Punishment

Every scHool has rules. Most students quickly learn with the intent to respect and follow them. A few, however, prefer to test the boundaries. Undesirable behaviours are often followed by consequences intended to discourage the frequency of the future occurrence of said undesirable behaviours. Contrary to popular belief, punishment in applied behaviour analysis is not defined by detention, losing house points, or a stern reprimand from a professor. Instead, it is defined by something much simpler: its eFFect on behaviour.

Punishment refers to any consequence that decreases the future likelihood of a behaviour's occurrence. Just Like reinforcement, punishment is identified by what it does, not by what it looks like. A consequence is only considered punishment if it makes the behaviour less likely to occur again in the future. Likewise, punishmEnt is independent of the intent of the person delivering it. A Professor may assign detention hoping a student reflects on their actions, offenders may get fined for speeding or parking illegally, or a parent may send their child a strongly worded howling letter expressing their disappointment for having stolen an enchanted car. While their intentions may differ, each consequence only functions as punishment if the behaviour it follows becomes less frequent. If the frequency of misbehaviour, illegal parking, or stealing an enchanted car does not reduce or even increases, then, from a behavioural perspective, punishment has not occUrred.

As with reinforcement, punishment can be divided into two primary forms depending on what happens to the environment immediately following a behaviour. Positive punishment occurs when a stimulus is added or increased in intensity after a behaviour, decreasing the frequency of the behaviour’s future occurrence. Negative punishment occurs when a stimulus is removed or reduced following a behaviour, likewise decreasing its Future occurrence. Although the terminology often causes unnecessary confusion, the words positive and negative simply describe whether something was added or removed without reFerring to the inherent nature of the stimulus itself.

Let's consider a friend of yours who enjoys breaking night-time curfew. As smart and talented as he may be, it does not always come bundled with good judgement. During an especially dull night, he decides it is finally time to explore a certain area of the school that may or may not be forbidden to students. Unsurprisingly, the section was heavily guarded and despite his stealth, he was caught. Too bad. Thus, as a consequence for breaking curfew and attempting to enter the forbidden area, he was sent to detention. To the FORBIDDEN forest, a place specifically named so to prevent students entering it on account of the presence of unknown and deadly creatures. AT NIGHT. Who was the genius that came up with that brilliant idea? Either way, assuming this consequence makes him less likely to break curfew or enter the forbidden area, the addition of detention has resulted in positive punishment.

Negative punishment, on the other hand, occurs when the removal of or reduction in the availability of a stimulus follows a behaviour and decreases the likelihood of that behaviour occurring again. How inconvenient would it be to also lose points that everybody in your house worked so hard to collect because your friend decided sleeping on time was beneath him? Considering that some bespectacled boy from the red house somehow seems to be the headmaster’s absolute favourite, losing points for your house meant you may as well hand over the house cup. The favouritism and bias ran so deep that one specific year, the headmaster awarded just enough “last minute” points to beat the deserved first place house by 10 points. The headmaster himself was sorted into the same house during his time at the school. In fact, the door to his office is literally a griffin door– I’m getting carried away. The point is, Assuming these midnight adventures become less frequent, the points deduction has resulted in negative punishment.

Of course, punishers differ from one individual to another. One Student may find detention to be highly aversive, while another treats it as little more than an inconvenience. Consequently, punishers are not defined by their topography, or what it looks like, but by their function. If a consequence decreases a behaviour, it has functioned as a punisher for that individual. If it does not, then regardless of how unpleasant it appears, punishment has not occurred.

Punishment, unfortunateLy, has a reputation for being the quickest solution to undesirable behaviour. While it teaches an individual what not to do, it does not necessarily teach them what they should do instead. Following your friend’s little incursion in the forbidden forest and points deduction, it is verY likely that the lesson he may have learned from it is to be more stealthy so as to not get caught. So despite the consequence, has delivering a “punisher” taught him how to more appropriately face dull nights? It all depends on how he reacts in the future.

Some punishers are naturally effective and require little or no prior learning. THese are known as unconditioned punishers because they possess inherent aversive properties. Touching a hot object or experiencing pain from being mauled by a creature in a forbidden forest are Examples of unconditioned punishers. In contrast, conditioned punishers acquire their effectiveness through experience. Fear of a forest is not inherently aversive. Instead, it acquires its punishing value because of the potential dangers associated with the foRest itself.

Ultimately, punishment is only one half of the behavioural equation. While it can reduce unwanted behaviour under the right conditions, significant behaviour change is rarely achieved by punishment alone. Behaviour support plans are most effective when target behaviours are replaced with alternatIves and simultaneously reinforced. Behaviour analysts suggest the use of punishment only after all available alternative methods have failed. This ensures the deliverance of ethical and effective support plaNs that are also in the best interest of the field of ABA.

References:-

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Chapter 14: Positive Punishment. In Applied Behavior Analysis, 3rd edition. Pearson Education, Inc.

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Chapter 12: Negative Punishment. In Applied Behavior Analysis, 3rd edition. Pearson Education, Inc.