ABSTRACT
A discussion of the process of learning would be incomplete without considering the motives for learning. Learning takes place while new skills are being acquired and when they are applied to new situations. Rewards or punishments – in other words, incentives – are usually called for when the need to learn is imposed on the child, and does not stem from his own wish to attain a new goal. Incentives play an especially important role when what the child is learning makes it necessary to change an established habit; at such times resistance to learning is inevitable. The theory of maximum economy of usage does not apply only to major developments like changing from one way of communicating to another, for instance changing from pointing to speaking. It applies to all situations in which a child is faced with a demand which can be met in more than one way.
