Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T10:09:41.920Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effects of Punishment on Unpunished Behaviour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2014

John Crosbie
John Crosbie*
Affiliation:
Flinders University of South Australia
*
Department of Psychology, Deakin University, Victoria 3217
Get access

Abstract

The present study examined the effects of response-cost on unpunished free-operant responses. Three university students made key-press responses on a computer keyboard and won and lost money as reinforcement and punishment, respectively. Only one response was ever reinforced or punished, but all responses were recorded. When response-cost was introduced for the target response, both target and non-target responses decreased. Whereas the target response remained at a low level throughout the punishment phase, most non-target responses eventually increased to their baseline levels. Of the three theoretical predictions assessed, support was found only for the proposition that the response that follows the punished response most frequently during baseline is reduced during the punishment phase.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 1990 , pp. 25 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ackerman, J. M. (1972). Operant conditioning techniques for the classroom teacher. Glenview, IL: Scott-Foresman.Google Scholar
Azrin, N. H. (1958). Some effects of noise on human behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1, 183–200.Google Scholar
Azrin, N. H., & Holz, W. C. (1966). Punishment. In Honig, W. K. (Ed.), Operant Behavior: Areas of Research and Application (pp. 380–447). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Baer, D. M. (1971). Let's take another look at punishment. Psychology Today, 32–37, 111.Google Scholar
Baumeister, A. A., & Rollings, J. P. (1976). Self injurious behavior. International Review of Research in Mental Retardation, 9, 1–34.Google Scholar
Birnbrauer, J. S. (1968). Generalization of punishment effects — a case study. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 201–211.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, C. M., Szabadi, E., & Bevan, P. (1976). Behavior of humans in variable-interval schedules of reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 26, 135–141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradshaw, C. M., Szabadi, E., & Bevan, P. (1977). Effect of punishment on human variable-interval performance. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 27, 275–279.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, C. M., Szabadi, E., & Bevan, P. (1978). Effect of variable-interval punishment on the behavior of humans in variable-interval schedules of monetary reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 29, 161–166.Google Scholar
Church, R. M. (1969). Response suppression. In Campbell, B. A. & Church, R. M. (Eds.), Punishment and aversive behavior (pp. 111–156). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Crosbie, J. (1988). The behavioural side-effects of human punishment. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide.Google Scholar
Dinsmoor, J. A. (1954). Punishment: I. The avoidance hypothesis: Psychological Review, 61, 34–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunham, P. J. (1971). Punishment: Method and theory. Psychological Review, 78, 58–70.Google Scholar
Dunham, P. J. (1972). Some effects of punishment upon unpunished responding. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 17, 443–450.Google Scholar
Dunham, P. J. (1978). Changes in unpunished responding during response-contingent punishment. Animal Learning and Behavior, 6, 174–180.Google Scholar
Dunham, P. J. (1979). On categories of behavior and control groups in multiple-response procedures. Animal learning and Behavior, 7, 273–274.Google Scholar
Dunham, P. J., & Grantmyre, J. (1982). Changes in a multiple-response repertoire during response-contingent punishment and response restriction: Sequential relationships. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 123–133.Google Scholar
Estes, W. K. (1944). An experimental study of punishment. Psychological Monographs, 57 (3), Whole No. 263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Favell, J. E., Azrin, N. H., Baumeister, A. A., Carr, E. G., Dorsey, M. F., Forehand, R., Foxx, R. M., Lovaas, O. I., Rincover, A., Risley, T., Romanczyk, R. G., Russo, D. C., Schroeder, S. R., & Solnick, J. V. (1982). The treatment of self-injurious behavior. Behavior Therapy, 13, 529–555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferster, C. B., & Skinner, B. F. (1957). Schedules of reinforcement. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Harris, S. L., & Ersner-Hershfield, R. (1978). Behavioral suppression of seriously disruptive behavior in psychotic and retarded patients: A review of punishment and its alternatives. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 1352–1375.Google Scholar
Hersen, M., & Barlow, D. H. (1976). Single case experimental designs: Strategies for studying behavior change in the individual. New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Honig, W. K. (1966). The role of discrimination training in the generalization of punishment. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 9, 377–384.Google Scholar
Honig, W. K., & Slivka, R. M. (1964). Stimulus generalization of the effects of punishment. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 7, 21–25.Google Scholar
Newsom, C., Favell, J. E., & Rincover, A. (1983). The side effects of punishment. In Axelrod, S. & Apsche, J. (Eds.), The effects of punishment on human behavior (pp. 285–316). New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Premack, D. (1965). Reinforcement theory. In Jones, M. R. (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation, 1965 (pp. 123–188). University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Risley, T. (1968). The effects and side effects of punishing the autistic behaviors of a deviant child. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 21–34.Google Scholar
Sidman, M. (1960). Tactics of scientific research: Evaluating experimental data in psychology. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1966). Operant behavior. In Honig, W. K. (Ed.), Operant Behavior: Areas of Research and Application (pp. 12–32). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Solomon, R. L. (1964). Punishment. American Psychologist, 19, 239–253.Google Scholar
Stokes, T. F., & Baer, D. M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10, 349–367.Google Scholar
Thorndike, E. L. (1932). Fundamentals of Learning. New York: Teachers College.Google Scholar
Thorndike, E. L. (1933). A proof of the law of effect. Science, 77, 173–175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ulman, J. D., & Sulzer-Azaroff, B. (1975). Multielement baseline design in educational research. In Ramp, E. & Semp, G. (Eds.), Behavior analysis: Areas of research and application (pp. 377–391). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Weiner, H. (1962). Some effects of response cost on human operant behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 5, 201–208.Google Scholar
Weiner, H. (1964). Response cost and fixed-ratio performance. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 7, 79–81.Google Scholar