Surely one of the best ways to generate motivation in ourselves and others is by dangling rewards? Yet psychologists have long known that rewards are overrated. The carrot, of carrot-and-stick fame, is not as effective as we've been led to believe. Rewards work under some circumstances but sometimes they backfire. Spectacularly. Here is a story about preschool children with much to teach all ages about the strange effects that rewards have on our motivation. It's child's play Psychologists Mark