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    Psychol Bull. 1999 Nov;125(6):627-68; discussion 692-700.

    A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation.

    Deci EL, Koestner R, Ryan RM.

    Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, New York 14627, USA. deci@psych.rochester.edu

    Comment in:

    A meta-analysis of 128 studies examined the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. As predicted, engagement-contingent, completion-contingent, and performance-contingent rewards significantly undermined free-choice intrinsic motivation (d = -0.40, -0.36, and -0.28, respectively), as did all rewards, all tangible rewards, and all expected rewards. Engagement-contingent and completion-contingent rewards also significantly undermined self-reported interest (d = -0.15, and -0.17), as did all tangible rewards and all expected rewards. Positive feedback enhanced both free-choice behavior (d = 0.33) and self-reported interest (d = 0.31). Tangible rewards tended to be more detrimental for children than college students, and verbal rewards tended to be less enhancing for children than college students. The authors review 4 previous meta-analyses of this literature and detail how this study's methods, analyses, and results differed from the previous ones.

    PMID: 10589297 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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