CLAY COREY, ANNA EATON, HANNAH FERGUSON, MATT SCILLITANI , CALLIE SCULL, MICHAEL UTECHT

Candy Rush

Hypothesis

If high school students are promised a reward (candy) for

completing a task (survey), they will complete that task faster due to their desire for the incentive.

Video

On Dropbox

Participants & Materials

Bag of mixed types of candySurvey

Easy, open ended questions where subjects can answer as little or as much as they like

TimerTwo 10th grade English classes (both mixed with

honors/non-honor students) to participate in our experiment

Procedure

First Class (Control) Second Class (Experimental)•Passed out survey, face down •Passed out survey, face down•Instructed students to take survey

•Instructed students to take the survey and when they finished to come take a piece of candy

•Began timing •Began timing•As students turned in survey, their times were recorded

•Recorded times as students turned in survey

•After all surveys were turned in the students were informed that they were allowed to have a piece of candy.

•Students took a piece of candy after turning their survey in

•Debriefed students •Debriefed students

Control vs. Experimental

The difference between the two groups is that the 2nd period class was presented with the candy before they took the survey, and were told they could grab a piece as soon as they turned in their survey.

Results

Mean time of the Control group - 2:46

Mean time of the Experimental group - 2:54 This average is without the

three outliers of 5:18, 6:48, and 7:01, which were the times of the last three finishers

The Control group finished slightly faster than the Experimental group

Results

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 270:00

1:12

2:24

3:36

4:48

6:00

7:12

8:24

Survey Completion Times

Control Class TimesCandy Class Times

# of Participant

Tim

e to

ok t

o fin

ish

surv

ey (

Min

utes

and

Sec

onds

)

Discussion

Possible Reasons Why Our Hypothesis Was Wrong: Distracted by the incentive Felt obligated to give us more detailed responsessince we were rewarding them

So What? Coaches, teachers, parents,

or any other person who interacts with kids can use this information to help better motivate them

Future Research: Time of day trials were conducted Testing accuracy of work rather than speed Different incentives (Money, bonus points, ect..) Social influence- test subjects in group vs. individual

References

Tough , P. (2012, Sept 05). How Children Succeed. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/09/how_children_succeed_book_excerpt_what_the_most_boring_test_in_the_world_tells_us_about_motivation_and_iq_.html Lite, J. (2011, March 21). Money over Matter: Can Cash Incentives Keep People Healthy?. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-cash-incentives-keep-people-healthy

Various Flora and Flora studies, (1999) found from:Physch 200. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/lablouin/psych200/projectsSp02/learning.htm