How to get Johnny to study
Surprising insights from the social sciences
How do we motivate kids — especially kids in rough situations — to want education? Researchers at the University of Michigan studied middle school students in Detroit and found that, while almost 90 percent expected to go to college, only half wanted a career that actually required education. And this difference was critical. Students whose career goals did not require education (e.g., sports star, movie star) spent less time on homework and got lower grades. The good news is that the researchers found it was easy to make education more salient, and thereby motivate kids. When students were shown a graph depicting the link between education and earnings, they were much more likely to hand in an extra-credit homework assignment the next day than if they were shown a graph depicting the earnings of superstars.
Destin, M. & Oyserman, D., “Incentivizing Education: Seeing Schoolwork as an Investment, Not a Chore,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (forthcoming)
The spirit of capitalism
One of the classic works of sociology is “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” by Max Weber, who argues that the former facilitates the latter. Scholars have been trying to test this theory ever since, typically by analyzing economic patterns at the international level. An ideal scientific test of the theory, however, would require randomly indoctrinating one group of people with one GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS
Focus groups will discuss Boston schools, but some object
The Boston public schools will hold 14 focus groups across the city today and tomorrow to gather advice on school closings, program expansions, and other pressing issues, with participation by invitation only. (By James Vaznis, Globe Staff)
Researchers say sense of touch guides impressions, decisions
Think someone is a tough customer? Maybe it is all in your head — or your fingertips. (By Elizabeth Cooney, Globe Correspondent)
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