The Influence of Certain Incentives in the Motivation of Children

Abstract

A class in child psychology, studying the incentives used to motivate children, raised the question how to discover which incentives really serve as the strongest motivating factors. Out of this question came a project for developing a questionnaire to study the incentives which motivate children. This instrument was developed co-operatively by the class and the instructor. Items were used which would permit the pupils to choose the stronger of two incentives. The questionnaire was constructed to fit the vocabulary level of elementary-school pupils. Standard directions for administration were developed to secure uniformity and, more important, a feeling of rapport which would insure the sincere co-operation of the children. The questionnaire was administered to the children by the writer and members of his class. Assurance was given that the questionnaire was not a test, that no marks were to be given, and that the results were to be used only in group form by students in the college class. The questionnaire was given to 284 pupils in Grades IV, V, and VI of schools in New Britain. Only a small number of fourth-grade pupils were included. Table i shows the distribution of the pupils according to chronological age. After the first administration to two sixth-grade classes with a total of approximately seventy pupils, the results were tabulated. It was found that, for most items, the first of the two alternate responses was answered with greater frequency than the second response. It was thought that priority of position might be influencing the pupils to mark the first response. The questionnaire was remimeographed with the order of the responses reversed. The second administration showed majorities for the second-position responses comparable to the majorities given these responses when they were