Podcast: Download
Image via Wikipedia Today’s Question: “Do you believe in spanking children to get to them to behave?”
That’s the question addressed in today’s podcast called “Rewards and Punishments”. We’ll look at this issue, along with a few others in this podcast. Join host Michael Britt in examining this controversial issue and you’ll also learn how to tell the difference between B.F. Skinner’s concepts of positive and negative reinforcement and positive and negative punishment (“positive punishment”? – you’ll have to tune in to figure that one out).
Examples of Positive and Negative Reinforcement
Goal: Increase a Desired Behavior
Positive Reinforcement (giving someone something pleasant):
- The paycheck you get from work
- When a teacher gives a child a candy for answering a question correctly
Negative Reinforcement (taking something unpleasant away):
- A teacher promises to take away homework if the students work together quietly.
- Going to a driver safety class to get points taken off your license
Goal: Decrease an Undesired Behavior
Positive Punishment (giving someone something unpleasant):
- Spanking a child when he/she lies
- Spraying a cat in the face with water when he scratches the furniture
- Getting a speeding ticket
Negative Punishment (taking something pleasant away):
- Time out (you’re taking the child away from some enjoyable activity)
- Not letting a child have a nightly snack because he/she lied
- Taking a child’s toy away for a time because he/she didn’t share with other children
- A teacher who doesn’t allow students to have recess because the class didn’t behave well.
Articles in the Popular Press
- Here’s an article that appeared on the ABC online news site entitled, Should Spanking Your Child Be Illegal? An interesting article.
- Here’s another article about a study showing how spanking a child does not work
Related Episodes
Since this podcast I’ve done a number of episodes that address the effectiveness of rewards, punishment, spanking, and timeout on a child’s behavior. If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, check out these episodes:
-
Episode 28 called Is Timeout Really Effective?
-
Episode 33 on Timeout Revisited: Dealing with Challenging Kids Part 1
-
Episode 34, called Timeout Revisited: Dealing with Challenging Kids Part 2.
If you’d like to download the concept map that accompanies this podcast, click the small image below to view the map, then drag it to your desktop (or right click and use “save as”).
3D Concept Map
I made a crazy 3D version of the concepts in this concept map, which you can play with. Let me know what you think. Click on the link below.
Rewards and Punishments 3D Map
I’ve been reading a couple excellent books on the topic of alternative ways to get children to behave (alternatives to spankings that is). The approach is called Positive Discipline. You can find it at Amazon. Excellent advice for both parents and teachers. Positive Discipline
Another one of Jane Nelson’s books on positive discipline techniques has to do with effective ways to do timeout. Check out her book, also on Amazon.Positive Time-Out: And Over 50 Ways to Avoid Power Struggles in the Home and the Classroom
Related articles by Zemanta
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=c1d308ea-7df6-4c3e-b994-7e6d9b884f54)
I’d like to note there is a distinction between a reinforcement (positive or negative) and a reward or punishment. Reinforcement is far more effective than reward because it occurs as soon as the desired behavior is observed. A reward or punishment occurs AFTER a behavior targeted for modification. When the subject given a reward or punishment, he/she/it has no control over it. Conversely, when reinforcement is used, the subject is in control, it can change it’s behavior NOW to earn reinforcement.
Examples:
A parent lectures a child upon seeing a bad report card. The child is being punished for earning poor grades. (And for showing the parent the report card!) There is nothing the child can do to stop this.
A parent praises a child upon seeing a good report card. This is a reward.
A parent praises a child who is currently doing homework. This is positive reinforcement.
A parent lectures a child who is playing video games. This is negative reinforcement IF the child can stop the unpleasant lecture, by, for example, putting away the video game.
Rewards and punishments are weak. Reinforcements are strong. Always ask yourself, what behavior am I reinforcing?
Tarsha,
You make a very good point. The distinction between reward and reinforcement is often not made, but as you say above, a reinforcement given while a behavior is occuring can be very powerful. Thanks for the thought!
Michael
[...] An early episode of The Psych Files covers the basics of rewards and punishments. [...]
Thanks for this delightful site and an actual, factually correct podcast about basic concepts of behavioral psychology.
One thing though … and touched upon, I think, by Tarsha: Is a paycheck really a positive reinforcer?
Rolf – good point. A paycheck is more correctly a reward than a positive reinforcer. Thanks for the positive comments! Michael
I appreciate the podcast. It is very informative and enlightening. It anwered my question about the difference between negative inforcement and punishment.
The difference between negative reinforcement and punishment is a tricky one for sure. Glad this episode helped. Michael
Hello,
I think there may be some confusion around the concept of reinforcement noted here. It seems that an in accurate distinction between reward and reinforcement is being made. In both cases, the stimulus that is being referred to as either a reward or reinforcer come after a behavior occurs. In fact, by definition this is the case. The true distinction should be made with regard to the function that the stimulus has upon future occurrences of behavior. If there is an increase in future occurrences of the behavior that the item/event followed, then we can say that that item/event (stimulus) functioned as a reinforcer. However, if there is no effect upon later behavioral occurrences, then we may not be able to define that stimulus as a reinforcer but may simply refer to it as a reward, or possibly a treat. There need not be a distinction made upon the temporal relation between the delivery of a stimulus and whether it is a reward/treat or a reinforcer. A stimlus may certainly function as a reinforcer even with large delays between the occurrence of a behavior and the delivery of the reinforcing stimulus. This is especially true in individuals with well developed verbal repertoires (in fact, this may be a requirement). So, I would certainly argue that a paycheck is, indeed, a reinforcer. It functions as reinforcement for your work behaviors. For we would all probably cease to continue showing up for work if the paycheck also ceased to continue to be delivered. Additionally, we should not attempt to distinguish between rewards, reinforcers, and punishers based around being able to control their delivery or not. It is more accurate to talk about the stimuli (antecedent and consequential) controlling the behavior of the individual. This is what is referred to as “stimulus control”. But that is best left for another discussion!
Thank you!
JTC, someone else wrote me to say that there is a difference between the concept of a reinforcer and a reward that I didn’t make clear in this episode. I don’t think he explained the difference clearly, but you describe it quite well above:
“If there is an increase in future occurrences of the behavior that the item/event followed, then we can say that that item/event (stimulus) functioned as a reinforcer. However, if there is no effect upon later behavioral occurrences, then we may not be able to define that stimulus as a reinforcer but may simply refer to it as a reward, or possibly a treat.”.
Oddly, I was watching a video of an interview with B.F. Skinner on Youtube recently and even he explained “reinforcement” as a kind of reward. Of course, he was being interviewed by a reporter and I guess he thought that it would be best to explain reinforcement this way for the layperson. For behavioral researchers like yourself, however, there’s clearly an important difference between the two. Thanks for making that difference clear. Appreciate it.
Thank you for this podcast – it’s terrific. I just read this episode & wanted to ask about your example of a speeding ticket as a positive punishment. I always envisioned a speeding ticket as a response cost, because it’s not the piece of paper itself that is punishing, but the fact that you will be losing your money. What are your thoughts about this?
Sharon: thanks for your comment and glad that you’re enjoying the podcast. I suppose I didn’t use the term “response cost” because it’s not a term that you find in a typical Introductory Psychology textbook. It’s hard enough to convey the idea of positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. Response cost is a little more advanced than I wanted to get in this episode.
Sorry, my point was rather why you think of it as positive punishment rather than negative punishment.
I see. Interesting. It depends on how you look at this example I guess. I see it as positive punishment because the police officer is giving you a ticket in order to get you to stop doing something (speeding). To see this as negative punishment, something good would have to be taken away in order get you to stop speeding. I suppose if the officer took away your license then this could be negative punishment.