Punishment Behavior Increase Decrease Presented Positive Reinforcement

Punishment

Behavior Increase Decrease Presented Positive Reinforcement Positive Punishment Remove Or Omitted Negative Reinforcement Negative Punishment stimulus So, reinforcement= punishment= behavior

Types of Punishment • Positive Punishment • Negative Punishment – Generally referred to as Punishment – When response occurs, consequence is presentation of an aversive stimulus – Probability of response decreases = – More often referred to as Penalty – When response occurs, consequence is removal of a reinforcer – Probability of response decreases =

Punishment A behavior reduction process in which the occurrence of a behavior is followed by an aversive stimulus (punisher) Positive Behavior Adverse Consequence Behavior ADDS something undesirable environment • Touch a stove get burned • Risky sexual beh. STD • Pay Bill late charge Negative Behavior Adverse Consequence Behavior TAKES something desirable environment • Speeding $ bye • Child fighting no recess • Cheat girlfriend bye

Last winter Alvin went downhill skiing for the first time. He had a bad fall on the ski hill and broke his leg. What impact will this have on Alvin’s skiing? If Alvin is less likely to go downhill skiing in the future because of this consequence, then his skiing behavior has been punished

As with Reinforcement, Punishment: Primary and Secondary Punishers – Primary Punisher: does not require learning to be effective • pain is avoided from birth • hunger – Secondary Punisher: . . experience: punishment that was originally neutral and became aversive through pairing it with a primary punisher • for example, loss of an allowance has been associated with inability to buy things which has been associated with hunger

Intrinsic & Extrinsic Punishment – Intrinsic = the activity itself is punishing • for example, riding a roller coaster makes you feel sick; you’re less likely to ride another one because it was inherently punishing – Extrinsic = the activity is followed by a separate event that is punishing • for example, being rude to a parent results in loss of your allowance for the week; you’re less likely to be rude to your parent in the near future

Does Punishment Work?

Does punishment work? Skinner (1938) - 2 grps rats – VI of lever pressing for food (3 session) - 4 th session - extinction - Punishment: slap on paw – 1 st 10 min

Estes (1944) Trained to Lever press for food 3 Extinction session – 2 grps (con & press + shock) Only shocked during 1 st Extinction session

Azrin (1960) Pigeons (key pressing) • VI schedule • punishment introduced “mild shock” • first decreased response • Over course of sessions behavior back to normal • habitation to the mild shock

Does punishment work in animals? Punishment works…“Temporary Suppression” Not good for changing behavior for the long-term Revision of Thorndikes “Law of Effect” …punishing a response does nothing to the strength of connection… unsatisfying consequence doesn’t make behavior less

Effect of Shock Intensity on Responses 15 min Boe & Church (1967) Punishment worked

Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Punishment Effective Punishers must be… 1. manner of introduction (intensity) 2. immediacy of punishment (delay) 3. schedule of punishment

1. Manner of Introduction Intensity Punishment needs to be immediately introduced at full intensity Azrin, Holtz & Hake (1963) Pigeons (key pressing) 80 v – total suppression 60 v – no suppression then up to 300 v suppression If punisher to mild could backfire

2. Immediacy of Punishment (Delay) Delay between response ----- punishment Less time between these 2 more effective

Solomon, Turner, Lessac (1968) Stage 1 Dogs offered choice between preferred/nonpreferred food Room with experimenter & 2 dishes Eat good stuff = wack on snout with newspaper Delay of hit on snout 0, 5 & 15 sec 3 to 4 wacks dogs learned not to eat good for all groups

Solomon, Turner, Lessac (1968) Stage 2 – How effective was punishment? Later “temptation trials” (10 min) No experimenter in room – 500 g good /20 g bad stuff Food deprived – hungry How longs for dogs to eat? 15 sec delay = 3 min 5 sec delay = 8 days 0 sec delay = 2 weeks “wait till your Dad gets home”

Factors influencing the effectiveness of punishment 3. Schedule of punishment FR FI VR VI CRF is best / FR 1 vs Fr 1000 Punishment is not similar to Reinforcement

Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Punishment Effective Punishers must be… 1. manner of introduction (intensity) 2. immediacy of punishment (delay) 3. schedule of punishment

Punishment in Humans same as animals? Bucher & Lovaas (1968) Electric shock used on Autistic child Highly destructive behavior Case Study “John” (7 yr old) OCD – banging head/hitting self Hospitalized – kept in restraints Reinforcement didn’t work Shocked after destructive behavior

250 tx E= punisher Punishment very effective in controlling human behavior 1. Can promote long-term suppression of behavior (5 yrs) 2. Environment can control the response (stimulus control)

Punishment in humans Same as animals but new addition** Manner of introduction (Intensity): self mutilation behavior in mentally retarded – mild shock did not work but greater did Schedule: FR 1 – Mom’s kept diary of punishment, higher proportion of bad behavior to punishment = less misbehaving… same with arrests higher proportion of arrests followed by punishment = less likely to re offend

Immediacy of punishment (Delay): similar to dogs toys Aronfreed (1968) repeated Solomon’s Study Children (pairs of toys) attractive and no so attractive The attractive one was always punished (take away candy) delays of 0, 2, 6, or 12 seconds All groups learned to avoid the toy (after 2 -3 punishments) Results: • In extinction: Only 50% 0 & 2 sec delay groups reached …after 5 min Other groups all reached and in less than 1 min

Explanation for punishment Aronfreed (1968) – immediacy of punishment Added a group punished when picking up toy but given explanation for why they should not do so Explanation group significantly more likely to resist the temptation of the toy **Accompanied by a clear (fair) example

Explanation for punishment – more info on why…better Cheyne (1969) – Children with toys (3 rd graders) Punished group of children for picking up toy “That’s Bad” “That’s bad you shouldn’t play with it because that toy belongs to someone else” Full explanation group significantly more likely to resist the temptation of the toy

Punishment • Immediate • Firm • Consistent • Delivered in a variety of settings • Clear & Fair Explanation

• Nearly 50% of drunk drivers are repeat offenders – Punishment isn’t strong enough – Stronger punishments are more effective and last longer • To be effective punishment must occur every time – Odds of getting caught drunk driving are 1/2000 • Punishment for drunk driving occurs much later then the offense – Punishment should not be delayed

Punishment…works with involuntary behavior? ? ? YES…. Heller & Strang (1873) Bruxism: Grinding and gnashing teeth • 5 % of College Students • damage to jaw and teeth • social implications • Baseline (noise activated device): 100 ocurrances/hr • Pt. Wore ear plug… 3 sec burst of noise when activated • Decreased grinding to 30/hr • Also effective for chronic coughing, sneezing, vomitting

Side Effects of Punishment 1. Emotional Effects Fear Anger Impact on learning & Performance

The strong emotional responses that accompany punishment may interfere with the ability to attend to and/or learn from the situation: narrowing of attention …Like the Yerkes-Dodson law

• College students Balaban et al (1990) • Memory tasks • Mistake punished by shock or by a tone • Shock group worked slower & made more mistakes teacher goal to reduce mistakes…punishment can backfire

• CER (Emotions) may be classically conditioned to stimuli associated with punishment – e. g. , fear and anxiety to the person and/or situation; person may avoid the person administering punishment – Martin (1977) • Boys working on series of tasks were praised, reprimanded or ignored for effort • Put more effort into reprimanded tasks • In absence of teacher, reprimanded tasks were never freely chosen …avoided the teacher…

Side Effects of Punishment Aggression -Against punisher or anyone around -“pain elicited aggression” Ulrich & Azrin (1962) 2 rats peaceful Get shocks = fighting “attack when hurt” Been shown in cats, raccoons, monkeys & alligators Prison!

Berkowitz, Cochrane & Embree (1979) - University Women - Cold/warm water - Reinforcement vs punishment of partner - Cold water = more punishment “Teachers” with their hand in ice-cold water chose to be more punitive with their “Pupils” Modeling For children: Learning that punishment is acceptable…

Side Effects of Punishment Spanking…. Toilet Accidents = Bedwetting children Dedendency = more dependent Aggressive = more aggressive children Please someone do this for their paper…. Does spanking work?

Side Effects of Punishment 2. Low Generalization: Continual Monitoring Guilt In real world situation must monitor continually “Daddy, I did something wrong…come punish me” No likely to happen! Suppress behavior only in the presence of punisher. . may lead to guilt

Side Effects of Punishment -Clever Rats 3. Circumvent punishment -Received shock for lever pressing (food) -rat learned to still display behavior lying on back – fur served as buffer from shock People more ingenious

Side Effects of Punishment 4. General Suppression of Behavior Ex: classroom behavior reduce needless questions “that’s a stupid question” not only reduce “stupid questions” but all questions Entire Class + . . indicates “what not” to do instead of “what to do”…no additional learning required…

Side Effects of Punishment 5. Learned Helplessness Giving up helpless to control the situation No need to try and avoid & escape Seligman (1967) -10 sec warning signal of shock 50 sec of shock -over barrier escape…tone=no shock: during shock=no shock -Control grp learned to escape Floor (shock) -Tx group = 64 inescapable shocks -Con quickly learned to jump over - Tx group did not learn…took shocks

Is Punishment Effective? • Punishment is most effective when it is immediate, firm, consistent, delivered in a variety of settings, and when it is accompanied by a clear (and fair) explanation • Under these circumstances, punishment can be a powerful technique for suppressing behavior But negative Effects…. why do people use punishment? ….

Reinforcing to the Punisher… Immediate effect…works for that Immediate situation Which type if reinforcement? ? ? Negative. . increase behavior to take bad behavior away

Principle of Minimal Force

Mild Forms of Punishment (negative) Time Out (time out from positive reinforcement): involves secluding or ignoring an individual so that access to positive reinforcers are cut off for a specified short period of time extinction. . Misbehavior results in removal to a less Reinforcing environment for a specified period Sit in corner make sure that the new environment does not provide any reinforcement

ABAB TX Design 10 episodes Stan (brain injury) fro hoarding cig butts, pieces of dust, Food, socks, underwear in pockets Time out: 10 min in quiet area + reinforcement for good behavior

Response cost (Token Economies) Withdrawl of previously earned reinforcers Reinforcer is taken away following behavior appears to be most effective when combined with reinforcement of appropriate behavior Token Economies lost points or tokens

Response Cost Children…

Reprimands – • scolding or admonishing as punishment • reprimands are often more effective when they are accompanied by eye contact or a firm grip – or spoken quietly in close proximity to the child being punished

Restitution and Overcorrection People take actions that correct the results of their misdeeds a misbehaving individual must return the environment to the same state of affairs it was in before the misbehavior • e. g. , a child who breaks a window must pay for a new one; child who makes a mess must clean it up • Restitution is a good example of a logical consequence, where the punishment fits the crime.

Overcorrection Restitutional & Positive Practice (1) Restitutional overcorrection, the punished individual must make things better than they were before the inappropriate behavior e. g. , a student who throws food in the lunchroom has to clean the whole lunchroom

Overcorrection (2) Positive Practice -- an individual must repeat an action, this time doing it correctly, perhaps in an exaggerated fashion e. g. , a student who runs dangerously down a corridor might be asked to go back and walk (perhaps in slow motion) down the hall