extrinsic-reward

Extrinsic reward is a human-made incentive structure in which a tangible or symbolic benefit — money, praise, grades, privileges — is conferred upon an agent contingent on performance of a specified behavior or achievement of a target outcome. Its parameters: (1) the reward source is external to the agent's own satisfaction, (2) the reward is deliberately placed as a contingency following or promising a behavior, and (3) the contingency is maintained by an authority or system capable of delivering the reward. It persists through institutionalized practice — educational grading systems, workplace compensation schemes, behavioral reinforcement schedules, and social recognition rituals — all of which reproduce the reward contingency across populations and generations. [formal: praemium externum | substrate: behavior | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]