writers, six of them analysed.

2. 02

   What they did

   Each experiment ran three periods of the same task. In the middle period, one group was paid per puzzle or headline, or praised, and the other group got no reward.

3. 03

   What happened

   Once pay stopped, the paid lab group's free time fell 77.6 seconds more than the unpaid group's, a borderline result. In the field, the paid writers' times per headline fell far less than the unpaid writers' did: 1.04 minutes against 9.59. Praise kept the praised group's free time almost level, while the unpraised group's fell 182.1 seconds, though the groups started unequal.

What the study found

1. No difference

   Once pay stopped, paid students spent less free time on the task than unpaid students.

   • Rule: Get a reward or payment for doing ittested

   Small trial of 56 college students who did puzzles and headlines · vs the same task, unpaid · behaviour was recorded

2. Helped

   Students who got praise after each puzzle kept their free time on it level; the unpraised group spent much less.

   • Rule: Reward yourself right aftertested

   Small trial of 56 college students who did puzzles and headlines · vs the same task with no praise · behaviour was recorded

Source