Punishment as a Form of Behaviour Modification

It is believed that punishment works to protect people from their criminals as it used to be seen as a fear in people’s mind to avoid inappropriate behaviour against other people, harming other people in certain ways and breaking the laws set by society or government. Punishment is a common view of human beings and they choose to behave appropriately towards their duty to follow rules set out by government laws to avoid fines or sentences. Sentencing is categorised n various degrees depending on the type and severity of crime committed, and imprisonment is considered as most common way to protect communities from its offenders and deterrent to re-offending all over the world. As Murray (1997) claims that punishment reduces crime

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

Reinforcement is the main contributing factor in operant conditioning. There is more than one way to go about establishing reinforcement, if a delay occurs between the response and the reinforcement the response may not become strengthened. It is likely that if the reinforcement occurs immediately after the response that there will be a definite strengthening of the response. Continuous reinforcement is when reinforcement occurs at every instance of the desired response. Intermittent reinforcement occurs when a response is reinforced some of the time. The different schedules of reinforcement influence patterns of response. Intermittent schedules offer greater resistance to extinction than continuous schedules.

Classical and operant conditioning are two important concepts central to behavioral psychology. While both result in learning, the processes are quite different. In order to understand how each of these behavior modification techniques can be used, it is also essential to understand how classical conditioning and operant conditioning differ from one another. Both classical and operant learning are psychological processes that lead to learning. Here learning refers to the process by which changes in behavior, including actions, emotions, thoughts, and the responses of muscles and glands,

Background (key works): Reinforcement theory is rooted in theory of operant conditioning based primarily on the work of the American behavior scientist B.F. Skinner (Borkowski, 2011). In contrast to Ivan Pavlov’ respondent conditioning controlled by

This paper will provide the behavioral definition of punishment and give examples of both positive and negative punishment in different types of settings. The guidelines for the effective use of punishment, as well as legal and ethical issues that should be considered by the Behavior Analyst while designing a behavior intervention plan are identified.

Its application to the treatment of mental problems is known as behaviour modification. Learning is seen as behaviour change moulded by experience; it is accomplished largely through either classical or operant conditioning.

In my opinion, I feel that it is up to the individuals themselves and the need pursued for effective improvements in their life. Therefore, regardless of the threat of punishment or individual acceptance, the individuals should be on board with treatment or the effectiveness will be ineffective which will increase the rates of recidivism.

Jermaine has a bad habit of cracking his knuckles and his mother would like to use punishment to decrease this behavior. Jermaine’s mother should implement negative punishment procedure. Two things that Jermaine’s mother should do to ensure that this procedure will likely to be effective at decreasing the response are putting Jermaine in timeout and taking his television away. I used negative punishment because I personally think that is a better away to take things away from Jermaine instead to add to things to him. Giving a timeout to Jermaine will help but making sure that also making sure that reinforcing items are not around such as toys, video games. Etc… we all know the kids love watch their favorite shows and removing television

When it comes to inspiring behavioral changes positive reinforcement is more effective than punishment in terms of changing the behavior in the long term. How effectively positive reinforcement affects behavioral changes is closely tied to how behavioral changes are incentivized and rewards bestowed. The case is similar for the application of negative reinforcement. However, rewards and punishments must significantly affect a person’s current situation--for better or worse--in order to inspire change. Let’s look at how positive reinforcement typically results in long-term behavioral change more effectively than punishment overall.

Punishments vastly vary in terms of their underlying philosophies and forms. Fundamental punishment philosophies involve deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation, restoration, and incapacitation. In terms of form, punishments come as either formal or informal depending on the legitimate authority held by the sanctioning body. While the nature of punishment intends to execute various social-control functions, the principles of incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence, and restoration seem relevant. At that, each philosophy intends to prevent the occurrence of criminal offenses.

The article I have chosen is titled, “Why Physical Punishment Does Not Work,” written by Paul C. Holinger. To summarize, it describes how physical punishment is not an ineffective method of teaching kids proper behavior and its detrimental effects on a child’s behavior later on in life. Furthermore, it lists alternative ways to correct a child's misbehavior without the use of violence. This article lightly reflects on B.F. Skinner's Theory of Operant Conditioning. The following information is how the Skinner Theory can be related to the article.

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 is defined as “the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense” (“Punishment”). Some prominent theories of punishment include retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and the moral education theory. Although retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation are all crucial components of punishment justification, independently the theories have weaknesses that avert the moral rationalization of punishment. I believe that Jean Hampton’s moral education theory is the best justification for punishment because it yields the most sympathetic and prudent reasons for punishment, while simultaneously showing that punishment cannot be justified by solely

Negative and positive reinforcements and extinction strengthen certain kinds of behavior of individuals. Punishment is a big form of operant conditioning used all over the world. When people are punished, it is to decrease that certain behavior produced by the individual. Therefore, behavioral theory refers to conditioning which leads to different behavioral pattern of juvenile offenders.