INCENTIVES & EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION

When reading about incentives and externisic motivation the first thought that came to my mind was my oldest nephew. As he progressed in age I noticed that he was becoming behavioral at school and at home at times. He was not doing well in some of his class subjects because I believe he just did not want to do the work and was being lazy. After several talks with him along with his mother and grandmother I remember explaining to them about a token economy. Establishing a token economy with a child is that  they basically are advised that if they do something good they will get a reward in return e.g. money, purchase an item of their choice, or select a place to go. So when I starting eading about incentives this is the first thing that came to my mind. A child evena sudent will definately change in their behavior if they are knowledgable that they will soon gt a greater reward for their achievements. I know with rewarding my nephew it was a struggle at first to help him grasp the concept that he will get something for good behavior. To this day his school along with at home we have set up a charting system that keeps track of his everyday accomplishments along with any downfall that he may have contributed to. This has been successful and he really looks forward to those rewards of monetary value at times. He feels good that he is able to go to the stor and say I have money and knowing how he got it became motivational to him.  I also believe in reversing the incentive to display in consequences that a reward can eaily be taken from you if there is a slight change and regard in behavior. I even see myself as being motivated by an incentive. I have been attending college for quite a bit of time since I graduated high school and me completing these last summer classes and I will be getting a degree that I have worked hard towards. My reward is receving my degree and knowing that the degree will motivate me to further my future goals.