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29 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Define punishment in terms of its three characteristic features
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First, a behavior must have a consequence.
Second, the behavior must decrease in strength Third, the reduction in strength must be the result of the consequence |
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What are punishers? Provide examples
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The consequences involved in punishment are often referred to as punishers – e.g. reprimands, fines, and physical consequences
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What are the two types of punishment?
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Positive Punishment (type 1 punishment): something is added to the situation – which results in a reduced strength in behavior
E.g. A dog steps on porch of another dog and gets bit – then no longer goes on that porch. Negative Punishment (type 2 punishment) or Penalty Training: the consequence is that something is subtracted from the situation – which results in a reduced strength in behavior E.g. Paying a fine for speeding |
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Describe how punishment differs from negative reinforcement
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Both involve an aversive event: spanking, shocks. Negative reinforcement means to strengthen behavior by removing an aversive. Positive punishment means weakening behavior by adding an aversive
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Describe how the contingency variable influences the effectiveness of punishment. Provide and recognize original examples of the contingency variable as it is involved in making punishment effective
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The degree to which the procedure weakens a behavior varies with the degree to which a punishing event is correlated with that behavior. The greater the contingency between a behavior and a punishment, the greater the suppression of the behavior. Rats that received shocks (Boe & Church experiment) when pressing a lever during the extinction process showed a greater suppression in behavior.
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Describe how the contiguity variable influences the effectiveness of punishment. Provide and recognize original examples of the contiguity variable as it is involved in making punishment effective.
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The interval between a behavior and a punishing consequence has a powerful effect on the rate operant learning. The longer the delay the less effective is the procedure. Camp (1967) – rats periodically received food for pressing a lever. They also sometimes received a shock for lever pressing. Immediate shocks suppressed lever pressing immediately. A delayed shock had far less value.
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Describe how Abramowitz and O'Leary (1990) demonstrated the relative effectiveness of immediate punishment in examining off-task behavior.
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Reprimands for off task behavior in first and second graders were much more effective is immediate – delayed effects were useless. During delays other behaviors are bound to occur.
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Describe how the intensity of punishment influences its effectiveness. Provide and recognize original examples of this influence
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Very mild punishers have little effect. The greater the intensity of the punishing stimulus, the greater is the reduction of the punished response.
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Both Thorndike and Skinner performed experiments that showed that punishment was ineffective in reducing the strength of responding. What was wrong with these experiments?
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Thorndike and Skinner concluded that punishment has little effect and that effect is only temporary. This conclusion proved to be false. The punishers Thorndike and Skinner used were very weak; studies with stronger punishers got much better results.
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Explain why the initial selection of punishment intensity is important in making punishment effective. Provide and recognize original examples of this influence. Describe the implications this has for parents, teachers, and judges.
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The problem in beginning with a weak punisher and gradually increasing its intensity is that the punished behavior will tend to persist during these increases. In the end, a far greater level of punisher may be required to suppress the behavior. Miller (1960) – first exposed rats to very weak shock when they entered the alley and gradually increased the intensity of behavior. The rats endured a much higher shock than what they would have received. Parents, teachers, and judges need to have effective punishers from the beginning instead of giving harsher punishments for each subsequent behavior.
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Describe how the effectiveness of punishment is influenced by the reinforcers available for the punished behavior. Provide and recognize original examples of this influence. Describe how inappropriate behavior in a psychiatric hospital was differentially reinforced (Rosenhan, 1973).
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The effectiveness of a punishment procedure depends on the frequency, amount, and quality of reinforcement the behavior produces. If behavior produces reinforcement, it may persist despite aversive consequences.
In the psychiatric hospital patients were completely ignored when behaving properly. The only time staff interacted with patients was by creating a disturbance. Perhaps this reinforced negative behavior because attention was given. |
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Describe how the availability of sources of reinforcement for alternative behaviors influences the effectiveness of punishment. Provide and recognize original examples of this influence.
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A hungry rat will press a lever to receive food even if pressing the lever results in a shock, but if it finds an alternate way to receive food lever pressing will subside. When punishing an unwanted behavior be sure to provide an alternative means of obtaining reinforcement.
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Explain how the level of deprivation influences the effectiveness of punishment. Provide and recognize original examples of this influence.
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Punishment has little effect when under deprivation. Azrin (1963) Punishment had little effect when the birds were very hungry, but it suppressed disk pecking almost completely when the birds were only slightly hungry.
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What is the disruption theory of punishment? Describe the evidence that supports/refutes this theory.
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Estes, Guthrie, Skinner: The punished behavior “is merely temporarily suppressed, more or less effectively, by an emotional reaction” Ex: pinching a child who is giggling in church
Support: a rat shocked may jump, freeze, run around. This behavior is not compatible with pressing a lever, so the rate of lever pressing is bound to decline Refutes: First, the effects of punishment are not as transient as Skinner thought. Second, punishment has a greater suppressive effect on behavior than does aversive stimulation that is independent of behavior. Can not explain the discrepancy between contingent and non contingent aversives. |
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Describe the two-process theory of punishment. Describe the evidence that supports/refutes this theory.
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Involves both Pavlovian and operant conditioning. If a rat presses a lever and receives a shock, the lever is paired with shock. Through Pavlovian conditioning the lever becomes a CS for the same behavior aroused by the shock, including fear. If shock is aversive, then the lever becomes aversive. The rat may escape the lever by moving away from it.
Flaws: The theory predicts that punishment would reduce responding in proportion to its proximity to the punished behavior. – but this may not be the case. Mansfield & Rachlin (1970). Trained pigeons to peck the right and then left disk. Then started shocking the pigeons if they completed the sequence. Thought the birds would start the sequence and “catch themselves” and stop. However, if the birds pecked the right disk, they nearly always went on to peck the left. |
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Describe the one-process theory of punishment. Who originally advocated this idea? Describe the evidence that supports/refutes this theory.
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Only operant learning is involved. Thorndike originally advocated this idea.
Support: Low probability behavior punishes high probability behavior – a hungry rat who is made to run following eating will eat less. Punishment and reinforcement have essentially symmetrical effects on behavior. |
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Why is punishment used so frequently? Explain in terms of the effects of punishment, including the beneficial side-effects.
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Punishment is effective and therefore doing so in reinforcing. Eg praised by a principal by “running a tight ship” or escaping criticism by rebuking our critics. Punishment is powerful and fast. Lichstein and Schreibman used shock treatment to treat autistic children and found the children became more sociable, cooperative, affectionate and more likely to make eye contact.
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What are the potential problems associated with the use of punishment?
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escape, aggression, apathy, abuse, imitation of the punisher
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Escape
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can literally mean escape - Example: child tries to free himself from a parents spanking.
Can mean “tuning out”, “close our ears” – Sidman: to a spouse who always criticizes our work. Azrin & Holz found a rat would lay on its back to press a lever for food if shocks were given through the floor. Can mean cheating and lying – “Dog ate my homework” Sidman states the ultimate escape is suicide |
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Aggression
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Attacking those who punish us – often when escape is not possible. A student who is often bullied may respond with aggression. Employees may steal, vandalize. Attempts to “get even” are all too common. Aggression is not always directed at the source of injury. Ulrich & Azrin round two animals who are placed in a cage together – if one is shocked he will attack his neighbor. Most of us have slammed a door or thrown an object after being insulted.
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Apathy
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If escape and aggression aren’t options suppression is very common. The best thing to do may be nothing. Warden and Aylesworth (1927) punished rats for entering one of two passageways – found the rats tended to avoid entering either.
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Abuse
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The use of corporal punishment in schools has resulted in broken bones, ruptured blood vessels, hematomas, muscle and nerve damage, whiplash, spinal injuries and even death (Gursky)
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Imitation of the punisher
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a problem with punishment is the use of punishment by the punished. Parents who rely heavily on punishment will have children who rely on punishment in dealing with siblings and peers (Bandura, Walters, Sears).
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What is response prevention? Provide and recognize original examples of response prevention as an alternative to punishment.
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environment in some way. Instead of punishing a child for playing with the family’s china, we put the china out of reach. Poisons and firearms can be locked away. Response prevention is common in dealing with young children.
Limitations: adults and teens can pick a lock. Some forms of behavior cannot be prevented by modifying the physical environment. Eg a child who holds his breath until he turns blue. |
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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?
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First requires identifying the reinforcers that maintain it. Often attention that is meant to be punitive often reinforces it (because it gives attention) Loud reprimands for misbehaving actually makes behavior worse (O’Leary). If the reinforcer maintaining unwanted behavior can be identified and removed, the rate of that behavior will decline. This makes extinction an attractive alternative to punishment.
Problem: extinction burst – an increase in behavior that comes with extinction. Can also provoke emotional outbursts, aggression. Problem will sometimes get worse before it gets better. Can be slow. Extinction cannot be used if the relevant reinforcers cannot be withheld. |
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What is differential reinforcement? Define a DRL schedule of reinforcement. Provide and recognize original examples of DRL schedules of reinforcement.
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Comment: A schedule of reinforcement is simply a rule that specifies when a behavior should be reinforced. In the case of a DRL (differential reinforcement of low-rate) schedule, reinforcement is dependent on a maximum number of responses emitted during a given time period. So, for example, a DRL schedule might specify that two or fewer responses per minute is the criterion for reinforcement.
Differential reinforcement: Any operant training procedure in which certain kinds of behavior are systematically reinforced and others are not. DRL: reinforcers are provided for a behavior but only when it occurs infrequently |
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Define a DRO schedule of reinforcement. Provide and recognize original examples of DRO schedules of reinforcement.
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Comment: A DRO schedule of reinforcement is sometimes called a differential reinforcement of other behavior schedule because it reinforces behavior other than the specified target behavior.
Reinforcement is contingent on not performing the behavior for a specified period of time. Both DRL and DRO provide reinforcement only if the behavior of interest does not occur for a specified period. In DRL the behavior of interest is reinforced at the end of the interval, but in DRO reinforcers are provided only if the behavior does not occur. DRL is appropriate if the goal is to reduce the rate of the behavior; DRO is appropriate if the goal is to eliminate the behavior entirely. |
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Define a DRI schedule of reinforcement. Provide and recognize original examples of DRI schedules of reinforcement.
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In DRI, we reinforce a behavior that is incompatible with the unwanted behavior. Moving rapidly is incompatible with moving slowly. So moving slowly would be reinforced.
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Define noncontingent reinforcement and describe its use to weaken undesirable behavior. Provide and recognize original examples of the use of noncontingent reinforcement. What problems can arise when using noncontingent reinforcement?
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NCR – reinforcement delivered without regard to behavior. Identify the reinforcers that maintain the unwanted behavior, and then provide those reinforcers on a regular basis regardless of what the person is doing. If the patient can obtain the reinforcers for “free”, there is no need to work for them behaving inappropriately.
Eg – a psychiatric patient engages in bizarre behavior because doing so produces attention, providing attention noncontingently may reduce the bizarre behavior. Problem: If the reinforcer is delivered after the troublesome behavior, the problem may become worse. |
