Reward charts, stickers, and systems might get students to do the work, but what if a long term use of rewards in this way ultimately backfires? Dr. Özgür Bolat says rewards can have the opposite effect if we’re not careful.
Dr. Bolat is a Fulbright scholar with a Harvard master’s and a Cambridge PhD, and his book on rewards was a best-seller in Turkey before coming out in English as The Reward Trap. I asked him when rewards are ok and what his research shows about helping kids become intrinsically motivated.
In short: Reward charts, stickers, and other reward-based systems may just get short term compliance, but Dr. Özgür Bolat says they may actually result in demotivating students. Students start off working for the prize, however, the research shows that the prize has to keep growing and sadly, the love of learning may diminish. So, listen to this show and rethink rewards and compliance.
Here are the questions this episode answers, with the time stamp where you can hear each one. Each one links to the spot in the transcript.
Some essential vocabulary used in this episode.
Here’s where the facts in this episode come from, with the time stamp so you can hear each one. Checked November 6, 2026.
This transcript was generated using AI and has been reviewed by humans for accuracy. Minor errors or artifacts may remain but I worked my best to find any issues with the transcript as I reviewed the show. – Vicki
Vicki Davis (00:00): Have you ever handed out stickers, prizes, or given screen time to try to get kids to do their work? And after the first few times, you just wondered why it stops working? And is there ever a time a reward is okay? Today, we’re talking about reward charts and stickers in the classroom and how to build motivation that lasts.
This is a Fab Idea Friday, Episode 1025.
Announcer (00:29): This is the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.
Vicki Davis (00:32): What if everything we believe about rewarding children, the stickers, the prizes, the great job, is actually quietly working against them? Dr. Özgür Bolat is a Fulbright scholar who has studied at Harvard, earned his PhD at Cambridge, and spent a year at MIT and won New Zealand’s Best Young Researcher Award. So, Dr. Bolat, welcome to the show.
Dr. Özgür Bolat (01:00): Thank you, Vicki, for having me.
Vicki Davis (01:03): Your book is called The Reward Trap. Okay, so what’s the trap and how did you study this and what have you found?
What is the reward trap, and why do rewards backfire?
Dr. Özgür Bolat (01:13): Okay, so it started with my own story. I was a valedictorian in college. I got into Harvard. I had a perfect GPA.
I was a Fulbright scholar and I had a PhD from Cambridge. I spent one year at MIT. I got a lot of awards. I was very successful.
Then when I finished school, I started to work in real life. Then I became anxious all of a sudden, like, why am I anxious? Like, I went to best schools. I am very successful. Everyone respect me. Why am I anxious?
Then I realized all my happiness is based on achievement. I have to achieve something to feel good about myself and to be happy. And then I said, my happiness is very fragile. It doesn’t depend on me. It depends on outside world. Then I was stuck. I didn’t know what to do.
Then I started to read, study, get therapy, and think about my own life. Then I asked this question to myself, why am I like this? Why do I need approval all the time? Why do I need success to feel happy or self-worthy of love?
Then I realized it started with parenting, because I was always praised. I was always presented with rewards. Then, rather than developing an inner compass, I depended on these external criteria like rewards and praise. Then I started to study. Then I look around, everyone, like, parents were giving rewards and praising all the time, and they were raising children who are dependent on external approval.
So I said, okay, I have to do my own research. Parents need to raise children who are internally validated, which is like value-based, intrinsic motivation, or curiosity.
Do rewards actually work in the classroom?
Dr. Özgür Bolat (03:08): Then I started to do my own research and read the research of others, and I found rewards work. In the short run, you can make a child do homework, you get compliance, but you can’t make the child love learning. Or you can make the child read books, but you cannot make them love reading. Because when you reward a child, the child says, okay, if I do my homework, I will get a screen time.
So homework is only just a tool to get the real thing. So you’re ranking value. You’re saying this is not valuable.
How do rewards affect a child’s self-esteem and self-worth?
Dr. Özgür Bolat (03:45): And second thing I found, we can talk about this, but rewarding is not only about motivation, it’s also about self-esteem and self-worth. Because the child says, I need Apple iPad. You say, okay, I will buy it for you, only if you got a good grade. So what you are saying to the kid, I will meet your need if you meet my need.
So, my love is conditional and transactional. The child feels not loved for who they are. And second thing. Okay, this is deeper than motivation. It affects your self-worth.
Why do reward charts stop working over time?
Dr. Özgür Bolat (04:26): So, if you go back to motivation, you can make the child do something. You got a compliance. But you have to keep giving the reward all the time because of hedonic adaptation. They get used to it.
They get used to three stars. Now, you have to give four stars. You have to give five stars. So, it is no longer about learning.
It is about getting the reward, collecting the prizes, which means, interestingly, nothing. So, yeah, rewarding creates a lot of risks for the children, both in terms of motivation and self-esteem.
Do rewards kill intrinsic motivation?
Dr. Özgür Bolat (05:03): Rewarding children motivates them in the short run, but meanwhile, it does more harm because it kills intrinsic motivation as well.
What should I do when a student won’t do homework?
Dr. Özgür Bolat (05:14): What you’re doing is, you’re covering the real problem. Let’s say your child doesn’t want to do homework, okay? And you say, if you do your homework, you can get screen time. I am avoiding the real problem.
I should ask this question, why does my child not want to do homework? Okay, this is a real issue, yeah? So, there are many reasons for this. The first one is, it might be too difficult.
What the child needs is guidance, extra help, extra tutorial. The child doesn’t need a reward. The child needs help and support. Maybe homework is too easy.
So what the child needs, not a reward, but differentiated instruction. The teacher or parents need to give this child homework at high level. So the child needs differentiated instruction. Maybe homework is very boring.
If a homework is repetitive, and if it doesn’t require you to think deeply or explore, then you get bored. Then I have to turn this homework into exploration. Teachers have to do it. If teachers don’t do it, parents have to do it.
So what the child needs, not memorization or not repetition, but exploration. We should ask this question. What is the real issue?
Vicki Davis (06:37): Well, intrinsic motivation, of course, is the holy grail of motivation because it means that we’re motivated whether anybody is there or not. And you’re talking, you know, extrinsic motivation, which is, of course, dependent upon the rewards of others. What’s the key to unleashing the intrinsic motivation inside each of us, that potential we have?
How do you build intrinsic motivation in students?
Dr. Özgür Bolat (06:59): You can create intrinsic motivation by creating curiosity. Or by linking it to a real problem in life. Or by linking it to value. Let’s say the child is doing homework about First World War. Okay?
How can teachers spark curiosity with conceptual-level questions?
Dr. Özgür Bolat (07:18): Then you can say, if you ask the child, hey, what are the reasons, what are the consequences? At information level, the child will be bored. But you have to ask questions at the conceptual level. The first thing, why do countries go to war?
Is it the same reason people fight with each other in the past there were many wars which could be labeled as first and… Why did they call the first? How do you justify? Or you can say like, okay, why did they call the first war? Or what did they call it before the second war at that time?
Because there was no second war. What did they call it? So you ask questions at the conceptual level. You get the child to think about it.
Then they will be curious. And how about the countries who have conflicts, but who don’t go to war? Why is that? So with those kinds of questions, which will be my second book, Raising Children with Questions. You can create curiosity by asking deep-level questions at the conceptual level.
Vicki Davis (08:22): Oz, what’s your word to teachers around the world? Because we have a lot of rewards in the classroom. I had a class I had struggles with this year. I don’t like to do a lot of rewards, but I make homemade sourdough cinnamon rolls.
We had a system where I was going to bring them in, and if everybody cooperated, we got these certain things done that I was going to bring in. Miss Davis’s famous sourdough cinnamon rolls. I didn’t know what else to do. It worked and it did help the kids turn around.
I did it that one time because I had to turn it around. Can we use rewards at all on a temporary basis or do we just have to be really, really careful about using rewards at all?
Is it ever okay to use rewards in the classroom?
Dr. Özgür Bolat (09:05): Reward is like a matchstick, yeah? So you put on the fire. What you need is wood, right?
How can a reward help a scared or reluctant student get started?
Dr. Özgür Bolat (09:13): A real example from my book, The Reward Trap. There’s a horse riding instructor in a school, and every week the child has to ride a horse, but most of the children, especially, they are scared. And the teacher says, okay, there’s no need to be scared, you can just try. Some of the kids trusted the teacher. Instructor says, okay, we’ll try. Some of them can’t overcome their fear and they can’t go.
And it’s like, okay, if you come with me, I will give you chocolate. This child says, okay, then I will come. Okay, so I used reward to initiate the activity, okay? And the instructor takes the children, and so I know everyone loves horses.
So I create such an environment there, such a learning experience, and the child starts to like it. So the teacher used reward to bring the child to the horses, but created such a rewarding experience so that the child loves it. So you can start it, but you cannot keep it going. So you can use it as a match, but you need wood, which is intrinsic motivation.
Vicki Davis (10:30): So we’ve been talking with Dr. Özgür Bolat, best-selling author and television personality in Turkey and author of the book, The Reward Trap. Thanks for coming on the show, Oz.
Dr. Özgür Bolat (10:47): Thank you so much, Vicki.
Announcer (10:48): Thank you for tuning in to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast. Join us here every weekday and subscribe to the Classroom Matters newsletter. See you later, educator.
Dr. Özgür Bolat is a distinguished education scientist, researcher, associate professor, and author with a career spanning academia, media, and corporate partnerships. His groundbreaking research on parenting and teaching has earned him international recognition, including the prestigious Best Young Researcher award in New Zealand. He holds a master’s degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education (Fulbright and TEV scholar) and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. During his doctoral studies, he spent one year as a visiting PhD student at MIT Sloan. His academic work has been complemented by a successful media career, where he served as a columnist for a major national newspaper for 12 years, establishing himself as a leading voice in education and parenting. Dr. Bolat is a highly sought-after keynote speaker and parenting workshop leader.
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