The Reward System

It is well known among psychologists and others that a reward system can be a powerful motivator. That is, providing a "reward" (rather than, say, a "penalty") can greatly affect a person's behavior. I see this with my kids when they go to some fun center where they pay a token (or nowadays swipe a card) to play games that reward them with tickets that spew out. They later take the tickets to a ticket counting machine to find out their points, and with the points, get all sorts of trinkets. The trinkets are low-quality items that break easily or are easily forgotten. But the kids are motivated to play the games because they get the reward of points and trinkets.