This paper will provide the behavioral definition of punishment and give examples of both positive and negative punishment in different types of settings. The guidelines for the effective use of punishment, as well as legal and ethical issues that should be considered by the Behavior Analyst while designing a behavior intervention plan are identified.
The term punishment is used in operant conditioning to refer to any change that occurs after a behavior happens that reduces the likelihood that the behavior will follow again in the future. Punishment occurs when a response is followed immediately by a stimulus change that decreases the future frequency of similar responses. Behaviorist B.F. Skinner was the first psychologist to identify two different kinds of aversive stimuli that can be used as punishment (Cooper, 2007). Positive punishment occurs when the presentation of a stimulus or an increase in the intensity of an already present stimulus immediately following a behavior results in a decrease in the frequency of the behavior. Negative punishment involves the termination of an already present stimulus or a decrease in the intensity of an already present stimulus immediately following a behavior that results in a decrease in the future frequency of the behavior (Cooper, 2007).
Punishment can be used to yield rapid, long lasting suppression of problem behavior. Punishment may be a choice of treatment when a problem behavior causes serious harm and must be addressed quickly, reinforcement-based treatment have not reduced the target behavior or the reinforcers maintaining the behavior cannot be identified or withheld (Cooper, 2007). Once one has selected punishment as a means of intervention, one must select an effect...
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...l be removed and the period should be set for a period of a week not contingent on behavior. A child needs to understand the set period the punishment is set for and that the privilege will be reinstated at the set time. This is an appropriate use of negative punishment.
The last type of negative punishment is verbal punishment (Berzenski, 2013). Verbal punishment happens when parents yell or shout at children often swearing or calling names. Harsh verbal punishment is not an uncommon discipline in the United States. Verbal discipline such as calling names or yelling can humiliate children and cause maladjustment in children. This is the least appropriate of the three negative punishments addressed in this paper. Verbal punishment is harsh and borderlines on abuse. Any punishment that causes negative effects on a child's self-esteem should be avoided.
As stated in Guideline 3.05 of the BACB Guidelines for Responsible Conduct, behavior analysts should conduct a risk-benefit analysis on the procedures to be implemented to reach the objectives. For instance, we should consider the probabilities of the treatment to be successful, along with the time and distress that will take to eliminate the problem behavior (e.g. extinction burst), and all the effects that the procedure could cause to all other individuals involved (e.g. teacher, family members, and
Operant conditioning explains that behaviors followed by positive outcomes are more likely to be repeated than behaviors followed by negative outcomes. Punishment, which is a part of operant conditioning, is something received or taken away from an individual decreasing the likihood that a behavior would be repeated. The best example from The Lion King of a punishment is when Nala ran away from Simba after he informed her that he was not returning to Pride Rock. Simba deeply loved Nala and he hoped she would agree with the Hakuna Matata philosopy that he was using to hide from his past. But she did not and ran from Simba after an argument. The fact that his true love did not want to be with him was a punishing blow to Simba, helping him rethink his worldview and preparing him for the meeting with
“Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior” (Cherry). Positive reinforcement which is praising a person for doing something good verses negative reinforcement which is an unpleasant remark a punishment. B.F. Skinner did an experiment on a rat, the rat was taught to push two buttons, one to receive food and the other was a light electric shock. The rat tried both buttons and realized which button was good and which one was bad. This experiment goes to show that upon the rewards and punishment system one can learn their rights from their wrongs through a series of lessons. Kincaid and Hemingway both use operant conditioning to show human behavior under stimulus control.
Operant conditioning is changing behavior through the use of reinforcement after the desired action is given; a behavior that is rewarded positively is more likely to continue and a behavior that is rewarded negatively would likely stop occurring (Santrock,2014). In addition to reinforcement, Skinner also talks about punishment. Reinforcement increases the probability an action or behavior will be repeated, while punishment is intended to decrease a behavior (McLeod, 2015). When Laurie was younger, she thought she was being sent to school every day to socialize with her friends and that learning was a secondary, unintentional happenstance. In third grade, compared to the other students in her class, she was falling short in reading and math.
Operant conditioning is a kind of conditioning, which examines how often a behavior will or occur depending on the effects of the behavior (King, 2016, pg. ). The words positive and negative are used to apply more significance to the words reinforcement or punishment. Positive is adding to the stimulus, while negative is removing from the stimulus (King, 2016). For instance, with positive reinforcement, there is the addition of a factor to increase the number of times that the behavior occurs (King, 2016). An example of positive reinforcement is when a child is given an allowance for completing their household chores. The positive reinforcement is the allowance which helps to increase the behavior of doing chores at home. In contrast with negative
(Miltenberger, 2012) Spanking a child for misbehaving, or grounding a child is an example of a punishment. The reason people do this is because the child begins to associate being punished with the negative behavior. The child will not like the punishment and will want to avoid it in the future, so the child will stop misbehaving in that manner. I would explain to the parents that there are ways that you can punish a child who has misbehaved without the use of excessive punishments.
It takes a while to change any behavior. Part of the plan should be effective consequence strategies. Planned consequences reinforce the acquisition and use of alternative skills and reduce the effectiveness of problem behavior should it continue to occur. Having planned consequences should help teach the student that his/her use of alternative skills is a better way to bring about the desired result. Because it does take a while for a behavior intervention plan to change a student 's behavior, it is important that the IEP team decide what will happen when the problem behavior still occurs. If it is a manageable behavior, it is important to come up with responses that discourage the problem behavior and do not provide the function or desired result of the behavior. In some cases the behavior may be extreme. The IEP team should develop a crisis plan to address those situations. First the group needs to define what is a crisis. Then they should describe the intervention procedures to be put into place including who will be involved. They must identify the resources needed to implement the plan and agree on the procedures for documenting the use of the crisis
If a behavior is desirable, consequences called reinforcers are used to encourage the behavior in the future, via the process of reinforcement. Reinforcement can be positive (presenting reinforcing stimulus) or negative (removing a negative stimulus). However, if a behavior is undesired, a negative consequence can be used to discourage the behavior, through the process of either positive or negative punishment. In positive punishment, a negative consequence is presented after the undesired behavior occurs. When negative punishment it used the idea is the same “to discourage future display of undesired behavior,” but instead of presenting a negative stimulus, a desired stimulus is removed following the behavior.
The reinforcement and punishment will determine the maintenance of the behaviour whether will be continue in the future or need to be stopped. The operant conditioning involves the voluntary
It is effective in a way that children would know how to manage their own behavior to a certain situation, and they may know what is right and wrong. If ever the punishment has gone beyond discipline and turned out to violence, the child’s capability of doing the things that he/she does could be discriminated nor humiliated. The frequent use of punishment may disengage into acting younger. According to Lodhi & Siddiqui (2014), corporal punishment leave scars in the memories of children which are unforgettable and unhealed. The child’s development of anti-social behavior may possibly occur. Lowering of self-esteem can be a factor leading to a child’s perception that he/she is a bad person. Punishment involves a negative experience for the child that occurs after they have done a certain action, which the adult condemns. (Lodhi, M.S., & Siddiqui, J.A.,
There are different ways that a teacher can deal with a student’s undesirable behavior. Some of these strategies are: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment or extinction. The type of r...
Operant conditioning is a system of learning that transpires through punishment and rewards for behaviors (Kalat, 2011). Through this, a connection linking a behavior and a consequence is made. For instance a kid could be told that she will not get recess privileges if she talks in class. This possibility of being punished leads to decrease in disruptive behaviors from her. The major components of operant condition are punishment and reinforcement (Kalat, 2011).
From the formation of our country until today, not much has changed in the sense of achieving real penal reform. Within reason, the level of punishment must fit the level of crime, thus, the question of what �within reason� means is relatively up for grabs. The fact of the matter is that law is not a remote entity. Law changes by following the three guiding principles: concrete political groups, current emotion and real economic interest. As a result, crime and punishment follows closely behind since law will inevitably be broken.
Overall time-out from positive reinforcement is a usual and effective measure in the reduction of noncompliant behaviour in school children and those with developmental disabilities. For TO to be effective it must be implemented correctly at appropriate times and the ethical principles must always be adhered to.
This essay will discuss whether it is thought that punishment is effective and whether it is currently thought to work, additionally it will examine the best ways to change a child’s behaviour in terms of positive and negative reinforcements. The issue of child punishment has received considerable critical attention within many cultures. Punishment towards children can be argued to be a very controversial area. It is argued that many people have been brought up with distinctive beliefs about punishments toward a child. A child’s upbringing is argued by many researchers to be key to how they will go on to treat their own children in the future. This can surely be argued to be a negative effect of physical punishment. It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the effects of what severe punishment may have on a child. Later convictions of violence and the evidence of damaging effects on well-being, corporal punishment has on children is overwhelming. However, it is not ingrained that corporal punishment is definitely damaging. There is also sufficient evidence to corporal punishment being an effective form of discipline, if used appropriately. It is thought that corporal punishment helps parents retain control over their children’s behaviour. This essay will consider the various forms of punishment, such as physical punishments and whether they are considered to work. This is essay will also consider effective ways of changing a child’s behaviour including the use of classical and operant conditioning and studies that support the theories and how they can be applied to real life. Classical conditioning for example uses learning through association, memory prompts the person to associate an object/ sound to a certain behaviour. ...