When is punishment most effective in suppressing behavior

Encourage development of fair, reasonable and consistent rules. Alternatives for educating and supporting teachers as preventive measures :. Provide information on effective discipline programs and resources. Page 4. If and when:. Making Punishment More Effective. Apply punishment swiftly. Use punishment just severe enough to be effective. Be consistent. Explain the punishment. Make an alternative response available and reinforce it. Minimize dependence on physical punishment. Simply because we can almost always control behavior just as effectively by using reinforcement as by using punishment, and without having to put up with the problems and negative side effects of punishment.

The following is only a partial list of the problems and negative side effects resulting from the use of punishment to control behavior. Since attention is one of the most potent rewards available, and since it is difficult to punish without paying attention to the offender, punishing may serve more as a reward than as a punishment. Pavlovian conditioning fear Once the strong emotional responses are aroused the degree and direction of generalization is largely uncontrollable.

Page 2 4. The offender may learn to inhibit the punished response during surveillance, but once surveillance ends there is no internal control mechanism to continue inhibiting the behavior. Most of the damage and injury occurs when the parent loses control, and goes beyond the boundaries of reasonable behavior.

The pain of punishment often leads to a display of aggression against either the source of the pain or, in some cases, an innocent scapegoat. The degree of vigilance required to constantly monitor behavior so that every occurrence of the undesired behavior can be punished is rarely possible. The undesired behavior is, therefore, intermittently reinforced when it is not punished, and the behavior continues.

Punishment: Consequences that Weaken Responses 8. In addition, corporal punishment defeats its own purpose by modeling aggressive or physical behavior, the very behavior it is often attempting to correct. Most current promoters of punitive discipline in the United States espouse nonphysical forms of control, such as the use of reinforcements, logical consequences, or penalties.

With children, behavior modification techniques such as time-out have proven very effective in modifying disruptive behaviors such as hitting, grabbing, talking back, or tantrums. McCord, Joan, ed. Coercion and Punishment in Long-Term Perspectives. When the subject—a person or animal— engages in a behavior and something positive is taken away, that behavior is less likely to be repeated. Further Reading McCord, Joan, ed. When the subject—a person or animal— engages in a behavior and something negative is applied as a result, the behavior is less likely to be repeated.

In a study , researchers argued that spanking can raise the risk of increasing aggressive behavior. It can send the message that aggression can resolve problems. It may suppress some bad behavior without providing alternatives. Results may be temporary, with the unwanted behavior returning once the punishment is over.

A review of studies of 50 years of research suggests that the more you spank a child, the more likely they are to defy you. It may increase antisocial behavior and aggression. It may also contribute to cognitive and mental health problems.

You may want to consider a different method. Rossiaky cautions that kids are pretty good at finding loopholes. They tend to find equally inappropriate behaviors unless you teach alternative ones. Punishment is used to discourage a certain behavior. Reinforcement is meant to encourage a particular behavior.

Positive punishment is when you add a consequence to unwanted behavior. You do this to make it less appealing. An example of positive punishment is adding more chores to the list when your child neglects their responsibilities. The goal is to encourage your child to tackle their regular chores to avoid a growing chore list.

Negative punishment is when you take something away. The goal of negative punishment is to get your child to pick up after themselves to avoid having toys taken away. Timeout is also a form of negative punishment. With negative reinforcement , you remove a stimulus with the goal of increasing an appropriate behavior. For example, you consistently call your child back to the kitchen to clear the table and carry plates to the sink.

In time, they learn to perform this action without prompting to avoid the inconvenience of being called back. Positive punishment adds an undesirable consequence following an unwanted behavior. Positive reinforcement is adding a reward when the child behaves well.

Early 20th-century psychologist B. Skinner is known for expanding on the theory of behaviorism.