Behavioral Definition Of Punishment

In chapter six in the General Psychology course, we learned about “Learning”. We learned the types of conditions that help people learn. One of the conditions is “Operant Conditioning” where learning is controlled by the organism’s behavior. During the lecture one thing that stood out to me was that in the operant condition, there is a term called positive punishment which is used to decrease bad behavior. It is used usually by parents to discipline their children when they misbehave in order to break that bad habit.

1. Operant conditioning is a type of behavioral learning developed by made famous by psychoanalysis B.F. Skinner in the late 1930’s. Operant conditioning is the act of learned behavior through consequences. Types of operant conditioning are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.

I am going to write an essay on the retributivist approach and reductivist approach on punishment, comparing and contrasting both theories. To start off I will talk about the retributivism theory and the belief that an offender should be punished based upon the severity of the offense. I will them move onto just deserts which Is a modern retributivist theory which only focuses on crimes that have already committed making sure individuals get there just deserts for doing wrong. Next I will write about the reductivist theory which is all about trying to deter individuals from committing a crime or reoffending. Jeremy Bentham had a huge impact on reductivism believing if pain was to outweigh pleasure then it would deter individuals and overall nobody would have the desire to commit a crime as they are aware of the consequences they would have to face. Moving on to deterrence will talk about the two different types of deterrence; individual and general deterrence. Individual deterrence focuses on stopping individuals from reoffending whereas general deterrence is about deterring individuals who have never even committed an offence from turning to crime. Once writing about both retributivism and reductivism I will start to compare and contrast both theories, looking at the similarities and differences. Finally I will give my own opinion on the theories and which theory I believe is best, talking about how retributivist and reductivist punishments are different and the good and

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

Punishment is a form of reprimand that is meant to suppress or decrease a behavior by adding a consequence or removing the stimulus.

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.

For example: if a child decides to do drugs or physically harm someone, then they should get a spanking or a harsh scolding accompanied by a week of restriction on things they enjoy. Luscombe includes a quote involving the alternative punishments to spanking being more effective than spanking (par. 9). I normally agree with this, however I would add that it also depends on the child and their attitudes after the punishment has occurred. For instance, if a parent was to eliminate one of the stars on “The Star Chart,” and the child’s response was, “I don’t care,” then the parent would have to apply harsher punishments until the child has changed their attitude towards the punishment. Luscombe also includes information on the negative effects physical punishment may have on children, which should be taken into account when disciplining (par. 5).

13. The Ecological Perspective recognizes multiple levels of intervention including all of the following EXCEPT

Effective contingencies that function as punishers have some basic principles that distinguish them from other ineffective contingencies. Punishment is a response or a contingency that suppresses the future occurrence of a similar response. It is a consequence that causes pain or discomfort and teaches an individual not to repeat what caused the punishment. In the third section of Punishment on trial, Ennio Cipani summarizes six basic principles of effective punishment. These principles are:

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

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 used to try to control certain behaviors despite whether or not they are cognizant of the rules. For example, a small child or an animal is, in

Punishment is a form of social control which his intended to act as a deterrent for people who perform unlawful actions. The effectiveness of punishment depends upon the attitude of people towards punishment. Simply it means whether people are actually afraid of a certain punishment or not. For example the punishment of a murder is death sentence. But the concern is whether this punishment is sufficient to act as a deterrent against murders. The fear of punishment is what is known as punitive attitude. If people have fear of punishment, there is high probability that they will not kill a person. On the other hand, if the punishment is not very harsh for example, a murderer is only imprisoned for two years, then the fear of punishment is likely to be low and the crime arte will be higher in the society.

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)