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Punishment as a form of behaviour modification Introduction Punishment is a process through which "the consequence of a response decreases the likelihood that the
in the form of Implosion therapy and flooding, usually used in cases of phobia, both use extinction to alter behaviour. (Wolpe 1958 cited Gross and McIlveen 2003).
by bringing on an aversive event or withdrawing a positive event. Negative reinforcement encourages repetition of a behaviour by removing an aversive event Reinforcement
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although these are quite uncommon. Behaviour modification Molding behaviour through targeting certain behaviors and the use of reward and punishment usually results
Submitted by pdtro1 on September 13, 2005
Category: Psychology
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Introduction
Punishment is a process through which "the consequence of a response decreases the likelihood that the response will recur" (Gray, 2002, pp.115). Further, punishment can be seen as an effort to decrease the response rate to stimuli by either removing a desired stimulus or presenting one which is undesired (Gray, 2002). Recent studies suggest that punishment can be an effective method of behaviour modification. However, as reported in Lerman and Vorndran (2002), there are a number of limitations to punishment as an intervention and subsequent negative side effects. For this reason, certain principles upon which the implementation of a successful punishment is dependent must be adhered to. In accordance to these findings, this essay will contend that whilst there are alternative means to operant conditioning, certain punishment techniques have been proven to be effectual and in some aspects advantageous.
The effectiveness of punishment
"Punishment is one of the most used, but least understood and badly administered, aspects of learning" (Luthans, 1977, pp.300). As mentioned earlier, punishment is anything which weakens behaviour and tends to decrease it in subsequent frequency. Positive punishment is the method of administering negative consequences upon the occurrence of an action whereas Negative punishment involves the termination of positive consequences. In order to work, either case must weaken and decrease the behaviour which preceded the application or withdrawal of the stimuli. Skinner (1953) stipulated that we must defy the urge to label a form of stimuli as "desired" or "undesired" as a whole but rather to identify them by their effect on the observed subject.
Whether punishment is effective depends on the criteria applied or the objectives to be achieved. That is, before we can say it is useful we must ask whether we desire an immediate or a lasting effect, and at how high a cost. There is some evidence...
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