Deck 13: Decreasing Behavior With Punishment

Question 1

Define conditioned punisher, and give an example that is not in this chapter.

Answer 1

A conditioned punisher is a stimulus that was not originally punishing, but that acquired punishing power through association with other punishers.For example, the verbal stimulus "No!" is probably not a punisher for an infant or a very young child.However, it acquires punishing value because it is paired with other punishers, such as the loud sound of the parent's voice when saying "No!" Any appropriate example is acceptable.

Question 2

Briefly describe how Ben's aggressive behavior was eliminated.

Answer 2

A punishment program was used with Ben and was implemented by the teacher and teacher aids at the public school he attended.The punisher for Ben's aggressive behavior consisted of contingent exercise.When Ben hit someone else, an adult said, "Ben, no hitting.Stand up and sit down 10 times." The adult then held Ben's hand above his head to prompt him to stand up, and then pulled his upper body forward to prompt him to sit down.After the first day, only verbal reminders were necessary to prompt Ben to perform the contingent exercise following aggressive behavior.The program was highly successful.

Question 3

If you do a good job of attending to the first two factors influencing the effectiveness of punishment, you may not have to apply punishment.Discuss.

Answer 3

The first factor influencing the effectiveness of punishment consists of presenting SDs prior to, and providing reinforcement following, a desirable alternative response.This alternative response hopefully is incompatible with, and will decrease the probability of, the undesirable behavior.The second factor influencing the effectiveness of punishment consists of minimizing the causes of the response to be punished.This is typically done by eliminating the SDs that prompt the undesirable behavior and identifying and eliminating reinforcement contingencies that have been maintaining it.Careful attention to these first two factors may yield some desirable alternative behavior that competes so strongly with the behavior to be decreased that punishment will never have to be used.

Question 4

Distinguish between an exclusionary and nonexclusionary timeout.

Question 5

Distinguish between the direct-acting and indirect-acting effects of punishment.

Question 6

Under which of the four categories of punishment would you put the type of punishment used with Ben? Justify your choice.

Question 7

How does the meaning of the word punishment for behavior modifiers differ from three meanings of that word for most people?

Question 8

What are four guidelines in regard to delivering a punisher?

Question 9

What are two conditions under which a mild punisher can be effective?

Question 10

What are three reasons that could explain the effectiveness of a delayed punisher in decreasing a behavior?

Question 11

Compare S^ to S^Dp. Give an example of each from your own experience.

Question 12

How was stimulus control an important part of the punishment contingency for Ben?

Question 13

Define unconditioned punisher, and give an example that illustrates the complete definition.

Question 14

What steps might you follow to experimentally determine whether a verbal reprimand is a punisher for a particular child?

Question 15

State the procedures for extinction, response cost, and exclusionary timeout.

Question 16

What is a punisher? Give an example that you experienced, and identify both the response and the punisher.

Question 17

What is an example of response-cost punishment that parents commonly apply to their children?

Question 18

Describe or define four different types of punishers, and give an example of each.

Question 19

Compare S^D to S^Dp. Give an example of each from your own experience.

Question 20

State the principle of punishment.

Question 21

Give an example of functional communication training.

Question 22

Briefly describe the procedure that Mathews et al.taught mothers to decrease dangerous behaviors of their 1-year-old children. Was the timeout component exclusionary or nonexclusionary? Justify your choice.

Question 23

List six conditions that should be met for behavior modifiers to design punishment programs.

Question 24

In two or three sentences, describe either the case of the lemon juice therapy with Sandra or the ice cube therapy with Gerri.

Question 25

In view of the controversy regarding the use of punishment, do you agree with the way punishment was used with Ben? Defend your answer.

Question 26

Cite six potential harmful side effects of the application of punishment.

Question 27

Briefly describe the right-to-effective-treatment and freedom-from-harm positions in regard to the deliberate use of punishment treatment procedures.

Question 28

Give an example of how punishment is applied by people who are not aware that they are doing so.

Question 29

What is pica? What factors influencing the effectiveness of punishment did Johnston et al.incorporate into their treatment for pica?

Question 30

Identify three areas where more research is needed on the use of timeout with children.

Question 31

We suggested that if behavior modifiers are unable to detect most instances of a behavior to be punished, they should have serious doubts about the value of implementing a punishment procedure.
a.Give two reasons to support this suggestion.
b.What alternative means for decreasing behavior are available to the behavior modifier (see Chapters 6 and 12)?

Question 32

Do you think parents should use punishment? Discuss.