Psychologists take opposing views of how external rewards, from warm praise to cold cash, affect motivation and creativity. Behaviorists, who study the relation between actions and their consequences, argue that rewards can improve performance at work and school. Cognitive(认知学派的) researchers, who study various aspects of mental life, maintain that rewards often destroy creativity by encouraging dependence on approval and gifts from others.
The latter view has gained many supporters, especially among educators. But the careful use of small monetary(金钱的) rewards sparks creativity in grade-school children, suggesting that properly presented inducements(刺激) indeed aid inventiveness, according to a study in the June Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
“If kids know they’re working for a reward and can focus on a relatively challenging task, they show the most creativity,” says Robert Eisenberger of the University of Delaware in Newark. “But it’s easy to kill creativity by giving rewards for poor performance or creating too much anticipation（预期） for rewards.” A teacher who continually draws attention to rewards or who hands out high grades for ordinary achievement ends up with uninspired students, Eisenberger holds. As an example of the latter point, he notes growing efforts at major universities to tighten grading standards and restore failing grades.
In earlier grades, the use of so-called token economies, in which students handle challenging problems and receive performance-based points toward valued rewards, shows promise in raising effort and creativity, the Delaware psychologist claims.
31. Psychologists are divided with regard to their attitudes toward______.
A. the choice between spiritual encouragement and monetary rewards
B. the amount of monetary rewards for students’ creativity
C. the study of relationship between actions and their consequences
D. the effects of external rewards on students’ performance
32. What is the response of many educators to external rewards for their students?
A. They have no doubts about them. B. They have doubts about them.
C. They approve them. D. They avoid talking about them.
33. Which of the following can best raise students’ creativity according to Robert Eisenberger?
A. Assigning them tasks they have not dealt with before.
B. Assigning them tasks which require inventiveness.
C. Giving them rewards they really deserve.
D. Giving them rewards they anticipate.
34. It can be inferred from the passage that major universities are trying to tighten their grading standards because they believe _________.
A. rewarding poor performance may kill the creativity of students
B. punishment is more effective than rewarding
C. failing uninspired students help improve their overall academic standards
D. discouraging the students’ anticipation for easy rewards is a matter of urgency
35. The phrase underlined “token economies” probably refers to _________.
A. ways to develop economy B. systems of rewarding students
C. approaches to solving problems D. methods of improving performance