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Some experts have warned that bribing children to eat healthy foods can be counter-productive, undermining their intrinsic motivation and actually increasing disliking. Lucy Cookeand colleagues have found no evidence for this in their new large-scale investigation of the issue. They conclude that rewards could be an effective way for parents to improve their children's diet. '...rewarding children for tasting an initially disliked food produced sustained increases in acceptance, with no negative effects on liking,' they said.
Over four hundred four- to six-year-olds tasted six vegetables, rated them for taste and then ranked them in order of liking. Whichever was their fourth-ranked choice became their target vegetable. Twelve times over the next two weeks, most of these children were presented with a small sample of their target vegetable and encouraged to eat it. Some of them were encouraged with the reward of a sticker, others with the reward of verbal praise, while the remainder received no reward (a mere exposure condition). A minority of the children formed a control group and didn't go through an intervention of any kind.
After the two-week period, all the intervention children showed equal increases in their liking of their target vegetable compared with the control children. However, when given the chance to eat as much of it as they wanted (knowing there was no chance of reward), the kids who had previously earned stickers chose to eat more than the kids who'd just been repeatedly exposed to the vegetable without reward.
At one- and three-month follow-up, the intervention children's increased liking of their target vegetable was sustained regardless of the specific condition they'd been in. However, in terms of increased consumption (when given the opportunity to eat their target vegetable, knowing no reward would be forthcoming), only the sticker and verbal praise children showed sustained increases.
So, how come previous studies have claimed that bribery can undermine children's intrinsic motivation, actually leading to increases in disliking of foods? Cooke and her colleagues think this may be because past lab studies have often targeted foods that children already rather liked. Consistent with this explanation, it's notable that past community studies that reported the successful use of rewards targeted unpopular vegetables just as this study did.
An important detail of the current study is that verbal praise was almost as effective as tangible reward. 'Social reward might be particularly valuable in the home,' the researchers said, 'because it may help parents avoid being accused of unfairness in offering incentives to a fussy child but not to the child's siblings.'
參考譯文：
有些專家說，用賄賂的方法誘使小孩吃素，不但沒能讓他們變得喜歡吃，反而降低了他們的內部動機，適得其反。但是Lucy Cooke和he她ta的de同tong事shi在zai一yi個ge新xin的de有you關guan該gai問wen題ti的de大da規gui模mo調tiao查zha研yan究jiu中zhong，並bing沒mei有you發fa現xian支zhi持chi這zhe個ge說shuo法fa的de證zheng據ju。他ta們men的de結jie論lun是shi，獎jiang勵li能neng幫bang助zhu父fu母mu使shi他ta們men孩hai子zi的de飲yin食shi得de到dao改gai善shan。他ta們men說shuo，“用獎勵使小孩吃原先不喜歡的食物，實際上能讓他們慢慢喜歡上吃他們，而且並不會對它們的喜好產生負麵影響。”
超chao過guo四si百bai個ge四si到dao六liu歲sui的de小xiao孩hai參can與yu了le研yan究jiu。品pin嚐chang六liu種zhong蔬shu菜cai之zhi後hou，要yao求qiu他ta們men評ping估gu其qi味wei道dao並bing按an喜xi好hao程cheng度du排pai序xu，選xuan取qu被bei他ta們men排pai在zai第di四si位wei的de那na種zhong蔬shu菜cai作zuo為wei其qi“目標蔬菜”。接下來兩周的十二次試驗，大多數孩子麵對少量 “目標蔬菜”並被鼓勵食用之。一些孩子以貼紙或口頭獎勵作為食用“目標蔬菜”的獎賞，而剩下的則沒有獎勵（隻是給他們暴露在這些蔬菜中）。另外少數沒有接受任何幹預的小孩組成對照組。
兩周後，“對照組小孩”和所有那些“受幹預小孩 ”同等表現出了對其“目標蔬菜”喜愛程度上的增加。然而，如果讓他們按照自己意願選擇吃多少（在知道沒有獎賞的情況下），則與那些沒有獎賞隻是重複性的暴露在其“目標蔬菜”中的孩子相比，那些早期試驗中曾得到貼紙做獎賞的小孩吃了更多的“目標蔬菜”。
在之後一個月及三個月的跟進中，不管接受哪種條件幹預的小孩，都持續保持著對其“目標蔬菜”增加的喜愛。但就食用量來說（在知道沒有獎賞前提下選擇食用），隻有得到貼紙和口頭獎勵的小孩表現出持續增長。
為什麼之前的研究，聲稱“賄賂”會破壞小孩的內部動機，反而使小孩更加不喜歡吃那些食物呢？Cooke和(he)她(ta)的(de)同(tong)事(shi)認(ren)為(wei)，可(ke)能(neng)是(shi)因(yin)為(wei)以(yi)前(qian)實(shi)驗(yan)室(shi)研(yan)究(jiu)所(suo)選(xuan)用(yong)的(de)目(mu)標(biao)食(shi)物(wu)，或(huo)許(xu)本(ben)來(lai)就(jiu)是(shi)小(xiao)孩(hai)自(zi)己(ji)所(suo)喜(xi)歡(huan)的(de)。值(zhi)得(de)注(zhu)意(yi)的(de)是(shi)，以(yi)前(qian)的(de)社(she)區(qu)研(yan)究(jiu)所(suo)報(bao)道(dao)過(guo)的(de)“使用獎勵方法讓小孩吃原先不喜歡的蔬菜的成功應用”和本研究的結果是一致的。
本研究的一個重要細節是，口頭獎勵和有形獎勵的效力是幾乎相同的。“在家庭情景中，社會性獎勵也許會更加有用，”研究人員說，“這也許是因為，僅獎勵挑三揀四的小孩，會讓其他小孩覺得不公平，而這也可以幫助父母們避免被指責。”
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