Never criticize. One of the major principles that I will take with me from this course and apply to my daily life is reward vs. punishment. Let's face it, nobody blames themselves for anything, ever. Criticizing never does any good, yet will cause the other person you resent you. Why not influence people with positive attitudes? It will be a lot more effective and will work wonders for your life.
Say, one day you are a manager, and you ask a subordinate to prepare for you two reports. After reviewing the reports, you find that one of the reports is very thorough and complete, and one of the reports is absolutely terrible. What should you do to ensure this employee does a better job next time? You do not punish/criticize them for their terribly written report; instead you praise them for their well-written report. This is more likely to result in their change of behavior without causing resentment. They will feel appreciated and will continue to keep putting out good work. Mitt Romney knows this, and so should you.
Reward is a much more effective method of changing behavior. This is a concept I will remember many, many years from now. Many people do not embrace this logic, however. People continue to insist that governments should heavily tax corporations based on carbon emissions in order to promote a sustainable, eco-friendly environment. That sounds like punishment, causing resentment, forcing corporations to fight back or move all of their work abroad. In this case, taxation acts as a form of punishment. A more effective solution would be to offer tax breaks and other incentives for companies to invest in clean energy sources. This may bring sustainable companies to do work in the United States, as well as would help preserve the earth. Reward good behavior, don't punish bad behavior. Read more about how rewards/incentives is the best way to create a healthy earth at ">
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I do agree with you that positive reinforcement/praise does often out weigh criticism, not to mention it is a lot more welcome. We all have experienced both whether it have been though school or extracurricular activities. However I do think that people react to criticism differently and some people need that "fire" under them to achieve their full potential. I liked the point you made about carbon emissions and although taxing does create a source of revenue I think an incentives program is a much better way to help our planet and keep jobs in the US.
I agree. I have had a similar reaction and learning experience from the way other people criticize or praise me. Through high school sports or school situations I have experienced what the different methods to personally criticize feels like. I agree with the idea to encourage and praise as a way to boost confidence and good behavior. I like the way you connected this psychology study to real life situations. Good job on this blog post.
This is a very helpful blog, this is something that stood out to me as well throughout this course. I plan on remembering this logic for the rest of my life and hopefully I will be able to apply it into my every day life. I have already tried using this in my life and instead of getting mad at people in my life for little things they're doing I try to be happy with them and make a big deal about things they do that make me happy.
Good topic and good example. Perhaps we could use a shaping procedure in which companies get progressively better incentives for progressively lowering their carbon emissions. We could eventually force all companies to do the same low carbon emissions, but by shaping and framing it in terms of positive reinforcement they would never know... :)
for some reason the link didn't show up....here it is: http://www.areadevelopment.com/taxesIncentives/4-28-2009/sustainability-incentives.shtml