#3 would have worked for me personally. My parents wouldn't reward me for doing things correctly so I had no intention of doing well. Of course, when I was in elementary school, I didn't know that making good grades was important until I hit high school. Because then, that governed which university, if any at all, i would attend. Instead, I got something that backfired on my parents. My dad would punish (physically) if grades weren't met to his standards and his standards would constantly increase. Also, nothing was good enough for him, I would come home with a 3.8 gpa and his reaction was good job, but why isn't the A's not A+'s; and why weren't the B's not A's. It backfired on him because, now (among other factors that resemble)I hate him; simply put it. Perhaps not even an award was entirely needed, but a reinforced "good job, I'm proud of you" goes a long way for a person (child or adult) and thus causes them to try even a little harder to get that respect higher. Because you know......earning respect and all of its potential treasures is great.
When no positive reinforcement or outcome results, the person will have no inner drive to complete what ever it is that's needed. What's the point? Good grades doesn't result in anything good so why try really really hard at it. Behaving well and not screaming in a movie theater going unnoticed will cause the infant to not do it anymore.
#3 is a good point. Hell, we even do it for dogs and their training. If no reward is given and only punishment is admitted, then one will live in fear and anxiety. (which is what exactly happened to me = I have no self esteem because anything that I do now isn't good enough anymore, its just neutral or ok; nothing positive. Everything soon becomes something that is an obligation or obligitory, the personal fun in life is stripped away because the idea of self reward or outside reward becomes nonexistent, unless its the law (ie. hourly pay))
