Man I thought this was obvious!
Young children would rather explore than get rewards
171–180 of 244 posts
Re: Young children would rather explore than get rewards
#172For people interested in this topic I highly recommend reading about summerhill school [1] and similar projects. The topic of alternative schooling systems is quite fascinating. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerhill_School
The best book on education that I've ever read references Summerhill several times (Compulsory Miseducation by Paul Goodman).
Re: Young children would rather explore than get rewards
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
I often see criticism of the school system like yours. I think it comes from a perspective of a fairly intelligent, self-motivated individual, probably from a family that valued education. However many children lack one or more of those factors. For them the intrinsic motivation is to play video games all day, or talk to their friends, or smoke weed. There is no intrinsic motivation for most children to learn all the…
As someone who in his (mandatory in my country) social year worked with "difficult" kids: for nearly every kid there is intrinsic motivations you can find. Of course that isn't easy and requires much more teachers and a bit more flexibility when it comes to which topics to learn, but good education is making every bodies life better and should be IMO much higher valued both in societal and monetary terms.
How do you find those motivations for children who seem to have none at all?
Re: Young children would rather explore than get rewards
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure but you're missing OP's point. They're saying that novelty is the fundamental drive behind the observed behavior, not some priority towards "exploration" that children have in greater abundance than adults. The children are seeking pleasure through novelty, and the researchers are interpreting that as exploration. The parent comment illustrates how silly that is, if you substitute something that still holds plea…
Given how many adults would board a ship to sail to faraway lands in the past before much was known about the "here be dragons" places, suggests adults still value exploration.
I dont think that the point was that adults value exploration less, just that the amount of exploration already done reduces the density of novelty in new exploration. Im interested in foreign travel, but not nearly as interested in traveling to a new town in the state I live in, because that town will have less new stuff to do, and much of it will be similar to what I've seen before.
This varies from person to person of course (some people don't really care much for travel in the first place, while others find every new town to be interesting and an invigorating adventure) but the general trend is for exploration to reveal less that is novel with experience.
Re: Young children would rather explore than get rewards
#175For anyone interested in this type of stuff, I can recommend reading Drive . Briefly, human behaviour can be motivated for extrinsic and intrinsic reasons. The rewards in this article are extrinsic motivators. Exploring is rewarding in an intrinsic way; it is a strive towards autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In adults (and in older children) applying extrinsic motivators kills intrinsic motivation. Once the extrinsic…
> The schooling system, with its grades, signed slips, and whatnot, is set up through extrinsic motivation to teach obedience, conformity, and smothering the intrinsic drive so necessary for the creative work we will expect from the children later in life.
As a teen, I think I would've agreed with you on this, but looking back personally, I think boundaries inspired my creativity to break out of them.
Re: Young children would rather explore than get rewards
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
Decent high school grades are not that hard to get. It's not 'strangulation' to have to take 'English, Geography, History and Math'. I wish I had paid more attention in English class, I did not respect how important it was going to be until later in life, for example. The course load in Eng. or in Grad School - now that can be overwhelming to the point of exhaustion.
> Decent high school grades are not that hard to get. "Decent" high school grades are seldom adequate to even meet acceptance requirements for "good" colleges, let alone actually compete with the straight-A students also applying to said colleges. Not that this really does anything to address the broader point: that "get into college because you'll make more money" is one of many extrinsic motivators American schools…
Your university does not define you. Plenty of people go to a crap university, yet can still be the top of their field one day.
Re: Young children would rather explore than get rewards
#177As a kid, exploring was, and remains a reward.
Someone to help, share in it, make more possible? Golden.
Re: Young children would rather explore than get rewards
#178What does this say about Capitalism and the accumulation of wealth?
Re: Young children would rather explore than get rewards
#179For anyone interested in this type of stuff, I can recommend reading Drive . Briefly, human behaviour can be motivated for extrinsic and intrinsic reasons. The rewards in this article are extrinsic motivators. Exploring is rewarding in an intrinsic way; it is a strive towards autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In adults (and in older children) applying extrinsic motivators kills intrinsic motivation. Once the extrinsic…
> The schooling system, with its grades, signed slips, and whatnot, is set up through extrinsic motivation to teach obedience, conformity, and smothering the intrinsic drive so necessary for the creative work we will expect from the children later in life. As a teen, I think I would've agreed with you on this, but looking back personally, I think boundaries inspired my creativity to break out of them.
Boundaries are intrinsic for kids with no life experience.
Obedience to hierarchy around stuff collecting is extrinsic.
One must learn facts and emotional character to tell grandpa go away.
We’re far to servile to decades old delusions of grandeur.
Extreme ownership of social agency by one circular meme isn’t good enough.
Re: Young children would rather explore than get rewards
#180If OP's premise is true, I wonder how much that is changing now that parents are throwing electronics at their children. Many of the things that they get to interact with on an electronic aims to optimize rewards. Will this shape generations that are always in search of quick hits and less interested in the exploratory nature of things? How will something that seems to small as a parent reshape the children and society?