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A Discussion about the Major Components of Punishment and its role as an Effective Behaviour Modification Technique


Punishment is a very traditional and frequently used behaviour modification technique; however in the 21st century it is considered to be quite controversial. The factors influencing the effectiveness of punishment are well documented. Although the specific balance required for these components to suppress an undesired behaviour indefinitely is still relatively unknown. The ethical debate over the side effects of punishment is forever ongoing, with little research showing any definite conclusions. In extreme cases, punishment has proven to be a crucial aspect in rapidly decreasing a problem behaviour which may cause serious physical harm.  The overall success of punishment as a behaviour modification technique will always be a subjective discussion, which involves one’s ethical beliefs at core.


The debate surrounding the application of punishment, especially to children, is one that is very topical in the 21st century. However, in the past punishment has been one of the most frequently used techniques in the control and modification of behaviour (Ferster, Culbertson & Boren, 1975). Recent research in this area now disputes many of the traditional viewpoints on the lasting effects of punishment (Parke, 2002).  However in certain extreme circumstances punishment has proved to be a necessary component in behaviour modification (Lerman & Vorndran, 2002). This report will investigate the components of effective punishment, the maintenance of the modified behaviour, the necessity of punishment in behaviour modification, the side effects of punishment and the overall success of punishment in modifying behaviours.

In basic operant conditioning terms there can either be two forms of punishment, positive or negative. Positive involves the addition of an aversive stimulus, following a specific behaviour and negative involves the removal of a favourable stimulus, following a specific behaviour (Ferster, Culbertson & Boren, 1975). The more frequently used form is positive punishment and can be defined in the context of learning as a reduction in the likelihood of a response occurring due to the presentation of an adverse stimulus (Leiberman, 2000). Recent research however has shown that the effectiveness of punishment in reducing behaviour is dependent on many factors.

FACTORS INFLUENCING EFFECTIVE PUNISHMENT

The intensity in which a punishment is delivered can dramatically influence the likelihood of that behaviour being reduced indefinitely (Leiberman, 2000). From an ethical and practical viewpoint the absolute minimal amount of punishment needed to reduce the behaviour should only be administered, especially seeing that punishment usually involves inflicting pain, either emotional or physical (Lerman & Vorndran, 2002). Thus Leiberman (2000) defines this fine balance of punishment intensity as the “...minimum level that is actually effective in suppressing the punished response”. This is because if the punishment administered is too mild, the punishment may be ineffective and therefore not reduce the undesired behaviour (Leiberman, 2000).  If the punishment begins at a low intensity and gradually increases in strength it is also usually ineffective (Lerman & Vorndran, 2002). Higher intensity punishments however are usually quite effective in rapidly decreasing the undesired behaviour (Lerman & Vorndran, 2002). Although, if punishment is too extreme it may reduce the frequency of many behaviours because of the emotional states elicited from the aversive stimulus (Ferster, Culbertson & Boren, 1975). This is clearly seen in the experiment conducted by Masserman and Pechtel in 1953 in which they exposed wild monkeys to a toy snake on their food pod (Leiberman, 2000). The presentation of this aversive stimulus severely affected these monkeys and many of them completely avoided the food pod altogether; preferring starvation over the risk of the snakes appearance (Leiberman, 2000). In this circumstance the punishment could be considered highly effective as the monkeys completely suppressed the behaviour, however the intensity of this punishment left the monkeys with long-term psychological problems (Leiberman, 2000).

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Another significant component is the delay between when the behaviour occurs and when the punishment is administered. This time period can affect the strength of the association between the behaviour with the aversive stimulus and therefore influence the likelihood of the behaviour decreasing (Leiberman, 2000). Research findings by Misanin, Campbell and Smith (1966) with rats show that the longer the delay between the episode of the behaviour and the delivery of the punishment, the smaller the amount of response suppression under punishment. This delay effect can be minimised when an explanation is used to describe that the behaviour stimulus ...

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