Here are three riddles for you. For solutions, read on.

The maze: There is a hungry rat and a paw-sized lever in a maze. When the lever is pressed, a chute opens, and food is delivered. What happens? 

The puzzle: After solving the puzzles, you are told, “wow, you must be really smart,” while your colleague hears, “wow, you must be hard working." If you both then try a more difficult puzzle, which of you is more likely to solve it? 

The box: Draw nine dots in a three-by-three grid. Without taking your pen off the paper, link all the dots using no more than four lines, without tracing over the same line.

If you have taken a 100-level psychology paper, you will know the answer to the first riddle. In the 1930s, psychologist Burrhus Skinner found that a rat’s lever-pressing behaviour increased if it was rewarded with food. The basic premise of Professor Skinner’s strand of behavioural psychology is this: rewarding behaviour increases that behaviour, and punishing behaviour reduces it.

This classic experiment has been misapplied in our homes, schools, and workplaces with oodles of rewards such as gold stars and praise doled out for good work. There is new evidence, however, that praise in particular can have detrimental effects on children’s learning, including lowered expectations of success, and increased anxiety and dependency. Could it be that we have a society of people frantically pressing levers just to receive the praise and approval of others?

Thankfully, the field of psychology has progressed. The prevailing view in education circles is “encourage don’t praise.” The classic modern experiment that best supports this view was conducted by psychology professor Carol Dweck. Two groups of children were given puzzles to solve; upon completion, one group was praised for its effort while the other group was praised for its intelligence. The children were then given easier puzzles. Those who had been praised for their effort improved their performance, while those who had been praised for their intelligence showed a decline in performance.

Although the field of behavioural psychology has improved since Skinner’s days, we still need to consider the moral implications and long-term effects of using reward to control behaviour. Author Alfie Kohn, in his book The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise and Other Bribes, criticised the use of rewards in society. A quote from his book gives you a clue to the final riddle. “We are a society of loyal Skinnerians, unable to think our way out of the box we have reinforced ourselves into.”

Have you solved the puzzles? Well done for your perseverance!