1. What is the difference between punishment and a punisher?
2. Describe positive and negative punishment. Explain the difference between time-out and response cost.
3. Explain how negative reinforcement and positive punishment are different.
4. What is the difference between unconditioned and conditioned punishers?
5. How do immediacy, contingency, motivating operations, individual differences, and magnitude affect punishment?
6. What are the pros and cons of punishment?
7. How effective is corporal punishment and spanking?
8. What are the effects of corporal punishment and spanking?
How can __________ be decreased by punishment?
(Doke et al., 1980)
- Paul, a 7-year-old boy with developmental disability
- had poor motor coordination, inappropriate social interaction, and tantrums
- __________ behaviours (hitting, kicking, scratching, etc.) had increased
- other behavioural treatments (e.g., reprimands, restraint, time-outs) were ineffective
- behavioural treatment program: A-B-A-B design
• baseline recording of aggressive behaviours
• after aggression, aromatic _______ (smelling salts) presented along with verbal reprimand
• ammonia presented until Paul took a breath
- results: aggression decreased (also, inappropriate vocalizations decreased and participation in activities increased)
__________: the process in which the consequence of a behaviour weakens the behaviour
- behaviour is less likely to occur in the future (frequency), or occurs more slowly (latency), etc.
- ________: a stimulus, object, or event that weakens a behaviour; often is an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus
e.g., after your dog poops on the floor, you give him a slap: punishment is giving the slap; the punisher is the pain
Note: Behaviours are punished; people are not.
Note: Punishment is not the same as _______.
Types of punishment:
________ punishment: a situation in which presentation of aversive stimulus decreases behaviour
e.g., squirting lemon juice into the mouth of a 4-year-old child who frequently bit other children and her teacher
Subtypes of positive punishment:
• application of aversive __________ requires the individual to perform aversive activity as a consequence for inappropriate behaviour
(Premack principle also applies to punishment: performing a more-preferred behaviour (e.g., playing video games) can be punished by making a person engage in a non-preferred behaviour (e.g., cleaning toilets).)
e.g., an 11-year-old boy who used swear words was made to wash windows for 10 minutes for each instance of swearing; swearing decreased (Fischer & Nehs, 1978)
• application of aversive ___________ punishes behaviour by delivering an aversive stimulus
e.g., getting an electric shock from a device when you reach for a cigarette
________ punishment: a situation in which removal of an appetitive stimulus decreases behaviour
e.g., music played in a cafeteria during lunchtime would be turned off for 10 seconds if the noise level reached a certain dB level
Subtypes of negative punishment:
• ____-___ from positive reinforcement (or simply “time-out”) removes the individual from a reinforcing environment as a consequence for inappropriate behaviour
e.g., being grounded after violating your curfew
• ________ ____ punishes behaviour by taking away a valued item or privilege
e.g., having to pay a fine after parking illegally
Reinforcement vs. Punishment
- by definition, reinforcement increases behaviour and punishment decreases behaviour
- negative reinforcement is not the same as positive punishment
- a “punisher” (aversive stimulus) that is removed causes opposite effects compared to a “punisher” that is presented
|
stimulus presented |
stimulus removed |
|
behaviour increased |
positive reinforcement |
negative reinforcement |
|
behaviour decreased |
positive punishment |
negative punishment |
Extinction vs. Punishment
- in extinction, the reinforcer that is maintaining the behaviour is ________
- in negative punishment, a reinforcer is taken away (or access to it is not allowed); this reinforcer is not necessarily the same reinforcer that is maintaining the behaviour
e.g., child swears → gets attention from parents
▸ extinction: child swears → parents do not give child attention/ignore child
▸ negative punishment: child swears → child loses $1 of allowance
- extinction produces _______ reduction in behaviour; punishment is more _____
• _____________ (or primary) punisher: stimulus or event that is naturally aversive (i.e., not due to prior conditioning or learning); may have “biological importance”: harmful effects or affect survival
e.g., pain due to electric shock, bright lights, loud sounds
• ___________ (or secondary) punisher: previously neutral stimulus that has become associated with an unconditioned punisher, and thus also acts as a punisher
e.g., reprimands, threats, warnings
- ___________ conditioned punisher: conditioned punisher that has been paired with a number of other punishers (e.g., hearing the word “No!”)
• _________: punishment is most effective when it follows immediately after the behaviour
e.g., roadside speed traps (immediate citations) are more effective than traffic enforcement cameras (citations come in the mail several days later)
• ___________: punishment is most effective when it follows every behaviour
• inadvertent reinforcement that occurs during punishment → behaviour increases
e.g., in reprimanding a child for screaming, the parent gives the child attention, which they want; this strengthens the screaming behaviour
• __________ operations (MOs): events that can (temporarily) alter the effectiveness of punishment, and thus affect behaviour
- ____________ operation (EO): establishes/increases the effectiveness of punishment
e.g., roadside speed trap located in high-traffic area where others will see you being pulled over
- __________ operation (AO): decreases the effectiveness of punishment
e.g., adding sweetener to lemon juice squirted into the mouth
• ______ explanations: giving reason for delivery of punishment may enhance its effects
• individual ___________: particular conditioned punishment depends on an individual’s past history, which varies from person to person
• _________ of punishment: a more intense stimulus is more likely to function as a punisher
e.g., very weak lemon juice solution versus highly concentrated solution
- however, punishers of extreme intensity do NOT have a greater effect on behaviour
works _______
behaviour that may be resistant to other forms of treatment may respond to punishment
there may be beneficial side-effects, such as generalization to other behaviours
e.g., after getting a speeding ticket, you don’t speed--and you come to a full stop at stop signs
may lead to complete ___________ of the unwanted behaviour
may cause undesirable emotional or aggressive responses
may cause escape and avoidance responses
- these can be strengthened if they create negative reinforcement (removal of punisher)
may induce _______ in the person administering it, due to it producing negative reinforcement
e.g., patient with learning disability made loud honking noises; punishing honking behaviour terminates aversive stimulus → negative reinforcement (of caregiver’s behaviour)
modeling: individual subjected to the punishment may (rarely) learn to use punishment to control others
_______ issues: punishment may violate institutional policies or laws, or may be inhumane
What is corporal punishment (CP)?
- corporal: “of or pertaining to the _____ ____” (in contrast, capital punishment means putting a person to death for committing a crime)
- may also be referred to as “________ punishment”
- is not limited to spanking (striking a child with an open hand on the buttocks); can include almost any form of positive punishment
- defined by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (2006) as “any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light”
- may be administered by parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, school administrators, or by officers of a court of law
How common is spanking?
- in the US, 68% of parents reported using spanking (Socolar et al., 2007)
- in Canada, 35% of households reported using slapping or spanking against children (Clément & Chamberland, 2014)
- in the US, there has been a modest decline in the approval of spanking and physical punishment (Gershoff, 2008)
• 1960s: 94%
• 1980s: 84%
• 2000s: 71.3%
- in Canada, older people are more in favour of spanking than younger people; those who were _______ as children were more likely to approve of it as a method of discipline (Gagné et al., 2007)
What is the difference between corporal punishment and physical abuse?
- a strict view is that there is no difference: any form of CP is abuse (Miller, 1980)
- a lay belief holds that there is a difference, but there is no clear line apart from legal definitions (Is abuse the application of physical force for no reason? Does it depend on the amount of physical injury that results? What about _____________ harm?)
- in Canada, Section 43 of the Criminal Code (drafted in 1892) authorizes the use of physical discipline:
“Every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place of a parent is justified in using force by way of correction toward a pupil or child, as the case may be, who is under his care, if the force does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances.” (Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, s.43)
- most Canadians (66%) are _______ of Section 43 (PR Exchange, 2006)
- most Canadians (51%) believe Section 43 should be ________ (Decima Research, 2003)
- Section 43 was the subject of a Supreme Court challenge, that it violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v. Canada, 2004)
- in a split decision, the Court ______ Section 43, but determined that the following are not reasonable:
• hitting a child under 2 years of age (or over 12 years of age)
• using objects like belts or rulers to strike a child
• blows to the ____
• degrading or inhumane treatment
• causing ______
How is corporal punishment viewed around the world?
- ________ corporal punishment is used in over two dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Singapore, and Malaysia, for example
- several of these countries allow it to be applied to children
- in contrast, over two dozen countries have ________ CP of children, including Sweden, Germany, and South Sudan, for example
What are some agencies and organizations opposed to corporal punishment?
• American Psychological Association, 1975
• Australian Psychological Society, 1996
• Save the Children Fund, 2003
• Canadian Psychological Association, 2003
• Canadian Paediatric Society, 2004
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2005
• American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and Psychologists for Social Responsibility, 2008
• Canadian Medical Association, 2012
What are the most common reasons given by parents and caregivers for spanking children?
- it is a tried-and-true method for changing undesirable behaviour
- it fosters a sense of personal ______________
- it makes children learn self-discipline
- it helps develop _____ character
[What about “Spare the rod and spoil the child”?
- Proverbs 13:24: “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him”
- the “spoil the child” line is from a _________ poem by Samuel Butler (1664)]
What does the research say? (Gershoff, 2008)
- CP does not help accomplish any of the above goals; in fact, it tends to do the ________ (Bongiovanni, 1977; 1979)
- double-blind, randomized controlled trials would be impossible to conduct, for _______ reasons
- research typically relies on self-reports of CP, and may be subject to social desirability effects
- a meta-analysis showed that CP generally results in immediate __________; however, it does not suppress the problematic behaviour beyond the moment
- most studies found that physical punishment does not promote long-term, internalized compliance
- the rate of misbehaviour does not decline in the long term; the problem behaviour returns, even if the parent _________ the punishment
Why is spanking ineffective? (Gershoff, 2013)
- for punishment to be effective, it must be immediate, consistent, and delivered after every instance of the targeted behaviour; this is difficult for parents to apply in ________
- spanking does not teach children new behaviours or what to do in place of the problem behaviour
- strong emotional and physical feeling produced by the spanking may _________ with parents’ intended disciplinary messages
- spanking ______ the use of aggression and violence, teaching children that violence is acceptable, even in the context of a loving relationship
What are some unintended detrimental side effects of spanking? (Gershoff, 2002; 2008)
• poor quality of parent-child _____________
• _____ aggression and antisocial behaviour
- people who were physically punished in childhood are more likely to use ________ against partners, spouses, and family members
• greater incidence of child _____
- children who are spanked are 7 times more likely to be severely assaulted
- and are 2.3 times more likely to suffer an injury requiring medical attention
- most incidents of physical abuse are the result of parents attempting to ______ their children
• impaired mental ______ and psychological wellbeing
- frequency and severity of CP is associated with increased childhood psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression, and alcohol and drug abuse
- 5-point __ decline--even after controlling for parental education, income, cognitive stimulation by parents and seven other factors (Straus & Paschall, 2009)
- these problems may persist into adulthood
- likely mechanism is increase in ______
Gershoff and Grogan-Kaylor (2016): comprehensive statistical meta-analysis
- meta-analysis of 75 published studiesover 50 years of 160,000 children, examining 17 possible detrimental outcomes
- compared outcomes from cross-sectional research (done simultaneously on participants of different ages, making it difficult to determine cause and effect) to outcomes from longitudinal research (which follows participants over time)
- results:
• spanking was linked to 13 detrimental outcomes, including increased aggression, behavioural and mental health problems in childhood and adulthood, impaired cognitive ability, and lower self-esteem
• no substantial differences were found between spanking and physical abuse, or between cross-sectional and longitudinal research
- conclusions: spanking has multiple severe, long-lasting, ___________ consequences
What are some alternatives to spanking? (Canadian Pediatric Society, 2004)
- _________: explain what to do (and what not to do) and why
- provide clear, reasonable rules to set limits on behaviour and apply rules consistently
- reinforce desirable behaviours (called “positive opposites” by Alan Kazdin, 2013)
e.g., instead of scolding children when they argue with each other, praise them when they get along
- use firm verbal directives and discipline
- apply other subtypes of __________: time-out or response cost
- consequences should be:
• age-appropriate (e.g., time-out should last 1 minute per year of the child’s age, to a maximum of 5 minutes)
• connected to the original behaviour: consequence relates to the specific behaviour that needs improvement (e.g., teen swears → loses electronics privileges until he can go without swearing for a day)
• ____ specific: consequence helps child practice skills and behaviors that need improvement (e.g., going without swearing develops self-control)
• time specific: behaviour change must happen in a defined time period (e.g., one day)
- follow consequences with love and _____; ensure child understands that the consequences are directed at the behaviour and not the person