Incentives Can Change Behavior Overnight

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A good incentive can change a kid’s behavior overnight.

Jason and Sandy literally paid their 7-year-old to behave better in class and it worked instantly. A dollar per day for a good report from the teacher. And it was only needed for a few weeks.

These kinds of incentives don’t have to be for life. It just helps kick-start a new behavior, and as the kid gets used to the behavior, it gradually turns into a habit that they can maintain on their own.

Jason discusses ~14:07 in Math Academy Podcast 5, Part 2:

“I [Jason] remember in second grade, we got a conversation from Colby’s teacher. He’s really being disruptive or not following directions. I don’t remember what it was. Either way, you don’t wanna hear that from a teacher.

And so he goes, what I’m gonna do is send home a daily behavior report card where it’s like seven categories or something. Follow directions. Listen quietly. Didn’t disturb. And so on. I’m gonna rank him a 1 through a 5 on each.

The first few days it’s like 3’s and 2’s and a 1. So Sandy’s like okay, if it’s all 4’s and 5’s, I’ll give you a dollar.

And I remember some people were like, are you really gonna pay? I tell some friends, and they’re like, are you seriously paying for that?

And I was like, well, it’s more like setting the habit, right? Let’s get them doing the thing.

And so Sandy just did this. It wasn’t my idea, it was hers. Again, she was an econ major. So she’s like, okay, it’s about incentives. And the kid likes cash.

So within the week, he’s racking up a dollar almost every day.

And then within a couple of weeks, it’s like almost all, 5’s. I think if she said, if it’s all 5’s, I’ll give you 5 bucks or something. And I mean, he was making bank in like a few weeks.

And then like a month or five weeks go by, one day we pick him up and we didn’t get the report card. Teacher comes up to us and he’s like, it’s good. He’s fine. No need anymore.

And Colby never said anything about it. That was the end of it.

But that incentive system made all the difference in getting him in the right motions of what you’re supposed to be doing.”

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