BHVMD Ch. 6: Punishment

Conditioned Punishers aka

Secondary Punishers

An extinction burst often occurs where the behavior __________ ________ before it decreases.

increases briefly

It is incorrect to say that you punish a person. You don't weaken a person, you weaken a person's behavior.

"The teacher punished Sarah for disruptive behavior"

It is correct to say that you punish a behavior (or a response). You are weakening a behavior by punishing it.

"The teacher punished Sarah's disruptive behavior with time out"

There are 4 parts to the definition of punishment

1. Antecedent 2. A particular behavior occurs 3. A consequence immediately follows the behavior 4. As a result, the behavior is less likely to occur again in the future. (the behavior is weakened.)

Positive Punishment 4 steps:

1. Antecedent 2. The occurrence of a behavior 3. is followed by the presentation of an aversive consequence 4. and as a result, the behavior is less likely to occur in the future

Negative Punishment 4 steps:

1. Antecedent 2. The occurrence of a behavior 3. is followed by the removal of something of value (which may be functioning as a reinforcer) 4. and as a result, the behavior is less likely to occur in the future

Two common examples of negative punishment are

1. time-out from positive reinforcement 2. response cost

Problems with Punishment:

A numbest of problems must be considered with the use of punishment, especially positive punishment involving the use of painful or other aversive consequences * Punishment may produce elicited aggression or other emotional side effect * The use of punishment may result in escape or avoidance behaviors by the person whose behavior is being punished * The use of punishment may be negatively reinforcing for the person using punishment, and thus, may result in the misuse or overuse of punishment

Losing allowance money for misbehavior will: A) be a more effective punisher if the child has no other money and plans to buy a toy with the allowance money _____, B) be a less effective punisher if the child has recently received money from other sources _____

EO; AO

Motivating Operations (@ the antecedent)

Establishing and Abolishing

_________ is very important to punishment. Why?

Immediacy; the association will most likely not be made between the behavior and the punishment and therefore, won't be effective

Unconditioned Punishers:

No prior conditioning is needed for an unconditioned punisher to function as a punisher.

Consider the case of 5 year old Juan who teases and hits his sisters until they cry. His nothing scolds him and spanks him each time he teases or hits his sisters. Although Juan stops teasing and hitting his sisters at the moment that his mother scolds him and spanks him, he continues to engage in these aggressive and disruptive behaviors with his sifters day after day. Is the scolding and spanking by his mother a punisher for Juan's aggressive and disruptive behavior?

No, the scolding and spanking do not function as punishers. They have not resulted in a decrease in Juan's problem behavior over time. This example actually illustrates positive reinforcement. Juan's behavior (teasing and hitting) results in the presentation of a consequence (scolding and spanking by his mother and crying by his sisters), and the outcome is that Juan continues to engage in the behavior day after day. Behavior is maintained and the punishment is not affecting future impact on Juan's behavior

Would it be a good idea to use punishment alone?

No, you would need to add some type of reinforcement

Unconditioned Punishers aka

Primary Punishers

Premack Principle

The concept, developed by David Premack, that a more-preferred activity can be used to reinforce a less-preferred activity.

Response cost:

The contingent loss of reinforcers (e.g. a fine), producing a decrease of the frequency of behavior; a form of negative punishment

On Mother's Day, Otis decided to get up early and make breakfast for his mom. He put the cast-iron skillet on the stove and turned the burner on high. Then he mixed a couple of eggs in a bowl with some milk to make scrambled eggs. After 5 minutes, he pored the eggs from the bowl unto the skillet. Immediately, the eggs started to burn and smoke rose from the skillet. Ottis grabbed (behavior) the handle of the skillet to move it off the burner. As soon as he touched the handle, pain shot through his hand (consequence); he screamed and dropped the skillet. After that episode, Otis never again grabbed the handle of a hot cast-iron skillet. He always used a hot pad to avoid burning himself

The immediate consequence of grabbing the skillet handle was a painful stimulus. The outcome was that Otis was less likely to grab a hot skillet in the future; positive punishment When Otis used a hot pad, he avoided the painful stimulus. As a result, he is more likely to use a hot pad when grabbing a hot skillet in the future (negative reinforcement). Touching the hot skillet is punished by the presentation of a painful stimulus, using the hot pad is reinforced by avoiding of the painful stimulus

_________ _____ ______ often are conditioned punishers. Because threats have often been associated with painful stimulation in the past, threats may become conditioned punishers

Threats of harm

Emotional Reactions to Punishment:

When such aggressive behaviors or other emotional responses result in the termination of the painful or aversive stimulus, they are negatively reinforced

An abolishing operation is:

a event of a condition that makes a consequence less effective as a punisher (or a reinforcer)

An establishing operation is:

an event of a condition that makes a consequence more effective as a punisher (or a reinforcer)

Punishment results in:

immediate decrease in the target behavior

Through the process of _______, humans have developed the capacity for their behavior to be punished by these naturally aversive events without...

any prior training or experience

For punishment to be most effective, the consequence must follow the behavior immediately

as the delay between the behavior and the consequence increases, the effectiveness of the consequence as a punisher decreases

Punishment is:

aversive

A punisher is also called an...

aversive consequence

A facial expression may also be associated with an _____ ______ such as scolding or spanking, and thus may function as a conditioned punisher

aversive event

Conditioned punishes are events that function as punishers only after

being paired with unconditioned punishers or other existing conditioned punishers.

With extinction, there is a ______ of an association

breaking

The word no is a common

conditioned punisher

The defining features of each principle are that a behavior is followed by a _______, and the _______ influences the ________ occurrence of the behavior

consequence; consequence, future

Painful stimuli or extreme levels of stimulation are often

dangerous

Ex. extreme heat or cold, extreme levels of auditory of visual stimulation, or any painful stimulus (e.g. from electric shock, a sharp object, or forceful blow) naturally weakens the behavior that produces it. If these were not unconditioned punishers, we would be more likely to engage in

dangerous behaviors that could result in injury or death

This raises an important point about the definition of punishment. You can not define punishment by whether the consequence appears unfavorable, unpleasant, or aversive. You can conclude that a particular consequence is punishing only if the behavior:

decreases in the future. different effects among individuals

In the case of negative punishment, _______ is an EO that makes the loss of something valued more effective as a punisher

deprivation

Any event may become a conditioned punisher if it is paired with an

established punisher

Some debate exists among professionals about whether it is ______ to use punishment, especially painful or aversive consequences, to change the behavior of others. Some argue that the use of punishment may be justified if the behavior is harmful or serious enough, and therefore, the potential benefits to the individual are great

ethical

A warning from a parent may become a conditioned punisher if it has been paired with the loss of reinforcers such as allowance money, privileges, or preferred activities. As a result, when a child misbehaves and the parent gives the child a warning, the child may be less likely to engage in the same misbehavior in the future. A ________ __________ or loss of disapproval may be a conditioned punisher when it is associated with the loss of attention of approval from an important person.

facial expression

With punishment, there is a _______ of an association

forming

When we define punishment (or reinforcement) according to whether the behavior decreases(or increases) in the future as a result of the consequences, we are adopting a:

functional definition

The word no is considered a

generalized conditioned punisher because it has been paired with a variety of other unconditioned and conditioned punishers over the course of a person's life

Behavior mod operates at the _______ level

individual

A punisher (aversive consequence) makes a particular behavior ______ likely to occur in the future

less

punishment must be ____________ in order to work

meaningful

Ex. telling a child who misbehaves at the dinner table that dessert will be taken away will: A) be a _____ effective punisher if the child has not eaten any dessert yet and is still hungry (EO), B) be a _____ effective punisher if the child has had two or three helpings of the dessert already and is no longer hungry (AO).

more; less

Avoidance behavior and escape behavior is

negative reinforcement

With punishment, the decrease in behavior typically is immediate and there is _________ ______________ ________.

no extinction burst

Both time-out from positive reinforcement and response cost involve the loss of something of value after the

occurrence of a problem behavior. both designed to suppress behavior

The events that function as punishers vary from

person to person

In the case of _________ _________ any event or condition that enhances the aversiveness of a consequence makes that consequence a more effective punisher (EO), whereas events that minimize the aversiveness of a consequence make it less effective as a punisher (AO)

positive punishment

In general, a more intense aversive stimulus is more likely to function as a

punisher

One important must when using punishment is to use a reinforcement procedure in conjunction with punishment

replacement behaviors

In the case of negative punishment, ______ is an AO that makes the loss of reinforces less effective as a punisher

satiation

Punishment procedure are always used in conjunction with functional assessment and functional interventions emphasizing extinction, strategies to prevent problem behaviors, and positive reinforcement procedures to

strengthen the desirable behavior

Establishing

strengthens

Although extinction also decreases a behavior, it usually _____ _______ for the behavior to decrease

takes longer

Abolishing

tears it down

Painful stimuli or extreme levels of stimulation have biological importance. Such stimuli are called:

unconditioned punishers.

The critical difference is that reinforcement strengthens or maintains a behavior, or makes it more likely to occur in the future, whereas punishment

weakens a behavior or makes it less likely to occur in the future

Another form of positive punishment is based on an inverse form of the Premack Principle, which states that

when a person is made to engage in a low-probability behavior contingent of a high-probability behavior, the high-probability behavior will decrease in frequency that is, if, after engaging in a problem behavior, a person has to do something he or she doesn't want to do, the person will be less likely to engage in the problem behavior in the future

Immediacy

when a punishing stimulus immediately follows a behavior, or when the loss of a reinforcer occurs immediately after the behavior, the behavior is more likely to be weakens.