Notebook #132- Punishment
The Nature of Punishment
•Punishment - A consequence that weakens a response
•When an undesirable stimulus is presented in order to decrease a response
•GOALis to weaken a response or decrease it’s likelihood of recurring.
•Parents/Pet owners often use this when trying to control their children’s or pets’ behavior
•Types of punishment
•Positivepunishment- adding something that they don’t like (such as a spanking or extra chores)
•Negativepunishment- taking away something that they like (such as a “time out” or no phone use)
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•The Nature of punishers
•Primary punisher- one that is naturally painful or unpleasant (spanking a child or presenting a high pitched noise for an animal)
•Secondary punisher- one that is neutral initially but when linked to a primary becomes a punisher (parents shake their “no” at their toddler)
•Secondary punishers can be very effective in controlling behavior, especially when combined with reinforcers for desired behavior.
•Punishment (like reinforcers) are individual in nature. Some punishments work with certain individuals or in certain cultures but not with other people or in other cultures.
•Limits of Punishment
•It only suppresses behavior; it does not establish new desirable ones.
•Punishment has serious social consequences:
•When excessive punishment is used at home, children may try to escape or runaway so that punishment can’t be delivered
•Rather than associating punishment with behavior, they may associate it with the punisher
•Physical punishment may lead to an increase is aggression away from the punisher
•It may work better in the short term but not so well long term
•It may control the child’s behavior but ruin the relationship with the parents
•What does the research show in regards to frequent or overly harsh punishment?
•When frequent punishment is given, people tend to be hostile and aggressive towards members of their own group and they tend to act on this hostility. Example, prison inmates or school yard bullies (Gershoff, 2002.)
•Delivering punishment inconsistently or without reference to the behavior can lead to confusion over what the appropriate response is(Rudy & Grusec, 2001.)
•Learned Helplessness is an extreme version of this. Because the physical abuse comes no matter what the person or animal does, they stop responding at all.
•What is the MOST EFFECTIVE way to control behavior?
•Punishment is very effective in suppressing simple unwanted behavior BUT it cannot establish the new desired behavior.
•Once the punishment is removed, humans and non-humans often return to their old behavioral habits.
•It is much more effective when punishment is paired with reinforcement. Under this combination, punishment gets rid of the unwanted behavior while the reinforcement helps to learn the new desired behavior.