PUNISHMENT

Chapter 4

PUNISHMENT CONTINGENCY

• The immediate,

• response contingent presentation

• of an aversive condition

• resulting in a decreased frequency of that response

Aversive Condition

• Any stimulus, event, or condition whose termination immediately following a response increases the frequency of that response = ESCAPE

• Any stimulus, event, or condition whose presentation immediately following a response decreases the frequency of that response = PUNISHMENT

Aversive Conditions are necessary to both definitions

• ESCAPE

• PUNISHMENT

Aversive Conditions

• We prefer to minimize contact with these– Electric shock– Smelling a skunk (unpleasant odor)– Jack hammer’s constant drilling– Hot pepper sauce (painful stimuli)

Examples of punishment contingencies

Before Behavior After

Ed receives no painful shock

Ed moves leg Ed receives painful shock

She has no ice cube on face

She grinds teeth She has an ice cube on face

Sandra has no squirt of sour lemon juice

Sandra starts vigorous tongue movement

Sandra receives squirt of lemon juice

The punishment contingency describes a

functional relationship between behavior and the

environment.

Contingency Table

Stimulus, event, or condition

Present immediately following a

response

Remove immediately following a

response

Reinforcer Reinforcement

Aversive Condition

Punishment Escape

or ?

Examples of punishment contingencies

Before Behavior After

Ed receives no painful shock

Ed moves leg Ed receives painful shock

She has no ice cube on face

She grinds teeth She has an ice cube on face

Sandra has no squirt of sour lemon juice

Sandra starts vigorous tongue movement

Sandra receives squirt of lemon juice

Graph

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5

10

15

20

25

30

Baseline Punishment

SpittingFreq

uenc

y

Contingency vs. Principle

• CONTINGENCY

The immediate, response contingent presentation of an aversive condition resulting in a decreased frequency of that response

• PRINCIPLE

A response becomes less frequent if an aversive condition or an increase in an aversive condition has immediately followed it in the past.

Adaptive function of behavior that comes under the control of punishment contingencies

• We don’t walk into door frames

• We tend not to trip over wires

• We don’t burn ourselves on hot stoves

Application of punishment contingencies

Overcorrection

• A contingency on inappropriate behavior requiring the person to engage in an effortful response that more than corrects the effects of the inappropriate behavior.

Overcorrection

Behavior:

John sweeps trash under a rug

Before:

John need not sweep the room

After:

John must do effortful overcorrection of sweeping the room

Sick Social Cycle

• The perpetrator’s aversive behavior punishes the victim’s appropriate behavior. And the victim’s stopping the appropriate behavior unintentionally reinforces that aversive behavior

Before: Teacher asks Jimmy to do a tough task

Behavior: Jimmy disrupts

After: Teacher does not ask Jimmy to do a task

Before: Jimmy does not disrupt

Behavior: Teacher asks Jimmy to do a tough task

After: Jimmy disrupts

Sick Social Cycle – Victim’s Punishment Model

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Chapter 4

enrichment

Punishment Contingency

• For every punishment contingency, there’s a reinforcement contingency in the background

Punishment & Reinforcement

Before:

No food

Before:

No shock

After:

Food

Behavior:

Lever Press

Reinforcement Contingency

Punishment Contingency

After:

Shock

Punishment vs. Aggression

• Don’t use punishment in wrath

• Don’t confuse punishment with divine retribution

• Forget the eye-for-an-eye notion.

If you use punishment

• Remember:

–Make it as short as possible

–All you want is to change behavior, not have people atone for their sins.

Independent Variable

• The variable the experimenter systematically manipulates

• The INTERVENTION

Dependent Variable

• A measure of the subject’s behavior

graphs

• Value of visual inspection of the data

Multiple BSLN Design

• An experimental design in which the replications involve baselines of differing durations and interventions of differing starting times

Sally's Class Participation

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Com

men

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BSLN INTERVENTION

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Que

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Sessions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Doing Science

• Good experimental questions

• Good design

• Complete descriptions of procedures

• Data collection that is accurate & complete

Informed consent

• Consent to intervene in a way that is experimental and/or risky

• The participant or guardian is informed of the risks and benefits and of the right to stop the intervention.

Social Validity

• The goals, procedures, and results of an intervention are socially acceptable to the client, the behavior analyst, and society.

Punishment or escape?

Before Behavior After

Ed has dentist drill on tooth

Ed raises hand Ed has no drill on tooth

She has smell of smelling salts

She opens eyes She has no smell of smelling salts

Sandy’s eyes are not covered

Sandy self-stimulates

Sandy’s eyes are covered 10”

What contingency?

Before Behavior After

Shock Lever press No shock

No shock Lever press Shock

No food pellet Lever press Food pellet