Punishment
Punishment is a consequence that decreases the frequency of the behavior it follows. There are two different categories that punishment can fall under: presentation punishment and removal punishment. Presentation punishment involves introducing a new and unpleasant stimulus. Removal punishment involves removing a wanted stimulus. Punishment in educational settings has been a particularly controversial subject, since many people view punishment as something barbaric or cruel. Also, if administered incorrectly punishment can have adverse effects.
There are times when reinforcement would not suffice and punishment may be deemed necessary. Particularly when the bad behavior has no known reinforcement and no other method has worked. When dealing out punishment it is important to determine which type would be most effective and fair. Punishments that have proven effective to some degree are: scolding, response cost, logical consequence, positive-practice overcorrection, time-out, and in-school suspension.
There are also punishments that are not affective or that actually end up having adverse effects. These include: physical punishment, psychological punishment, extra classwork, and out-of-school-suspension. In particular, out-of-school suspension can be very bad and unfair for students. This is particularly true for students who already have academic problems.
It should always be made clear what behaviors could result in punishment. This alone could be
can be given 3 warnings before a punishment is put in place, they may get use to having all of
. Any punishment or treatment for behavior issues must not be 'inhuman or degrading'. It must be suitable taking into account what the child has done.
Out of school suspensions (OSS) are often enforced with the assumption that students receiving the suspension are less likely to repeat the problem behavior in the future. However, this has been proven to be false. Suspending a student for engaging in a certain behavior does not in fact serve as a deterrent from the behavior but as a deterrent from attending school instead. In actuality, receiving just a single suspension can increase the probability of a student experiencing academic failure, school dropout, and involvement in the juvenile justice system. Knowing this, some educators still believe that for many students, suspension can serve as an effective lesson. One of the greatest concerns that educators and administrators face is the matter of classroom management. It is part of their job to ensure a safe, productive and supportive classroom allowing students to learn and grow to their greatest potential. Though there are several strategies gauged towards managing a classroom, the most severe offences often lead to either in or out of school suspension. Some of the largest concerns faced with out of school suspensions is that they are often ineptly applied, used unfairly against students of color and seemingly ineffective at producing better behavior. Also known as exclusionary discipline, the majority of offenses that led to OSS have not been centered around violence but instead emphasised issues of classroom insubordination and defiance. In some rather extreme cases
Chapter Three, entitled Bribes and Threats, from Beyond Discipline discussed many different tools such as coercion, punishment, and rewards being used for disciplining. These specific tools are counterintuitive and result in temporary compliance or even sometimes extreme behaviors. Because of these tools being used, it leads to disastrous outcomes and makes the teachers and schools uninviting and unproductive.
On the contrary, negative punishment is a method that also contributes to weakening a behavior though it lessens or eliminates something pleasant. It involves taking away something desirable or good from an individual in order to discourage him/her from engaging in a particular behavior. For instance, one of my classmate’s phone rang in class despite being told by teachers not to bring our phones to class. Consequently, the teacher took away the phone from my classmate in order to discourage that behavior. The ethical concern that may emerge from using negative punishment is that it does not teach the victim of undesired behavior how to change his/her behavior.
Punishment-Based interventions are types of treatment that is sometime used in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis to modify or change behaviors. There is a quite a bit of controversy and misunderstanding related to use of punishment. Punishment-based interventions have been proven to be one of the most controversial treatments used by behavior analyst and found in behavior analyst literature (e.g. Johnston, 1991; Matson & Kazdin, 1981; Repp & Singh, 1990) (DiGennaro Reed, & Lovett, 2008). The definition itself is many times confused or lack understanding. Cooper, Heron, and Heward (2006) explain that punishment frequently misunderstood, misapplied and quite controversial. There are some therapists or behavior analysts, parents, caregivers, teachers, and people in general who support punishment and some who do not (Hall, 2013). Although there is a lot of controversy about whether to use punishment or not, punishment is indeed still sometimes used in the field of applied behavior analysis, but there are special guidelines for using punishment based procedures in the field. Before a behavior analyst can decide whether or not they want to use punishment in an intervention, they must clearly understand the definition
rewards and sanctions – we aim to create a healthy balance between rewards and sanctions with both being clearly specified. By implementing these we aim for pupils to learn to expect fair and consistently applied sanctions for inappropriate behaviour and to ensure we retain a safe and positive learning environment.
With discipline is all about reinforcing positive behaviors. One example can be to give out praises when a positive social behavior has been shown and encourage to continue the behavior. As the previous example that I used, if the parents had explained that it is not appropriate to hit or throw things at people. Then the child would have learned that what he did was wrong and would likely learn not to do it again if he is given an acceptable consequence to his behavior. When disciplining a child they must receive a consequence that is appropriate for his or her age.
Punishment is a form of reprimand that is meant to suppress or decrease a behavior by adding a consequence or removing the stimulus.
Although kids should be disciplined there’s a difference between beating a child and disciplining them. For instance, spanking is a light punishment and should not be used for every occasion. When one beats a child, whatever the intention, they know the child will get seriously hurt and is done with malice. (“Do You Think Spanking”). In other words, this explains that parents should not frequently spank their children, and should talk to them before spanking them all the time. Another example that shows that kids should be disciplined but not to the point of beating them is, just like a police officer, they do not need to be angry to enforce a rule or law. (“Spanking As A Discipline”). This refers to a parent not needing to take
Throughout time, the use of punishment has changed drastically. Not only has the actual infliction of punishment changed, the reasoning behind this punishment has also changed. There have been numerous scholars, educators, and researchers that have presented various theories on the reasoning behind societal punishment. Some of these theories are closely similar, however some are drastically different. It is important to note that these theorists have broad perceptions that can be rooted back to specific time periods throughout history. Societal punishment is defined as, “punishment being a complex social institution, shaped by the ensemble of social and historical forces and having a range of effects that reach well beyond the population of offenders” (Garland, 1991).
Punishment refers to a response with an unpleasant consequence. Punishment unlike reinforcement decreases the likelihood that the response will occur again. Positive punishment is any stimulus that, when added to a situation decreases the probability that a given behavior will occur. If a child is destroying the house by painting the walls and the parent catches them doing this act. The parent may spank the child adding an unpleasant consequence and hoping this behavior will not occur again.
Punishment is a process that decreases the likelihood of a behavior to occur again. This is not to be confused with negative reinforcement because it doesn't increase the likelihood of an occurrence. There are drawbacks to punishment. It doesn't teach an appropriate behavior to replace an inappropriate one. Also, intense punishment can lead to results such as passivity, fear, anxiety, or hostility. Finally, effects of punishment are sometimes temporary.
What are the purposes of punishment? Which do you consider to be the most important and why?
Misbehavior is an opportunity to show the student that the teacher believes they are capable of a higher standard. The objective of discipline is not to punish but rather to teach the student to act differently in the future by imposing an unwanted consequence based on unacceptable behavior. Punishment alone without the goal of retraining student behavior may cause resentment and further problems down the road. (Charles, 2008)