The following are the objectives of this chapter:

1. Define punishment.
   
   
2. List or identify the three types of punishment and give examples of each.
   
   
3. List or identify the major negative side effects of punishment, and give examples of each of these negative side effects.
   
   
4. Identify the guidelines for administering punishment and give examples of the implementation of these guidelines.
   
   
5. Define and give examples of each of the following specific types of punishment:
   
   (a) reprimands,
   (b) time-out,
   (c) response cost,
   (d) negative practice,
   (e) overcorrection,
   (f) covert behavior control, and
   (g) corporal punishment.
   
    
6. Describe guidelines for applying each of the types of punishment listed in the previous objective.
   
   
7. Define and give examples of extinction.
   
   
8. Identify the factors that influence the rate at which extinction will occur.
   
   
9. Distinguish extinction from other techniques for eliminating behaviors.
   
   
10. Identify the guidelines for using extinction as a technique to eliminate a behavior.
    
    
11. Identify the major advantages and disadvantages of extinction compared to punishment.
    
    
12. Define and give examples of each of the following behavior modification techniques:
    
    a. discrimination training,
    b. differential reinforcement of low rates of response (DRL),
    c. differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO),
    d. counterconditioning,
    e. systematic desensitization,
    e. stimulus change, and
    f. satiation.
13. 
    
    Describe appropriate guidelines for employing the techniques cited in the previous objective.

Punishment Review Quiz

1. Punishment is defined as the contingent presentation of an aversive situation. "Aversive" means that the situation is _______________________.
   
   
2.  An "aversive situation" can occur either when something (a) _______________ is presented to a person, or when something (b) ________________ is taken away from the person.
   
   
3.  When an aversive situation occurs, this (reduces or increases) the behavior which preceded or apparently caused it.
   
   
4.  The only use of punishment is to teach what _____ to do.
   
   
5.  Spanking a child is an example of presenting an _________________________________.
   
   
6.  What will spanking a child teach the child to do?
   
   
7. Peter hits Katie on the head with his toy train. Mrs. Smith sees this act and takes the train away from Peter and tells him he can't play with it for the rest of the day. Taking the train away is an example of creating an aversive situation by withdrawing a(n) ____________________ stimulus.
   
   
8.  What behavior is likely to decrease as a result of the taking the train away?
   
   
9.  What behavior is likely to increase as a result of this punishment?
   
   
10. Linda whines when she talks. Kim sometimes plays with Linda; and whenever she does, Kim comes home imitating Linda's whining. Kim's parents have tried to keep Kim from playing with Linda, but this is almost impossible. So Kim's parents make the following agreement with their daughter. Kim will be allowed to invite Linda over to their house to play for an hour every day; but if Kim imitates Linda, then Kim will not be allowed to invite Linda for the next three days. Kim's parents are creating a potentially aversive situation by adding a ____________ stimulus and then ___________ it. This is an example of Type _____ punishment.

Accidental Punishment Quiz

1. Alice cleans up her room quickly - fifteen minutes before her usual bedtime. Therefore, she is sent to bed early. What kind of accidental punishment is she receiving?
   
   
2. Donna comes home after a date and awakens her mother to tell her that her boyfriend has just made an improper pass at her. Her mother is at first angry about being awakened. But when she realizes that her daughter has a serious problem, she becomes quite worried and upset. Finally, she forbids Donna to be out after ten o'clock again until she is 18 years old. What kind of accidental punishment is Donna receiving?
   
   
3. Ms. Wilson teaches sophomore social studies. Mr. Freeman, the principal, puts Dirty Don, the meanest kid in the school, in her class. Ms. Wilson views this action as areal challenge, and Dirty Don accomplishes more in her social studies class than anyone dreamed possible. The next year Mr. Freeman assigns ten kids just like Don to Ms. Wilson's class. What kind of accidental punishment is Ms. Wilson receiving?
   
   
4. Tim Jurgens teaches English in a small private college. Whenever a student asks a question, Tim requires the student to write a report on this question and present his or her findings to the class. The student receives no special credit for this report and is still required to do all the other work normally assigned in the course. What kind of accidental punishment are the students receiving?
   
   
5.  Judith suffers the traumatic experience of getting raped on her way home from work. When she reports this, it becomes a thoroughly embarrassing situation for her. She perceives herself as being insulted by he interrogation process. She feels that the police officers are suggesting that she actually seduced the rapist by wearing attractive clothing. What kind of accidental punishment is Judith receiving?

Professor Benson Accidentally Punishes Good Students

Professor Benson is interested in encouraging discussion in her undergraduate psychology course. She gives good lectures, and her students enthusiastically discuss the subject matter during the mid-session break. The class is scheduled to meet from 6 till 9 in the evening one day a week. Dr. Benson usually finishes her formal presentation at about 8:30 and then says, "If there are no further questions, this class will be dismiss classed. Are there any questions?" No one has ever asked a question.

Analysis of Professor Benson

1. The main reason students do not ask questions, even if they have some questions in their minds, is that questioning is subjected to (Type I, Type II, or Type III) punishment.
   
   
2. In Type III punishment, a new pleasant stimulus is added and then is contingently withdrawn. The new pleasant stimulus that Professor Benson added was (a) ____________________. This pleasant stimulus is contingently withdrawn if the students (b) ____________________________.
   
   
3. If John Brown would ask a question, Professor Benson would spend several minutes discussing it. Since Mr. Brown would be more interested in learning the answer to his question than in going home early, this student would not be subjected to Type III punishment, but would rather be experiencing a __________________.
   
   
4. Even though John Brown is being reinforced for learning something he is interested in learning, his classmates still want to go home. John notices this, and begins to perceive a feeling of restlessness and hostility towards him. This hostility would be an example of (Type I, Type II, or Type III) punishment. John would be likely to stop asking questions, even though these questions would be beneficial both to himself and to the rest of the class.
   
   
5. Some students in the position of John Brown don't perceive the hostility of the other students. This lack of insight often results from their extreme interest in the reward they hope to get from the answer to their questions. However, even in such a case, Professor Benson herself might perceive the hostility of the other students and want to get out of the situation as soon as she can. She would be subjected to (Type I, Type II, or Type III) punishment.

The best way for Professor Benson to handle this situation would be to make sure that the students are free to ask questions without having anything to lose by doing so. A good way to do this might be to guarantee the class that the session will end at 8:45 "no matter what." If anyone is still interested in a question, Professor Benson will stay until 9 to discuss the question with that person. It would be best, of course, to start such a policy at the very beginning of the semester, before the students arrive at an implicit belief that the class de facto ends at 8:30.

Note that even here a strong possibility exists of accidental aversiveness. What happens if two persons stay after class to ask questions? The first student asks his or her question and receives an immediate answer. Meanwhile, the second student has to endure an aversive waiting period before that student's turn comes. Instructors who follow this pattern often notice that usually only one question is asked after each class. That's because they are reinforcing the first student and punishing the second.

Negative Side Effects Practice Exercise

Directions: Reword each of these statements in the space provided in such a way as to minimize negative side effects.

1. (To a child who has not finished her language assignment within the required period.) "I'll teach you not to be so lazy. You'll stay in during recess until you get busy and work!"
   
   
2. (To an adolescent who has come home at 12:30 instead of 12:00.) "If you don't have the sense of responsibility to come home on time, you're not going anywhere any more. You're grounded for a month."

Advantages and Disadvantages of Type I Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviors

The primary advantages of Type I reinforcement of incompatible behaviors are these:

1. Type I reinforcement is a positive technique which teaches a person what to do, whereas punishment merely teaches what not to do.
   
   
2. Type I reinforcement is unlikely to be accompanied by the negative side effects which are described as accompanying punishment in Section 3.

The primary disadvantages of this technique can be summarized as follows:

1. This method is a relatively indirect one for teaching what not to do, and therefore it is likely to be time-consuming and/or ineffective in reaching this goal.
   
   
2. The undesired behavior is subjected to extinction (discussed in Section 4), and the shortcomings that apply to extinction apply here.
   
   
3. The rewards inherent in the performance of the undesirable behavior may outweigh the rewards offered for the incompatible behavior.
   
   
4. The child may tire of the incompatible behavior and revert to the former undesirable behavior.
   
   
5. The behavior which you think is incompatible may not actually be incompatible with the inappropriate behavior.

These advantages and disadvantages can be summarized by saying that, in general, Type I reinforcement is less likely than punishment to be accompanied by undesirable side effects; but it is also less likely to eliminate the undesirable behavior successfully. Where efficiency is important, therefore, this technique will best be combined with punishment.

Mr. Davis Uses Time-Out (Accidental Type II Reinforcement)

Mr. Davis is a fifth grade teacher. Walter has been causing a disturbance by grabbing other children's pencils and throwing them out the window. Mr. Davis approaches Walter and says, "I'm sorry, Walter, but you'll have to go to the time-out area." Two minutes later Walter shouts to Mr. Davis, "Hey, can I get out now?" Mr. Davis replies, "Not yet. Now sit down and act like a gentleman." Walter hollers the same question twelve times in the next ten minutes. Finally, Mr. Davis relents and lets Walter out of the time-out area.

Analysis of Mr. Davis:

1. For what behavior is Walter being punished?
   
   
2. For what behavior is Walter receiving Type II reinforcement?
   
   
3. Another way to administer the punishment would have been for Mr. Davis to say, "Walter, you'll have to go to the time-out room for fifteen minutes." Would this plan have worked better?

   Answers: (See back of book.)

From the description given, Mr. Davis used punishment correctly. His problem was that he was simultaneously providing Walter with Type II reinforcement for a behavior which was almost the opposite of what Mr. Davis wanted to accomplish. By revising his procedure to reinforce a more appropriate behavior, Mr. Davis would probably be more successful in his attempts to improve Walter's behavior.

Accidental Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviors

Annissa Becomes a Dependent

Annissa is a fifth grader who always has tried very hard to work her problems in arithmetic. When she gets stuck, she asks the teacher for help. This year the student teacher is a very enthusiastic young man. He comes to Annissa at the beginning of arithmetic period and asks her if she needs help. If she says "No," he goes to help someone else. If she says she needs help, he stays and helps her. Since Annissa likes the attention, she starts asking for more and more help. She no longer tries the problems alone, and even when the student teacher is not present or when he is working with someone else, she still waits for help before she gets started.

Doris Stops Doing Her Assignments

Doris does all her assignments in English class. Her teacher thinks she would enjoy War and Peace and loans her a copy of the book. Doris spends the next three weeks reading the book and does all her assignments very carelessly during this time.

Stephen Stops Doing His Chores

Stephen has always done chores around the house promptly. One day his mother shows him how to work a certain kind of word puzzle. Stephen does so well that his mother brings him five more puzzles the next day. Stephen again does very well, and for his birthday he gets several books containing the same kind of puzzles. Stephen no longer is enthusiastic about his chores, because they interfere with his puzzles. Puzzles have become a way of life with Stephen.

Reading War and Peace is probably a desirable activity; working word puzzles is at least a neutral, or perhaps even a highly desirable activity; and seeking unnecessary assistance is probably an undesirable activity. The important point, however, is that all three of these children have found an activity which is reinforcing for them and which is incompatible with the behavior the parent/teacher wants to see. Interestingly, if Stephen or Doris were misbehaving, working puzzles or reading novels would be good activities to reinforce in order to reduce their undesirable behaviors. However, in these examples they are reducing desirable behaviors instead. Likewise, seeking help from the student teacher would have been a desirable incompatible behavior which would have reduced copying from another student - if that would have been Annissa's problem -but in her case it is reducing a desirable behavior instead.

The solution is not to prevent children from working puzzles or reading novels or to stop attending to children's expressed needs. Rather, we should become aware of what is being reinforced in a given situation and determine whether or not this behavior is what we really want to reinforce. It is important to remember that when we reinforce a behavior we may simultaneously be making it impossible for that learner to gain reinforcement for an even more desirable behavior.

Reinforcement of Desirable Opposite Behaviors Practice Exercise

Listed below are several undesirable behaviors. All of them are, in reality, the absence of a desirable behavior. Write the desirable opposite behavior in the space provided.

1. Bill leaves his room in great disorder when he goes out to play with his friends.

Desirable opposite behavior:

2. Mandy throws her coat on the living room floor whenever she comes into the house.

Desirable opposite behavior:

3. Mort often goes out to play without telling his mother where he is going.

Desirable opposite behavior:

4. Barbie starts to work her math problems without reading the directions.

Desirable opposite behavior:

5. Brian pouts and refuses to share his toys with his younger brother.

Desirable opposite behavior:

While all the problems in this exercise could be attacked by punishing the undesirable behavior, these problems can also be attacked by reinforcing the desirable opposite behavior. In fact, in all five cases the desirable opposite appears to be the behavior the parent/teacher really wants to see. If the desired opposite is what the parent/teacher really wants, then reinforcing the desirable behavior would be better than punishing the undesirable behavior. In statement 4 of the exercise, effective punishment will stop Barbie from starting her math assignment without first reading the directions, but she may start looking for ways to avoid the math assignment altogether! In statement 2, punishment may stop Mandy from throwing her coat on the living room floor, but she may instead start throwing it on the basement floor or on the closet floor. The most effective way to develop a desirable behavior is to reinforce that behavior - not punish its absence. This priority of Type I reinforcement is especially true when the behavior control will be artificial rather than natural. (See page 000.) In such cases, the artificial presentation of reinforcers for a good behavior is vastly superior to the presentation of an artificial punishment for the failure to perform the desired behavior.

Desirable Non-Opposite Alternative Behaviors Practice Exercise

Listed below are several undesirable behaviors which often occur because a person has not been reinforced for a more desirable behavior. Write two alternative behaviors in the space provided.

1. George is a high school junior who throws spitwads during study halls.

Desirable opposite behavior:

Desirable opposite behavior:

2. Jean grabs toys from her little sister and laughs when the two-year-old cannot get the toys back.

Desirable opposite behavior:

Desirable opposite behavior:

Extinction Review Quiz

1. Extinction refers to the systematic withholding of reinforcers which previously had maintained a behavior. This process will cause a behavior to (increase/decrease).
   
   
2. The effect of extinction is similar to that of
   
   a. Type I reinforcement
   b. Type II reinforcement
   c. punishment
   
   
3. Extinction usually eliminates an undesirable behavior (more/less) quickly than punishment.
   
   
4. Extinction is (more/less) likely than punishment to be accompanied by negative side effects.
   
   
5. A behavior will be eliminated (more/less) quickly through extinction if it has previously been reinforced on an intermittent (irregular) schedule than if it has been reinforced continuously.
   
   
6. A behavior will be eliminated most quickly if it has been reinforced (frequently/infrequently) in the past.
   
   
7. A behavior will be eliminated (more/less) quickly if the person has been deprived of the reinforcer than if the person has ready access to the reinforcer.

Distinguishing Extinction from Other Techniques

Extinction is often confused with Type II punishment, with satiation, and with systematic desensitization. Since the principles behind extinction are different from those behind these others, it is important to be able to distinguish among these techniques. These other techniques are discussed elsewhere in this chapter. At this point they will be discussed only to the extent necessary to distinguish them from extinction.

1. Whereas extinction is neutral, Type II punishment is aversive. If the withholding of the reinforcers is viewed as unpleasant by the person from whom they are withheld, then punishment (rather than extinction) is occurring.
   
   1. For example, If I ignore a child who is raising her hand at an inappropriate time and she finds this annoying or frustrating, then I am using punishment, not extinction.
      
      On the other hand, if her feeling is merely, "I might as well try another way to get his attention, then I am using extinction."
      

   Whereas extinction withdraws only those specific reinforcers which have maintained a behavior, Type II punishment usually involves the withdrawal of reinforcers beyond those which have maintained the behavior. 
   
   

2. With extinction, a reinforcer is withheld; whereas with satiation, the reinforcer is allowed to occur until it ceases to be reinforcing. If you let a child talk until she gets tired and stops, that's satiation. If she was trying to get your attention and you withhold your attention, then you're using extinction. Satiation is discussed later, and a specific example of the distinction between the two techniques will be presented at that time (page xxx).
   
   
3. With extinction, a reinforcer is withheld; but with systematic desensitization something aversive is withheld. The instances in which these two techniques are confused are rare; and an example of such confusion is presented and discussed on page xxx.

The differences among these three techniques are summarized in the table below. It is important to distinguish among these techniques, since the strategies for implementing and the effects which follow the implementation vary considerably.

 

Technique to Contrast with Extinction	What Extinction Does	What Other Technique Does	Example of Extinction	Parallel Example of Other Technique
Type II Punishment	Extinction is perceived by the recipient as neutral.	Type II punishment is perceived by the recipient as aversive	A child is acting out in class to get the teacher's attention. The teacher withholds her attention for the acting out and gives attention for more prodctive behavior. The acting out stops.	A child is acting out in class to get the teacher's attention. The teacher reprimands the child for acting out. The acting out stops.
Satiation	With extinction, a reinforcer is withheld.	With satiation, the reinforcer is allowed to occur until it ceases to be reinforcing.
Systematic Desensitization	With extinction, a reinforcer is withheld.	With systematic desensitization something aversive is withheld.

 Phil Cleans Up His Language (Extinction vs. Type II Punishment)

Phil walks into a room mumbling some new four-letter words he has just picked up from his peers. He is obviously doing this to get a rise out of his parents. His mother feels they should ignore him. On the other hand, his father is in favor of sending him to his room.

Phil's mother is advocating extinction - the nondelivery of the attention which Phil is seeking. Phil's father is advocating Type II punishment - taking away Phil's personal freedom.

Examples of Accidental Extinction

Jacob Stops Being Polite in Class

Jacob is a very talented young man. Whenever the teacher asks a question, Jacob's hand shoots up and he gives a correct answer. The teacher wants to give others a chance, and so she never calls on Jacob when he raises his hand. Therefore, Jacob stops raising his hand and simply shouts out answers. The teacher sometimes punishes him for shouting, but at other times, Jacob's answer is so good that she accepts his answer and feels compelled to comment favorably.

The End of the Honeymoon

Mr. and Mrs. Jones are stereotypical newlyweds. Each day Mr. Jones trots off to the office, and each day Mrs. Jones cleans the house and makes a delicious supper. At the end of each workday, Mr. Jones arrives home exhausted, reads the newspaper until supper, eats supper quietly, and then watches TV until bedtime. He never comments on the cleanliness of the house or the quality of the meals. After four months, Mrs. Jones cleans the house only when her friends are coming to visit and serves TV dinners almost every night.

Jacob has received no reinforcement for his desirable behavior and intermittent reinforcement for shouting answers. It is not hard to predict what he will do in the future. Mr. Jones has inadvertently extinguished the flames of love. He should either read this book or write to Dear Abby.

Deliberate Preparation for Subsequent Extinction

In some cases, it is actually a good idea to reinforce undesirable behaviors on a continuous schedule while they must be permitted to occur, so that they will be easier to eliminate through extinction when the time comes to do so. This happens, for example, when children display behaviors which parents and teachers feel they must tolerate or actually encourage for a short time, but which they know they will later wish to eliminate through extinction.

• Four-year-old Ralph has recently started coming home and tattling on his friends over trivial matters. His father feels that he doesn't want his son to grow up to be a tattletale, but he also feels that he would currently like to know about what is happening to his son, because some rather rough kids live in the neighborhood. He decides to pay a great deal of attention to Ralph whenever he tattles for about a year. After that time, he will abruptly cut off his attention and ignore the tattling.
  
  
• Marc was a newborn baby. Newborn babies cry for a large number of good reasons, including attention. Marc's parents knew that when he got older he would cry for unnecessary attention, and they didn't want to spend their whole lives rushing to his bedside. For the first six months of his life, therefore, they attempted to come to his bedside whenever he cried and give him a great deal of attention. Then, when he was six-and-a-half months old, they put him to bed one night, certain that he was well taken care of, and let him scream when he started to cry. After 15 minutes he stopped crying and went to sleep. The next night he cried for only 5 minutes before going to sleep. After that, he still cried once in a while when he was confused or wanted something; but in general he quietly went to sleep when he was put to bed.

In these examples, Ralph's father is likely to eliminate tattling more effectively when Ralph is five than if he would currently ignore his son except when he was really interested. Marc's crying for attention would have persisted much longer if his parents would have paid attention to his crying intermittently rather than continuously during the first six months.

Examples of Covert Behavior Modification

Mona is an obese adolescent. She finds that she eats when she is not even hungry. She reasons that if she could stop thinking about food, she would stop eating so much. And so, whenever she thinks about a delicious snack, she immediately thinks about something extremely disgusting (such as vomit) covering the snack. She stops thinking about food and becomes thin.

Linda was afraid to speak to men at parties. To combat this problem, she deliberately thought of herself falling off a high building. As soon as she had this picture vividly in her mind, she suddenly switched to a scene of her calmly talking to a nice man at a party, discussing her hobbies, her work, etc. This is covert Type II reinforcement. The unpleasant thought of falling off a high building is obliterated when Linda vividly pictures the party scene. She therefore receives Type II reinforcement for thinking her new thought.

These examples differ from counterconditioning (discussed earlier in the textbook) in that in counterconditioning the two thoughts are paired, whereas in covert punishment the aversive thought comes immediately after the undesirable thought.

Examples from the Published Literature

Time-out

Source	Subjects	Outcome	Procedure
Barton, Bruelle, & Repp (1987)
Harris (1985)
Noll & Simpson (1979)
Pendergrass (1972)
Zabel (1986)
Polsgrove (1982)

Barton, L., Bruelle, A., & Repp, A. (1987). Effects of differential scheduling of time-out to reduce maladaptive responding. Exceptional Children, 53, 351-356.

Harris, K. (1985). Definitional, parametric, and procedural considerations in time-out interventions and research. Exceptional Children, 51, 279-288.

Noll, M. & Simpson, R. (1979). The effects of physical time-out on the aggressive behavior of a severely emotionally disturbed child in a public school setting. AAESPH Review, 4, 399-406.

Pendergrass, V. (1972). Time-out from positive reinforcement following persistent high-rate behavior in retardates. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 5, 85-91.

Polsgrove, L. (1982). Return to baseline: Some comments on Smith's reinterpretation of seclusionary time-out. Behavioral Disorders, 8, 50-52.

Zabel, M. (1986). Time-out use with behaviorally disordered students. Behavioral Disorders, 12, 15-21.

Bratner, J.P. & Doherty, M.A. (1983). A review of time-out: A conceptual and methodological analysis. In S. Axelrod & J. Apsche (Eds.), The Effects of Punishment on Human Behavior (pp. 87-132). New York: Academic Press.

Hall, R. & Hall, M. (1980). How to Use Time-out. Lawrence, KS: H & H Enterprises.

Nelson, M. & Rutherford, R. (1983). Time-out revisited: Guidelines for its use in special education. Exceptional Education Quarterly, 3, 56-67.

Solnick, J., Rincover, A., & Peterson, C. (1977). Some determinants of reinforcing and punishing effects of time-out. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10, 415-424.

 Response Cost

Source	Subjects	Outcome	Procedure
Proctor & Morgan (1991)	junior high students with mild to moderate behavior problems. Witt & Elliott (1982) conducted a similar study with elementary students.	reduction of behavior problems	Students initially received five raffle tickets each day. The teacher removed raffle ticket for specified misbehaviors. At end of day, the teacher held a raffle, and the holder of the winning ticket received a prize.
Salend & Allen (1985)		reduction of behavior problems
Salend & Henry (1981).		reduction of behavior problems
Walker (1983)		reduction of behavior problems
Witt & Elliott (1982).		reduction of behavior problems

Proctor, M.A. & Morgan, D. (1991). Effectiveness of a response cost raffle procedure on the disruptive classroom behavior of adolescents with behavior problems. School Psychology Review, 20, 97-109.

Salend, S.J. & Allen, E.M. (1985). Comparative effects of externally-managed response cost systems on inappropriate classroom behavior. Journal of School Psychology, 23, 59-67.

Salend, S.J. & Henry, K. (1981). Response cost in mainstreamed settings. Journal of School Psychology, 19, 242-249.

Sindelar, P.T., Honsaker, M.S., & Johnson, J.R. (1983). Response cost and reinforcement contingencies for managing the behavior of distractible children in tutorial settings. Learning Disabilities Quarterly, 5, 3-13.

Walker, H.M. (1983). Applications of response cost in school settings: Outcomes, issues and recommendations. Exceptional Children Quarterly, 3, 47-55.

Witt, J.C. & Elliott, S.N. (1982). The response cost lottery: A time efficient and effective classroom intervention. Journal of School Psychology, 20, 155-161.

Iwata, B.A. & Bailey, J.S. (1974). Reward versus cost token systems: An analysis of the effects on students and teacher. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 7, 567-576.

Kazdin, A.E. (1972). Response cost: The removal of conditioned reinforcers for therapeutic change. Behavior Therapy, 3, 533-546.

Pazulinec, R., Meyerrose, M., & Sajwaj, T. (1983). Punishment via response cost. In S. Axelrod & J. Apsche (Eds.), The Effects of punishment on human behavior (pp. 71-86). New York: Academic Press.

 Overcorrection

Source	Subjects	Outcome	Procedure
Doke & Epstein (1975)
Harris & Wolchik (1979)		Suppression of self-stimulation
Simpson & Sasso (1978)
Wells et al. (1977)	10-year old autistic children	reduction of inappropriate play with toys (e.g., putting the toys in their mouths or throwing them).	When they played with toys inappropriately, the children were physically guided for 2.5 minutes to play with the toy properly.

Doke, L. & Epstein, L. (1975). Oral overcorrection: Side effects and extended applications. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 20, 496-511.

Harris, S. & Wolchik, S. (1979). Suppression of self-stimulation: Three alternative strategies. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 185-198.

Simpson, R. & Sasso, G. (1978). The modification of rumination in a severely emotionally disturbed child through an overcorrection procedure. AAESPH Review, 2, 195-205.

Foxx, R.M. & Bechtel, D.R. (1983). Overcorrection: A review and analysis. In S. Axelrod & J. Apsche (Eds.), The Effects of Punishment on Human Behavior (pp. 133-220). New York: Academic Press.

 DRL

Source	Subjects	Outcome	Procedure
Lennox, Miltenberger, & Donnelly (1987).
Rotholz & Luce (1983)
Barrish, Saunders, & Wolf (1969)
Dietz & Repp (1973)	11-year-old TMR students	Talking out was greatly reduced.	Students received permission to talk freely for five minutes if their talking out occurred at a low rate during class time.
Dietz et al. (1978)
Heitzman & Alimena (1991)	12-year-old blind boy with a learning disability	Reduction of disruptive behaviors	Whenever he engaged in a specified disruptive behavior, a hole was punched in the card. If he received fewer than 10 punches - later fewer than 5 punches - he was allowed to engage in a favorite activity at the end of the day.
Harris & Sherman (1973)	5th- and 6th-graders in regular classrooms	Disruptive behavior was greatly reduced	Students were divided into two teams. Whenever a misbehavior occurred, the responsible team received a mark on the chalkboard. The team with the smallest number of marks at the end of the day received a reward. If both teams received five or fewer marks, both were winners. (This last sentence is the DRL part of the program.)

Lennox, D., Miltenberger, R., & Donnelly, D. (1987). Response interruption and DRL for the reduction of rapid eating. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 6, 57-64.

Rotholz, O. & Luce, S. (1983). Alternative reinforcement strategies for the reduction of self-stimulatory behavior in autistic youth. Education and Treatment of Children, 6, 363-377.

Dietz, S.M., Slack, D.J., Schwarzmueller, E.B., Wilander, A.P., Weatherly, T.J., & Hillard, G. (1978). Reducing inappropriate behavior in special classrooms by reinforcing average interresponse times: Interval DRL. Behavior Therapy, 9, 37-46.

Salend, S.J., Reynolds, C.J., & Coyle, E.M. (1989). Individualizing the good behavior game across type and frequency of behavior with emotionally disturbed adolescents. Behavior Modification, 13, 108-126.

 DRO

Source	Subjects	Outcome	Procedure
Friman, Bernard, Altman, & Wolf (1986)
Repp, Barton, & Brulle (1983)	7- and 8-year-old retarded children	Reduction of off-task behaviors	Each child had to be non-disruptive for an entire five-minute period in order to gain a food treat at the end of the period.
Repp, Dietz, & Dietz (1976)
Luiselli, Helfin, Colozzi, G., Donellon & Pemberton (1978)

Friman, P., Bernard, J., Altman, K., & Wolf, T. (1986). Parent and teacher use of DRO and DRI to reduce aggressive behavior. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 6, 319-330.

Repp, A.C., Dietz, S.M., & Dietz, D.E.D. (1976). Reducing inappropriate behaviors in classrooms and in individual sessions through DRO schedules of reinforcement. Mental Retardation, 14, 11-15.

Luiselli, J.K., Helfin, C.S., Colozzi, G., Donellon, S., & Pemberton, B. (1978). Controlling self-inflicted biting of a retarded child by the differential reinforcement of other behavior. Psychological Reports, 42, 435-438.

Matching Exercises

Punishment

Match each term with the appropriate definition.

a. Corporal punishment

b. Covert behavior control

c. Exclusionary time-out.

d. Negative practice

e. Nonexclusionary time-out

f. Overcorrection

g. Punishment

h. Reprimand

i. Response cost

j. Seclusionary time-out

k. Time-out

l. Type I punishment

m. Type II punishment

n. Type III punishment

1. ______ A form of punishment which requires a person to repeat an originally pleasant behavior to the point where it becomes aversive.
   
   
2. ______ A form of Type II punishment in which the student is not removed from the instructional setting, but the teacher denies the student access to reinforcers through temporary manipulation of the environment.
   
   
3. ______ A form of Type III punishment that involves the removal of a specific number or amount of reinforcers which have already been gained.
   
   
4. ______ A form of Type I punishment that consists of a corrective statement that makes the learner feel at least mildly unpleasant.
   
   
5. ______ A strategy for eliminating an inappropriate behavior by requiring a person to correct that behavior to an extreme degree and/or to overcompensate for any undesirable results which occurred because of the behavior.
   
   
6. ______ The infliction of physical pain in order to create an aversive situation for the recipient of the pain.
   
   
7. ______ The contingent removal of something pleasant.
   
   
8. ______ The application of behavior modification strategies to the management of a person's thoughts (which then influence the person's behavior).
   
   
9. ______ The contingent addition of something unpleasant to a person's existence.
   
   
10. ______ The contingent presentation of an unpleasant situation.
    
    
11. ______ An example of Type II punishment that consists of removing the person from a source of reinforcement for a designated period of time.
    
    
12. ______ A form of Type II punishment in which the student is excluded from the activity that leads to reinforcement.
    
    
13. ______ A form of Type II punishment in which the student is removed from the regular activities and goes to an area designated for social isolation, often referred to as the time-out room.
    
    
14. ______ The contingent avoidance of a future (or potential) pleasant situation.

Miscellaneous Terms

Match each term with the appropriate definition.

a. Aversive counterconditioning

b. Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates of Response (DRL)

c. Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO)

d. Discrimination Training

e. Satiation

f. Stimulus Change

g. Systematic desensitization

1. ______ A technique for eliminating by removing a person from the one stimulus situation that has triggered the behavior and putting him or her in another.
   
   
2. ______ A strategy for eliminating a behavior by continuously reinforcing every behavior except that one specific target behavior.
   
   
3. ______ A technique for eliminating a behavior by conditioning a person emotionally to oppose this behavior.
   
   
4. ______ A specific form of discrimination training in which the learner is required to discriminate between proper and improper intervals at which to perform the behavior.
   
   
5. ______ A set of strategies by which the learner becomes proficient at discriminating between those situations in which a behavior will be reinforced and those in which it will be unreinforced or punished.
   
   
6. ______ A technique for eliminating irrational fears (or similar emotional reactions) by having the learner move through a series of steps that gradually approach the feared response.
   
   
7. ______ A technique for eliminating a behavior by letting it occur until the behavior itself ceases to be reinforcing.

Key Ideas

(This fill-in-the-blanks exercise can be a useful way to verify that you can recall and understand the main concepts covered in this chapter. When the answers you give differ from those in the answer key, think about it. If your answer is as good as mine, that's great! However, there's a good chance that in many cases my answer may be better than yours. Try to find the logic behind my answer. The more actively you think - by looking for reasons and explanations - the more valuable this exercise will be for you.)

(Also note that after you have filled in the blanks, this set of Key Ideas provides a good summary of the chapter.)

1. Punishment is defined as the contingent presentation of an ______________ situation.
   
   
2. Punishment consists of the presentation of a consequence which ______________ or ______________ the behavior which preceded or caused it.
   
   
3. Type I punishment occurs when something unpleasant is ______________ to a person's existence.
   
   
4. Type II punishment occurs when something pleasant is ______________ .
   
   
5. Type III punishment occurs when something ______________ is first added and then withdrawn.
   
   
6. When punishment is legitimately defined, it is absolutely ______________ to oppose its use or to recommend it "only as a last resort."
   
   
7. When used alone, punishment does not develop ______________ behaviors.
   
   
8. The negative side effects of punishment are not inherent in the act of punishment or reinforcement itself, but rather result from the procedure is ______________ .
   
   
9. Punishment should ______________ be presented or perceived as a personal attack.
   
   
10. It is important to specify the ______________ that is being punished.
    
    
11. It is usually best to punish as ______________ as possible in the behavioral sequence.
    
    
12. If no serious harm will occur and if the person performing the behavior is likely to feel naturally punished at the end of the activity, then it would be desirable to let the natural punishment occur rather than to intervene earlier with an ______________ form of punishment.
    
    
13. Punishment should usually be introduced at its full ______________ .
    
    
14. Punishment should almost never be used ______________ . The proper technique is to teach what not to do by punishing one behavior and simultaneously to teach what to do by reinforcing ______________ behavior.
    
    
15. A corrective statement becomes a verbal reprimand (a form of ______________ punishment) if it makes the learner feel at least mildly unpleasant.
    
    
16. The three main rules with reprimands are (1) that they should be ______________ , (2) that they should not attack the ______________ of the person being reprimanded, and (3) that they should convey ______________ regarding an appropriate course of action.
    
    
17. Time-out involves removing the person from a source of ______________ for a designated period of time.
    
    
18. With ______________ time-out, the student is excluded from the activity that leads to reinforcement.
    
    
19. With ______________ time-out, the student is not removed from the instructional setting; but the teacher denies the student access to reinforcers through temporary manipulation of the environment.
    
    
20. With ______________ time-out goes further than exclusionary time-out: the student is removed from the regular activities and goes to an area designated for social isolation, often referred to as the time-out room.
    
    
21. The time-out environment should be a ______________ (not aversive) environment, free from either pleasant or unpleasant stimuli.
    
    
22. ______________ involves the removal of a specific number or amount of reinforcers which have already been gained.
    
    
23. Negative practice requires a person to repeat an originally ______________ behavior to the point where it becomes aversive.
    
    
24. With ______________ the person is required to correct an inappropriate behavior to an extreme degree and/or to overcompensate for any undesirable results which occurred because of the behavior.
    
    
25. Corporal punishment refers to the infliction of ______________ pain in order to create an aversive situation for the recipient of the pain.
    
    
26. If what we are concerned about is being humane to children and punishing only in an effective manner, then corporal punishment is ______________ the worst way to punish children.
    
    
27. Extinction refers to the systematic ______________ of the reinforcers which had previously maintained a behavior.
    
    
28. Ignoring a behavior is an example of extinction if (and only if) that behavior has been ______________ by the attention of the person doing the ignoring.
    
    
29. If a person's behavior has been reinforced ______________ this behavior will extinguish much more rapidly than if that person has been reinforced ______________ .
    
    
30. The more deprived a person is of the reinforcer, the ______________ the person will keep trying to get the reinforcer when it has been withdrawn.
    
    
31. Extinction ______________ occurs by accident.
    
    
32. When using extinction, it is important to avoid giving occasional ______________ for the behavior being extinguished.
    
    
33. With DRL the learner is required to discriminate between proper and improper ______________ at which to perform the behavior.
    
    
34. With differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), the parent or teacher continuously reinforces every behavior ______________ specific target behavior.
    
    
35. With counterconditioning the teacher tries to build an emotional state which ______________ the undesirable response.
    
    
36. If I have a habit of doing something (such as smoking or eating too much), and I condition myself emotionally to ______________ this tendency, the process is referred to as aversive counterconditioning.
    
    
37. If a child is afraid to do something and wants to stop being ruled by this irrational fear, ______________ would be an appropriate behavior management technique.
    
    
38. With ______________ the behavior is eliminated simply by removing the child from the one stimulus situation and putting him or her in another.
    
    
39. Satiation refers to the technique of letting a behavior occur until the behavior ______________ to be reinforcing.

Answers to Quizzes and Exercises

Punishment Review Quiz

1. Annoying (unpleasant).

2. (a) Unpleasant, annoying; (b) pleasant.

3. Reduces

4. not

5. Unpleasant (aversive) stimulus.

6. We don't know. Spanking will be likely to reduce the behavior which the child feels caused the spanking. The child will probably do something else instead.

7. pleasant.

8. Hitting Katie on the head when Peter's mother is looking.

9. We don't know. The following are some of the possibilities:

a. Peter might play nicely with the train.

b. Peter may play with a toy other than the train.

c. Peter may play with someone other than Katie.

d. Peter may play somewhere where his mother can't see him.

e. Peter may do all of the above. Punishment teaches the child what not to do. Peter will be likely to stop one specific behavior, but we can't predict what he will do instead.

10. pleasant; removing; III.

Accidental Punishment Review Exercise

1. Type II punishment: She has lost a privilege. She will be less inclined to clean up her room quickly in the future.

2. Type I punishment: Finding her mother angry at being awakened was aversive to Donna.

Type I punishment: It was also unpleasant to see her mother - whom she cares about - so upset about her daughter's problems. (Feeling bad because another person feels bad is a common form of natural punishment.)

Type II punishment: Donna has lost a privilege of being allowed to stay out late.

Donna will be likely to avoid all three of these aversive situations. She will probably accomplish this by not discussing her problems with her mother in the future.

 

3. Type I punishment: Unless some rewards are attached, Ms. Wilson is likely to view this prospect as aversive. She will probably lose her incentive to be so successful again, since Mr. Freeman will probably find a few more aversive stimuli somewhere if Ms. Wilson leaves herself open to them.

4. Type I punishment: Tim's students will probably stop asking questions. It is probably naive to assume that most teachers who do this are reducing questions in their courses by accident. There is perhaps method in their madness: they probably don't want students to ask questions.

5. Type I punishment. Judith will avoid making potentially embarrassing reports to the police. Note that Judith might be entirely inaccurate in her perceptions. The police may have done the best job that they could have done, and it may have been Judith's emotional distress which caused her to misperceive the police as behaving aversively. The important thing is that she perceives the situation to be aversive.

Analysis of Professor Benson:

1. Type III punishment.

2. (a) Being permitted to go home a half hour early. (b) Ask questions. (This incident has been classified as Type III punishment. Note that if Professor Benson would dismiss class often enough at 8:30, the students would begin to view the class as de facto lasting from 6 until 8:30. After a few weeks, students would view being kept after 8:30 as Type II rather than Type III punishment, since the privilege of leaving at 8:30 would already belong to them and no longer be new. The students would be likely to consider staying after 8:30 to be more aversive when it is regarded as Type II punishment.)

3. Pleasant stimulus (Type I reinforcer, reward).

4. Type I.

5. Type I punishment. (If you don't believe this act, try lecturing to a group of college students who are putting on their coats.)

Negative Side Effects Practice Exercise Sample Answers:

1. "This work is not finished yet. You'll have to stay in during recess to finish it."

2. "It really makes us worry when you stay out late and we don't know where you are. You will have to stay home evenings until we know this won't happen again."

Analysis of Mr. Davis:

1. For grabbing pencils and throwing them out the window

2. For constantly demanding to be released from the punishment.

3. This technique would have at least eliminated the Type II reinforcement for the undesirable behavior of bothering the teacher. However, no desirable behavior would be reinforced. A better approach might have been to require Walter to stay in the time-out area until he had sat quietly for ten consecutive minutes. This way he would end the aversive situation himself by performing a desired behavior. Since Mr. Davis's goal is to teach Walter to work quietly in a room with other children, the "desirable behavior" of sitting quietly in the time-out area would be somewhat unrelated to the desirable cooperative behavior the teacher really wants to teach. However, this strategy would be a step in the right direction, since it would at least avoid the shortcomings of Mr. Davis's current approach.

From the description given, Mr. Davis used punishment correctly. His problem was that he was simultaneously providing Walter with Type II reinforcement for a behavior which was almost the opposite of what Mr. Davis wanted to accomplish. By revising his procedure to reinforce a more appropriate behavior, Mr. Davis would probably be more successful in his attempts to improve Walter's behavior.

Desirable Opposite Behaviors Practice Exercise - Possible Answers:

1. Bill cleans up his room before going out.

2. Mandy hangs up her coat in the hall closet.

3. Mort tells his mother where he is going.

4. Barbie reads her directions before starting to do her math problems.

5. Brian shares his toys with his younger sister.

Desirable Non-Opposite Alternative Behaviors - Possible Answers:

1. Assuming that George enjoys them, any activity similar to the following would be possible:

(a) Let George correct papers during study hall.

(b) Give George a good book to read.

(c) Let George design tests during study hall.

2. Assuming that Jean finds them all to be pleasant, any of the following would be appropriate:

(a) Let Jean have fun by playing in another room

(b) Have Jean play at the table while her sister plays on the floor.

(c) Pay Jean to babysit for her little sister.

Extinction Review Quiz

1. decrease

2. c

3. less

4. less

5. less

6. infrequently

7. less

Matching Quiz - Punishment

1. d

2. e

3. i

4..h

5. f

6. a

7. m

8. b

9. l

10. g

11. k

12. c

13. j

14. n

Matching Quiz - Miscellaneous

1. f

2. c

3. a

4. b

5. d

6. g

7. e

 

Key Ideas

1. aversive (unpleasant)

2. reduces; eliminates

3. added

4. withdrawn

5. pleasant

6. counterproductive

7. positive

8. administered

9. never

10. behavior

11. early

12. artificial

13. intensity

14. alone; another

15. Type I

16. brief; personality; information

17. reinforcement

18. exclusionary

19. nonexclusionary

20. seclusionary

21. neutral

22. Response cost

23. pleasant

24. overcorrection

25. physical

26. not necessarily

27. withholding

28. maintained

29. continuously; intermittently

30. longer

31. often

32. rewards (reinforcement)

33. intervals

34. except one

35. opposes

36. oppose

37. systematic desensitization

38. stimulus change

39. ceases