Quote Originally Posted by His_little one
As a submissive and a student of psychology I would have to say "bribing" your sub to do something is one of the worst things you can do.
A sub should want to do something for their Dom because of the way it makes them feel knowing they gave pleasure to their Dom -- that's part of the role.
Thank you, His_little one. Your argument is concise and well thought out, and exactly why I asked the question. I'm not about to argue with you.

Instead, let me make the type of situation clearer as I'm not talking about scenes or trying to provoke a specific, single task. What I want to do is to change an entire set of attitudes and a lifelong pattern of thinking.

As a student of psychology I know you've heard of behavior mod. and I'm trying to employ it to reshape a way of thinking.

If the sub is engaged in a pattern of self-destructive behaviors and attitudes, and has been for her entire life, it seems to me cruel and not very helpful to punish her bad habits. I can say "Quit that" but is it reasonable to expect someone to change a lifelong habit with a direction?

My question about bribing comes from a hope that I could, through rewarding (bribing) her each time she self-corrects her bad habits, and let her know ahead of time that she stands to gain pleasure (in the form of pleasing me immensely, and sometimes other things in addition) that I will do a better job of helping her to grow to her potential than I would by simply directing her toward my wishes and relying on her good nature to get her past a lifetime of bad habits and attitudes.

Your reaction? Does that change your position at all? Or am I still not getting it?

her_Joe