What is punishment in psychology and how is it used?

A fundamental concept in psychology, especially in the behaviorist paradigm.

Punishment is one of the central concepts for behaviorist psychology.. It is a behavior modification technique whose purpose is to reduce or extinguish the repetition of a behavior.

It is also a concept that has been constantly taken up and even criticized by some disciplines outside psychology, as well as by sub-disciplines within it, especially pedagogy, educational psychology, clinical psychology and organizational psychology, among others.

In colloquial language, the term "punishment" has also become widespread and has been loaded with different meanings, often used as a synonym for emotional damage. used as a synonym for emotional or physical harm..

This is why talking about "punishment" can have some variations depending on who uses the concept, and can also give rise to different confusions. In this article we will see specifically what punishment is in behaviorist psychology (especially in operant conditioning), and how it is used.

What is punishment? Its use in operant conditioning

The concept of punishment applied in psychology arises from the current of operant conditioning. The latter was systematized by the American psychologist Frederic Skinner, who took up the most classical theories of conditioning developed by John Watson and Ivan Pavlov; and later worked on by another American psychologist: Edward Thorndike.

Classical conditioning refers to how we learn a behavior through the presentation of a stimulus. In very broad terms, classical conditioning tells us that upon the presentation of a stimulus, a response (an action or a behavior) appears. Thus, it is possible to develop a behavioral technology capable of creating situations and contexts that increase the probability that certain actions will be carried out, and reduce the probability that others will be carried out.

Operant conditioning, on the other hand, also assumes the technical implications of classical conditioning, although it proposes other means to achieve it. It proposes that such a response is followed by a certain consequence. And the latter, the consequence, is the element that defines whether the behavior is repeated or diminished..

Thus, operant conditioning analyzes how and what are the consequences that can to produce or eliminate certain conduct or action. For this purpose, it has been necessary to use different concepts that have had an important impact on behavior modification theories and interventions. Among these concepts are "consequence" and "punishment", which we will see developed below.

Consequence and punishment according to behaviorist psychology.

In summary terms, the consequence is the effect of the behavior. In other words, it is what happens after a certain action occurs. The consequence can have two possible outcomes: it can either cause the action to be repeated, or it can cause the action to decrease.

The first case is a "positive consequence", since it reinforces the behavior and favors its repetition. encourages its repetition. In the second case, we speak of a "negative consequence", because its main effect is the suppression of the behavior. We see then that, despite the frequent use of concepts such as "positive" or "negative", in the context of operant conditioning these are not terms that indicate morality, i.e., they should not be understood as "good" or "bad", but in terms of their effects and according to the way in which a stimulus is presented.

Thus, the consequence can either strengthen a behavior or suppress it. And the latter depends on how it is applied and what its purpose is, which lends itself to allowing the implementation of desirable behavioral models from the point of view of the family, society, etc. We can then distinguish two types of consequence:

1. positive consequence (the reinforcer).

Operant conditioning tells us that to strengthen a behavior, or, alternatively, a stimulus must be presented or withdrawn.. The objective of both presentation and withdrawal is always to reinforce the behavior. The latter can occur through two different actions and elements:

1.1. Positive reinforcer

Positive reinforcement is that which occurs through the presentation of a pleasant stimulus. For example, when a person is given an incentive (material or immaterial) that he/she likes, after having performed the expected behavior. A classic example is giving a sweet to a small child when he has done something that we want him to repeat. In the more traditional context of animal experimentation, an example of positive reinforcement is to give a child a sweet when he has done something we want him to repeat.In the more traditional context of animal experimentation, an example of positive reinforcement is when a rat is given a food ball after pressing a lever.

Negative reinforcer

Negative reinforcement consists of removing an unpleasant stimulus. For example, removing something that the person does not like: if a child dislikes doing homework, a negative reinforcement is to reduce the number of homework assignments after a desired behavior (as this will make the behavior repeat itself).

Another example is when the alarms inside a car start to sound to indicate that we are not wearing our seat belts. These alarms are only removed once we have put on our seat belt. In other words, their removal reinforces our behavior.

2. Negative consequence (punishment)

On the other hand, the negative consequence, also called "punishment", has the objective of suppressing a behavior. As in the previous cases, it is necessary to present or withdraw a stimulus; only in this case, the purpose is always to extinguish the behavior, the purpose is always to extinguish, or at least to diminish, the occurrence of a behavior.. This follows a more complex learning mechanism than that of positive consequence, and can occur in two possible ways:

2.1. Positive punishment.

In this case, a stimulus that provokes disgust or rejection is presented, so that the person or organism associates a behavior with that unpleasant sensation and then avoids its repetition. For example, in experiments with animals, electric shocks have been used when they perform undesired behaviors. when they perform undesired behaviors. An example among people may be punishments based on unpleasant words or physical approaches.

Often, punishments extinguish or diminish a behavior only temporarily. In addition, they can reinforce the negative emotional association with the behavior or with the conditioned stimulus, which is the situation (it can be the mere presence of a person) that alerts to the approaching aversive stimulus.

2.2. Negative punishment

Negative punishment consists in the withdrawal of a pleasant stimulus.. For example, when a person is deprived of something he likes. A typical case would be to take away a toy that a child likes after he has behaved in a way that we do not want him to repeat.

Depending on how much coherence and relationship exists between the undesired behavior and the stimulus, such behavior may be extinguished in the short or long term; and it may or may not generalize to other contexts or people.

In other words, it may happen that the child only suppresses the behavior when facing a specific person (the one who always takes away the toy), but does not suppress it in front of other people or in other circumstances. In this case it is important that there is a logical and immediate relationship between the negative consequence and the behavior we wish to extinguish. Finalmente, aunque una conducta logre extinguirse, esto no necesariamente implica que se ha sustituido por modelos de referencia que resulten en un aprendizaje alternativo y más deseable.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• D'Amato, M.R. (1969). Learning Processes: Instrumental Conditioning. Toronto: The Macmillan Company.
• Holth, P. (2005). Two Definitions of Punishment. The Behavior Analyst Today, 6(1): pp. 43 - 55.
• Meindl, J.N., & Casey, L.B. (2012). Increasing the suppressive effect of delayed punishers: A review of basic and applied literature. Behavioral Interventions, 27(3): pp. 129 - 150.
• Skinner, B.F. (1938) The behavior of organisms. Nueva York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
• Zhao, Y. (2002). Cultural Divide Over Parental Discipline, The New York Times.