The Upside of Irrationality
The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Harper Perennial
BBB Library: Psychology and Strengths
ISBN: 9780061995040
Editorial Review
More than a century ago, psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson performed different experiences in an effort to find out two things about rats: how fast they could learn and what intensity of electric shocks would motivate them to learn fastest. Some of the results aligned with what most of us might expect, while others did not. When the shocks were very weak, the rats were not very motivated and, as a consequence, they learned slowly. When the shocks were of medium intensity, the rats were more motivated and they learned faster. Up to the point, the results fit with our intuition about the relationship between motivation and performance. But here was the catch, when the shock intensity was very high, the rats performed worse! Yerkes and Dodson’s experiment should make us wonder about the real relationship between payment, motivation and performance in the labor market. It showed that incentives can be a double-edged sword. Up to a certain point, they motivate us to learn and perform well. But motivational pressure can be so high that it actually distracts an individual from concentrating on and carrying out a task.
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