Comments on: Bonuses generate more heat than light

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:18:09 +0000

The real questions is, how is performance effected when you are able to bring the world economic system to its knees and STILL get your huge bonus?

By: Tom Michael

Tom Michael — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:02:42 +0000

By giving such a high reward, the task becomes stressful because it REALLY MATTERS. Stress affects arousal and performance in an inverted U shape (Optimal Arousal, Yerkes & Dodson 1908, YES 1908 people!)
The reward doesn’t always help people to perform is interesting, but very often overemphasized. It doesn’t help with creative or intellectual tasks, but for boring, straightforward or repetitive tasks, an external reward incentive does work (I have no references, but there is an entire industry, called SALES based on this premise).
Presumably if a task is dull, a small amount of stress as an external reward is helpful, whereas if a task is already interesting or challenging, the small amount of external stress then reduces performance. At least that would agree with Yerkes & Dodsons Optimal Arousal hypothesis.
Tom

By: climbtree

climbtree — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:58:22 +0000

Participants performed worse on the complex task when judgement from others was made more important. I’m wondering if some other effect could have facilitated this social behaviour…