Dear friends,
“Which is more compelling, the carrot or the stick?”
In other words, are we more likely to be motivated by love, or by fear? In The Prince, his famous treatise on governing, Niccolo Macchiavelli, the 16th century Italian political philosopher, warned the potential potentate that if one must choose between being loved and being feared, choose the latter.
This week’s Torah portion seems to confirm the power of the stick.
We read ten verses of nice, benevolent blessings with which God will favor us for obedience to the commandments, including produce, progeny, security and more. Thereafter, we read the a series of 25 verses, called Toche’cha - the “Admonition,” containing bitter and horrific penalties for disobedience to the same commands, including debilitating sickness, military defeat, famine, hunger, poverty, siege, and more (Leviticus 26:1-39). Clearly, not only in quantity, but in quality and impact, the stick triumphs over the carrot.
Thus, it may be true that we are more motivated by threats and fear than by love and blessings. A study some years ago showed that professional golfers worked harder to avoid a bogie than to achieve a birdie – in other words, they feared loss and harm more than they appreciated success and accolades. Despite generations of mothers and preachers from neighboring traditions who have admonished to turn the other cheek and live from a context of love – fear of threat or loss still more strongly motivates.
Yet, if the stick trumps the carrot in impact, why do parents, school teachers, psychologists and even governments continue to firstly offer the carrot, the reward, the incentive, as a primary means of behavior modification, and withhold the stick until the final measure? Just look at how the world got into the Ukraine war. And, this week, look at the faces of families in Texas following the mass murder – shouldn’t there be greater penalties to weapons purveyors and providers whose devices are used to murder elementary school children? Wouldn’t efficacy, as Macchiavelli warned 400 years ago, suggest threats and real consequences would best serve to achieve the desired goal?
Clearly, efficacy is not the only human objective. For Macchiavelli’s studious ruler, holding power was the end, and the means justified that end. In other human venues, however, such as the home, the school or the psychologist’s couch, the allure of gentler, more tasteful measures undoubtedly is preferable. Insofar as objectives such as familial love (shalom bayit), classroom cooperation (Talmud Torah) and personal relationships (oseh Shalom), are primary behavioral objectives, then the carrot may win the day.
But… history is history. Let’s hope for that better day!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
“Which is more compelling, the carrot or the stick?”
In other words, are we more likely to be motivated by love, or by fear? In The Prince, his famous treatise on governing, Niccolo Macchiavelli, the 16th century Italian political philosopher, warned the potential potentate that if one must choose between being loved and being feared, choose the latter.
This week’s Torah portion seems to confirm the power of the stick.
We read ten verses of nice, benevolent blessings with which God will favor us for obedience to the commandments, including produce, progeny, security and more. Thereafter, we read the a series of 25 verses, called Toche’cha - the “Admonition,” containing bitter and horrific penalties for disobedience to the same commands, including debilitating sickness, military defeat, famine, hunger, poverty, siege, and more (Leviticus 26:1-39). Clearly, not only in quantity, but in quality and impact, the stick triumphs over the carrot.
Thus, it may be true that we are more motivated by threats and fear than by love and blessings. A study some years ago showed that professional golfers worked harder to avoid a bogie than to achieve a birdie – in other words, they feared loss and harm more than they appreciated success and accolades. Despite generations of mothers and preachers from neighboring traditions who have admonished to turn the other cheek and live from a context of love – fear of threat or loss still more strongly motivates.
Yet, if the stick trumps the carrot in impact, why do parents, school teachers, psychologists and even governments continue to firstly offer the carrot, the reward, the incentive, as a primary means of behavior modification, and withhold the stick until the final measure? Just look at how the world got into the Ukraine war. And, this week, look at the faces of families in Texas following the mass murder – shouldn’t there be greater penalties to weapons purveyors and providers whose devices are used to murder elementary school children? Wouldn’t efficacy, as Macchiavelli warned 400 years ago, suggest threats and real consequences would best serve to achieve the desired goal?
Clearly, efficacy is not the only human objective. For Macchiavelli’s studious ruler, holding power was the end, and the means justified that end. In other human venues, however, such as the home, the school or the psychologist’s couch, the allure of gentler, more tasteful measures undoubtedly is preferable. Insofar as objectives such as familial love (shalom bayit), classroom cooperation (Talmud Torah) and personal relationships (oseh Shalom), are primary behavioral objectives, then the carrot may win the day.
But… history is history. Let’s hope for that better day!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn