Chapter 6- Operant Punishment Flashcards
What percentage of Americans approve of the use of physical or corporal punishment in schools?
50%
The procedure of providing consequences for a behaviour that reduces the strength of that behaviour
Punishment
What are the three characteristic features of punishment?
A behaviour must have a consequence, the behaviour must decrease in strength, the reduction in strength must be the result of the consequence
Any consequence of a behaviour that decreases the strength of that behaviour
Punisher
What are the two types of punishment?
Positive punishment and negative punishment
A punishment procedure in which a behaviour is followed by the presentation of, or an increase in the intensity of, a stimulus
Positive punishment
A punishment procedure in which a behaviour is followed by the removal of, or a decrease in the intensity of, a stimulus
Negative punishment
Describe how punishment differs from negative reinforcement
Positive punishment and negative reinforcement are often confused partly because both involve aversive events.
To punish is to weaken behavior, so any punishment procedure, positive or negative, makes behaviour less likely to occur. Thus, positive punishment means weakening behaviour by adding an aversive
Both use aversives, but one adds them and the other takes them away. The key is to remember that positive means add, and negative means subtract
Describe how the contingency variable influences the effectiveness of punishment
The degree to which the procedure weakens a behavior, or reduces its frequency, varies with the degree to which a punishing event is correlated with that behaviour
The greater the degree of contingency between a behaviour and a punishing event, the faster behaviour changes
Example: A person who is left every time they smile but not when they are not smiling makes it clear that that behaviour is contingent on slapping
Describe how the contiguity variable influences the effectiveness of punishment
The interval between a behaviour and a punishing consequence has a powerful effect on the rate of operant learning. The longer the delay the less effective is the procedure
Slapping a person for smiling immediately after doing so will result in more effectiveness and slapping them five seconds after they smile
Describe how Abramowitz and O’Leary demonstrated the relative effectiveness of immediate punishment in examining off-task behaviour
Teachers reprimanded first and second graders either immediately or two minutes after the off task behaviour had begun. Reprimands were effective in suppressing forms of off task behaviour in which the child interacted with another student, but only the immediate reprimands got results; delayed reprimands were useless
May be because during the delay interval, other behaviours are bound to occur, and these behaviours may be suppressed rather than the intended behaviour
Describe how the intensity of punishment influences it’s effectiveness
Very mild punishers have little effect. The greater the intensity of the punishing stimulus, the greater is the reduction of the punished responses
Example: a mild electric shock will probably not reduce behavior, but a painful shock will
Both Thorndike and skinner performed experiments that showed that punishment was in effective in reducing the strength of responding. What was wrong with these experiments?
The punishers they used were very weak, and studies with stronger punishers got much better results
Explain why the initial selection of punishment intensity is important in making punishment effective. Describe the implications this has for parents, teachers, and judges
Using an effective level of punishment from the very beginning is extremely important because beginning with a weak punisher and gradually increasing its intensity will tend to allow the punished behaviour to persist during these increases and in the end, a far greater level of punisher may be required to suppress the behaviour
By slowly increasing the level of punishment, it is as if we were trying to increase the persons tolerance for successively higher levels of punishment. If punishment is to be used, one must begin with a punisher that is intense enough to suppress the behaviour dramatically
Describe how the effectiveness of punishment is influenced by the reinforcers available for the punished behavior. Describe how inappropriate behaviour in a psychiatric hospital was differentially reinforced
The behaviours concerned and punishment are usually being maintained by reinforcement, therefore, the effectiveness of a punishment procedure depends on the frequency, amount, and quality of reinforcement the behaviour produces. If behaviour produces reinforcement, it may persist despite aversive consequences
Example: a child who throws tantrums is probably being reinforced by the attention they get from their parents
Inappropriate behaviour in a psychiatric hospital was differentially reinforced because it was the only way a patient could get the staff to interact with them at all. by creating a disturbance through shouting, fighting, and throwing things, which usually resulted in harsh treatment produced reinforcers such as attention
Describe how the availability of sources of reinforcement for alternative behaviours influences the effectiveness of punishment
Example: if pressing a lever is a rats only means of obtaining food, it is likely to continue pressing despite the shocks. On the other hand, if the rat has another way of obtaining food, the shocks will likely suppress lever pressing
When punishing and unwanted behavior, be sure to provide an alternative means of obtaining the reinforcers that maintained the undesirable behaviour
Example: if a child receives adult attention by playing with his food at the dinner table, make sure that he can obtain attention in more acceptable ways
Explain how the level of deprivation influences the effectiveness of punishment
Example: a rat that receives both shocks and food when I press is a lever made press the lever steadily if it is very hungry; however, the rat me not press the lever at all if it has recently eaten
In general, the greater the level of reinforcer deprivation, the more effective a punisher is
What is the disruption theory of punishment? Describe the evidence that supports/refutes this theory
Proposes that response suppression was due to the disruptive effect of aversive stimuli. Pointed out that when a rat is shocked it may jump, then freeze or run hurriedly about, behaviour that is clearly incompatible with, say, pressing a lever, so the rate of lever pressing is bound to decline
Research has undermined this explanation by producing Tukey findings: first, the effects of punishment are not as transient as Skinner thought it sufficiently strong of her symptoms are used
Secondly, punishment has a greater suppressive effect on behaviour than does aversive stimulation that is independent of behaviour
The disruption theory of punishment could not explain the discrepancy between contingent and non-contingent aversives
Describe the two-process theory of punishment
Says that punishment involves both Pavlovian and operant procedures.
Example: if a rat press is a lever and receives a shock, the lever is paired with the shock. Through Pavlovian conditioning, the lever then becomes a CS for the same behaviour aroused by the shop, including fear. The rat me escape the lever by moving away from it. Moving away from the lever is reinforced by a reduction of fear, and moving away from the lever necessarily reduces the rate of lever pressing
Flaws: the theory predicts that punishment would reduce responding in proportion to its proximity to the punished behaviour but this may not be the case. Birds who had learned to peck a sequence of discs who were then shocked did not peck the disk that was further removed from punishment, but behaviour rates on the two keys declined together
Describe the one-process theory of punishment. Who originally advocated this idea?
One process, operant learning, is involved in punishment. Punishment weakens behaviour in the same manner that reinforcement strengthens it
Thorndike originally advocated this idea
The pre-Mac principle supports this theory, low probability behaviour tends to punish high probability behaviour
Why is punishment used so frequently? Explain in terms of the effects of punishment, including the beneficial side effects
Punishment is used so frequently because it is effective, at least in the short term. Using punishment is reinforcing both positively and negatively.
Punishment is a very powerful procedure, it typically produces a very rapid and substantial reduction in the punished behaviour
Punishment is fast
Punishment has beneficial side effects such as when autistic children become more sociable, cooperative, affectionate, and make more eye contact and smile more.
What are the potential problems associated with the use of punishment?
Escape, aggression, apathy, abuse, and imitation of the abuser
One potential problem associated with the use of punishment is escape, explain
You can escape without actually fleeing, humans do this by “tuning out”.
People also escape or avoid punishment by cheating and lying, and the ultimate escape is suicide
One potential problem of using punishment is to use aggression
An alternative to escaping punishment is to attack those who punish. Aggression is particularly likely when escape is impossible and is often an effective way of exerting control over those who punish
One potential problem associated with punishment is apathy
Apathy is a general suppression of behavior. If aversives are a common consequence of many kinds of behavior, the result may be a suppression not only of the punished behavior, but of behaviour in general. Usually a byproduct of situations in which punishment is commonplace
Another difficulty with punishment is abuse
There may be the potential for abuse by the punisher which may result in broken bones and other physical damages
One problem with punishment is imitation of the punisher
The use of punishment by the punished. When parents rely heavily on punishment in rearing their children, for example, the children rely heavily on punishment in dealing with siblings and peers
The procedure of altering the environment to prevent unwanted behaviour from occurring
Response prevention
Instead of punishing a child for playing with the families precious China, we might put the China out of reach
Describe the use of extinction as an alternative to punishment. When is extinction an attractive alternative to punishment? When are there problems with using extinction as an alternative to punishment?
Withholding all reinforcement for a given behaviour will reduce the frequency of that behavior. Using extinction to get rid of unwanted behaviour requires first of all identifying the reinforcers that maintain it
If the reinforcer maintaining unwanted behaviour can be identified and removed, the rate of that behaviour will decline
Extinction is sometimes an attractive alternative to punishment when the reinforcers maintaining unwanted behaviour can be identified and removed and can be a safe and effective alternative
Problems with using extinction as an alternative to punishment: the extinction burst, which results in an increase in the behaviour on extinction, and the emotional outbursts, especially aggression and angry displays that are often provoked by extinction. Another problem is that the unwanted behaviour often declines slowly, and extinction is also limited when the reinforcers maintaining troublesome behaviour are not under our control
Any operant training procedure in which certain kinds of behaviour are systematically reinforced and others are not
Differential reinforcement
A form of differential reinforcement in which a behaviour is reinforced only if it occurs no more than a specified number of times in a given period. Reinforced only if it occurs in frequently
Differential reinforcement of low rate, or DRL
Example: reducing the rate of pecking by providing reinforcement only if a minimum of two seconds passes since the previous disc peck. The fast rate is now on extinction, but reinforcement is available for pecking at a lower rate
A form of differential reinforcement in which reinforcement is contingent on the complete absence of a behaviour for a period of time. Also called differential reinforcement of other behavior, since some other behaviour is necessarily reinforced
Differential reinforcement of zero responding, or DRO
Both DRL and DRO provide reinforcement only if the behaviour of interest does not occur for a specified period. The difference is that in DRL the behaviour of interest is reinforced at the end of the interval, but in DRO reinforcers are provided only if the behaviour does not occur. DRL is thus appropriate if the goal is to reduce the rate of the behavior; DRO is appropriate if the goal is to eliminate the behaviour entirely
Example: the pigeon that is pecking a disc one or two times a second may receive food only if two seconds pass without pecking
A form of differential reinforcement in which a behaviour that is incompatible with an unwanted behaviour is systematically reinforced
Differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior, or DRI
Praising students for spending time at their desks instead of time spent wondering about
A form of differential reinforcement in which a behaviour that is different from an undesired behaviour is systematically reinforced. The procedure provides an alternative way of obtaining reinforcers
Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior, or DRA
Example: paying attention when ever a patient speaks sensibly and replying appropriately to their comments, and looking away and being quiet whenever they speak nonsense
The procedure of providing reinforcers independently of behaviour
Noncontingent reinforcement, or NCR
The basic procedure is to identify the reinforcers that maintain the unwanted behavior, and then to provide those reinforcers on a regular basis regardless of what the person is doing at the time. In other words, what the person used to have to work for by behaving in ways others consider undesirable, he or she now gets “for free”
One possible explanation for the reduction in undesirable behaviours is that the noncontingent reinforcement reduces the reinforcing value of the reinforcers. There is now no need to work for them by behaving bizarrely
Problems: may backfire by having the troublesome behaviour become worse or coincidentally reinforcing other forms of unwanted behavior, which would replace one problem with another
What opinions did Makaveli and Benjamin Franklin have regarding punishment?
Makaveli: fear preserves you buy a dread of punishment that never fails
Benjamin Franklin: those who are feared, are hated
