Glossary
Incentive (outcome)
What is incentive (outcome)?
Incentive for an outcome tells a person that a reward will depend on effort or progress toward a specified behavioral outcome.
Outcome incentives vs. behavioral incentives
The incentive can be material, social, self-provided, or unspecified. It is announced in advance; actually delivering a reward is a separate component. The condition concerns an outcome rather than performance of the action itself.
Illustrative example
A learning program announces a reward for reaching a specified assessment score. That is an outcome incentive. Offering the reward for completing five practice sessions instead would make the action itself the condition. In either case, announcing the reward comes before delivering it.
Designing an outcome incentive
The original BCT Taxonomy v1 definitions specify this as technique 10.8. Before using it, ask whether the person can influence the outcome, whether the target reflects what you care about and how someone might reach it through an unwanted route. A score can rise without the intended learning. These are design questions, not proof that a particular incentive will work. The taxonomy describes the technique rather than ranking its effectiveness.