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  3. The desire for achievements is one of life’s great mysteries. Social scient

The desire for achievements is one of life’s great mysteries. Social scient

游客2023-09-08  40
问题      The desire for achievements is one of life’s great mysteries. Social scientists have devoted lifetimes to studying the drives that spur us out of bed in the morning, compel us to work or study hard and spark all manner of human endeavor. Indeed, a 1992 textbook actually documents 32 distinct theories of human motivation.
     Given this diversity of thought, it’s easy to forget that for a half century, American society has been dominated by the psychological school known as behaviorism, or Skinnerian psychology. Although behaviorism and its fundamental principle of "positive reinforcement" have long since lost their way in academic circles, the Skinnerian legacy remains powerful in every realm of trash out. Do it, and you can go to the movies Friday night. Not in the mood for work? Keep plugging away, and you might get a bonus. Not interest in calculus? Strive for an A in the class, and you will make the honor roll. The theory may be bankrupt, but incentives and rewards are so much a part of American culture that it’s hard to imagine life without them.
     Yet that’s exactly what a growing group of researchers are advocating today. A steady stream of research has found that rather than encouraging and diminishing performance, "our society is caught in a whopping paradox,’’ asserts Alfie Kohn, author of the new book published by Rewards (Houghton Mifflin), which surveys recent research on the effectiveness of rewards. "We complain loudly about declining productivity, the crisis of our school and the distorted values of our children. But the very strategy we use to solve those problems--damaging rewards like incentive plans and grade and candy bars in front of people--is partly responsible for the fix we’re in."
     It’s a tough argument to make in a culture that celebrates the spoils of success. Yet study after study shows that people tend to perform worse, to give up more easily and to lose interest more quickly when a reward is in- volved. Children who are given treats for doing artwork, for example, lose their initial love of art within weeks. Teenagers who are promised a reward for tutoring youngsters don’t teach as enthusiastically as tutors offered nothing. And chief executive officers who have been awarded long term incentive plans have often steered their companies toward lower returns.  [br] From the passage, it can be inferred that ______.
选项 A、rewards are quite effective in America
B、rewards can promote productivity in America
C、Americans speak highly of rewards
D、rewards are not so popular in American society
答案 C
解析 原文第二段提到：The theory may be bankrupt，but incentives and rewards are so much a part of American culture that it’s hard to imagine life without them．即奖励和刺激体制在美国文化中占有重要地位，很难想象没有这种机制生活会是什么样子，由此可以得知美国人对奖励机制的评价很高。
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