Reinforcement, reward, and intrinsic motivation: a meta-analysis

96 between-groups experiments; overall, reward does not decrease intrinsic motivation; verbal praise increases it; the only negative effect, minimal, appears when expected tangible rewards are given for simply doing a task, measured as time on task after reward removal.

Written from the abstract read 2026-10-14.

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doi:10.3102/00346543064003363. Abstract read: 96 between-groups experiments; overall, reward does not decrease intrinsic motivation; verbal praise increases it; the only negative effect, minimal, appears when expected tangible rewards are given for simply doing a task, measured as time on task after reward removal.