Studied by 35 PeopleTags & Description
primary aversive stimulus / unconditioned punishers
escaping or avoiding contact with certain events / punishers that require no conditioning to be affective (ex. painful stimulation)
conditioned aversive stimulus / conditioned punishers
a previously neutral stimulus is paired with an established punish and becomes a punisher itself (ex. saying "no")
Be able to describe what has to occur for one to say that the process of punishment has taken place
the functioning of the punishment only works if it DECREASES the probability of the behavior
How does punishment differ from other behavior-reduction techniques like satiation and extinction?
Punishment is an event, so when you punish you either add something (positive punishment) or take something away (negative punishment) in order to suppress a behavior. Satiation & extinction are non events where nothing is added or taken away.
3 types of overcorrection procedures
Restitution: restore environment to previous (or better), ex. wet the bed, required to wash sheets & make bed with clean sheets
Positive Practice: engage in appropriate behavior multiple times, ex. run across street, make you look both ways & walk across 10 times
Negative Practice: engage in inappropriate behavior multiple times, ex. smoke cigarettes, made to smoke an entire pack
How would you implement an overcorrection procedure for bedwetting?
Use restitution overcorrection (restore the environment to previous/better) by washing the wet sheets and make the bed with new clean sheets
Time-Out
Time out from reinforcement
exclusionary: removed from environment completely, ex. sent to principal's office
non-exclusionary: remains in environment but not allowed to access reinforcement, ex. time out at recess
Response Cost
A type of negative punishment: the removal of positive reinforcement contingent on behavior. Instead of earning something, you lose something that you already had. ex. monetary fines (speeding ticket), losing points to access special privileges in a classroom (not allowed to use markers anymore)
Factors that Influence the Effectiveness of Punishment
Immediacy
Contingency
Individual diff. & magnitude
Motivating operations
Concurrent schedule of reinforcement/punishment
How does IMMEDIACY influence the effectiveness of punishment?
the longer the delay between the response & punisher, the less effective the punisher becomes
How does CONTINGENCY influence the effectiveness of punishment?
relation between stimuli & behavior that follow ex. how reliably does arrest (stimulus/punishment) follow crime (behavior)?
How does INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES & MAGNITUDE influence the effectiveness of punishment?
individual differences: people have diff. reactions, perhaps their history of reinforcement is to blame
magnitude: ex. speeding ticket for a low speed = small ticket fee & demerit point, but high speed = big ticket fee & demerit point lost
How does MOTIVATING OPERATIONS influence the effectiveness of punishment?
Establishing operation is an antecedent that makes a stimulus MORE potent as a punisher, whereas Abolishing operation makes it LESS potent ex. removing food from a food-deprived animal is more effective than from a food-satiated animal
How does CONCURRENT SCHEDULES influence the effectiveness of punishment?
if you want behavior punished, it must already be happening so it can be reinforced by something
to be effective, punitive consequences have to "override" the reinforcing consequences of behavior
ex. rude noises in a classroom is maintained by peer attention despite it being punished by loss of a sticker. peer attention is more potent reinforcer that sticker loss is a punisher & the punishment procedure didn't work
Problems with Using Punishment
results in undesirable conditioned emotional responses
evoke counter-control responses, like use of force to escape or avoid the Sd for punishment
cause of situation & ppl associated with punisher to become conditioned aversive stimuli, avoided in future
Why might punishment continued to be used by the person delivering it?
punishment reduces undesired behavior, so people who use it effectively are more likely to use it on future occasions
Be able to construct an objective (not based on your feelings) ethical argument when the use of contingent electric skin shock (CESS) would or would not be appropriate
The use of CESS is appropriate when used responsibly with informed consent on patient or patient's parents. Must be used at last resort and try to use other behavior interventions first.
Stimulus Discrimination
desired response occurs in the presence of a specific stimuli (Sd) ex. say "A" when you see the letter A, not "B", "C", "D", etc
Behavioral Contrast
A schedule change that ↑ or ↓ the rate of responding in one schedule of reinforcement & results in an opposite change of responding in the other schedule of reinforcement where no intervention has been put into place. ex. teenager punished for swearing at home, but don't receive any punishment when out with peers
Stimulus Generalization
desired response occurs in the presence of a class of specific stimuli (Sd) ex. in operant conditioning, a dog conditioned to drool upon hearing a clicking noise may generalize that behavior to similar sounds like tapping
How does behavioral contrast affect how effective extinction is in treatment?
changing the contingencies of reinforcement on one schedule affected reinforced behavior on another schedule meaning extinction to a Sd