Incentive Therapy Bribery

‘Incentive therapy is just bribery’

Critically evaluate this statement and discuss with reference to research on health related behaviour change

Incentive therapy is an effective form of contingency management, which involves providing tangible reinforcers, for example vouchers, that can be exchanged for retail goods and services contingent upon abstinence from the problem behaviour 1. Bribery is defined as the act of dishonestly persuading someone to act in one’s favour by or a gift of money or other inducement (Oxford Dictionary). On a simplistic level it is easy to formulate comparisons between bribery and incentive therapy; both involve an individual gaining some kind of inducement as a result of complying with anothers demands. If ‘incentive

They accept that the situation is outside of their control and that only luck and external factors will help them. If the incentive therapy or bribery causes an individual to change their source of motivation, so they think more extrinsically; the positive behaviour may be kick started or the positive behaviour may be further reinforced 7. One problem with incentive therapy is that relapse commonly occurs after the procedure has finished; some individuals may continue their abstinence for a few weeks, but relapse rates for drug abstinence are especially high 8. This might argue for longer escalating interventions to try and develop and improved sustained behaviour. As much of the negativity towards incentive programs regards that they do not create a lasting commitment, they merely and temporarily, change what people do (https://hbr.org/1993/09/why-incentive-plans-cannot-work/ar/1). In contrast with a bribery situation, once the purveyor of the bribe has manipulated the recipient to achieve his or her ends, there is no further incentive for the briber to continue with the manipulation. If bribery or incentive therapy alters an individual’s perception on motivation, they have become extrinsically motivated, they will be more likely to continue their abstinence largely down to in increase in

Often when a bribe is proposed, the recipient will be asked to perform an action that they are initially averse to doing, but comply due to what may be gained from the activity. Here, the attitude of the recipient is crucial to understanding the emotional processes behind the actions. The attitude of the individuals involved may contextualize the situation, one may want to be induced for their own good, to resolve a personal problem or habit, however others may accept the induction purely for a voucher of cash value, or in terms of a bribe, accept the proposal due to the value (monetary or otherwise) of the reward promised on completion of the agreed task 10. If the intention of the purveyor of the bribe/incentive is in the best interests of the recipient this would not normally be considered a ‘bribe’. Some would say for example, offering a child sweets to complete their homework is a purely and simply a bribe, despite the good nature of the parent. It can be difficult to assess the preliminary intentions of the purveyor, as there is often an ulterior motive. For example, the parent may have coaxed the child into doing their homework, in order to avoid problems with the school. Rather than the benefit the homework may have upon their child