por He positive punishment It is one of the five teaching techniques derived from operant conditioning and one of the most effective within behaviorism. It consists of the application of an unpleasant or harmful stimulus when an organism performs a certain behavior, with the aim of making it less likely to repeat it in the future.
The name of this technique can be misleading, as many people associate the term «positive» with something nice. However, in the context of operant conditioning this word refers to the fact that you are provides a stimulus to the individualwhich can be both a reinforcement and a punishment.
Positive punishment makes use of the principle of pain avoidance, which is one of the most basic instincts of all animals. Thus, by applying an unpleasant stimulus, positive punishment makes the subject associate a certain behavior with a painful experience on a physical or mental level. In this way it will be much less likely that he will repeat it in the future.
Despite the fact that positive punishment is one of the most effective behavior modification techniques that exists, its use is currently frowned upon in most contexts. However, to this day it is still a very useful tool that must be known and that may be justified at certain times.
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Characteristics of positive punishment
– Decreases the frequency of a response
The main characteristic of positive punishment is that when it is used correctly against a behavior, the probability that the organism will repeat it in the future decreases considerably. Thus, its most important function is to eliminate or reduce unwanted behavior.
A very clear example of this is what happens when we accidentally touch a surface at a very high temperature. The pain caused by the burn makes us be more vigilant in the future so as not to go through the same experience again, taking only one situation of this type to learn the lesson.
– Involves the application of an unpleasant stimulus
Positive punishment differs from negative punishment in that in the former the organism suffers an unwanted consequence due to the application of a painful or unpleasant stimulus. In the second, on the contrary, the punishment is produced by withdrawing a pleasant or appreciated stimulus by the individual.
The most easily understandable example of positive punishment is the application of pain, both physical and emotional. For example, by yelling at a person who has behaved inappropriately, we are adding an unpleasant stimulus that makes it less likely that he will repeat her behavior in the future.
Conversely, an example of negative punishment might be taking away a child’s favorite toy when he misbehaves. In this case, the punishment would be the removal of an unpleasant stimulus as a consequence of unwanted behavior.
– Can occur consciously or unconsciously
Operant conditioning is a learning mechanism that occurs naturally in many situations. Because of this, positive punishment can also appear without conscious application by a person.
In the example of the burn that we have already cited, a situation of positive punishment is taking place without anyone having to intervene deliberately. The same would happen in many other situations, such as when suffering an injury while playing a sport or engaging in risky behavior.
On the other hand, however, positive punishment can be used deliberately as part of a consciously targeted learning program. In the past, positive punishments were used very often in areas such as education or parenting, although today their use is not so common.
– The subject does not have to be aware of what is happening
One of the most important characteristics of positive punishment and the rest of the operant conditioning tools is that the individual on whom it is applied does not have to realize what is happening for the process to be successful. In fact, some research suggests that this technique works best when the person is unaware of what is happening.
This characteristic, together with the previous one, causes us to suffer all kinds of positive punishment processes in our daily lives that change our way of acting without realizing it.
For example, we may avoid walking through an area where we had a bad experience; or that we stop eating a certain type of food that made us feel bad on one occasion.
Examples of positive punishment
At work
The work environment offers a multitude of situations in which positive punishment comes into play, since it is a very useful tool to modify the behavior of workers. Some examples are the following:
– Receiving a reprimand from a superior as a consequence of inappropriate behavior.
– Having to attend mandatory training as a result of a way of acting that the company does not consider appropriate.
In the classroom
The field of education is one of the most amenable to the use of positive punishment. Some common examples in this area are:
– Forcing a student to stay in the detention room after class because they have misbehaved.
– Make a child write a very high number of times a sentence in which he explains the unwanted behavior he has carried out.
At home
Although they may inadvertently do so, most parents also use positive punishment to change their children’s behavior when they misbehave. This occurs, for example, in the following situations:
– Making the child do extra chores as punishment for misbehaving.
– Scold him verbally when he does something that the parents do not consider appropriate.
traffic fines
At the social level there are also many examples of the use of positive punishment to reduce the frequency with which people carry out certain behaviors. Fines are a tool that is completely based on this concept, since they seek to avoid actions by adding a very negative consequence to those who do them.
A very common example is that of traffic tickets. When a person obeys the speed limit when he is driving his car, many times he does it simply to avoid having to pay a financial penalty if he is discovered by a police officer or radar.
Jail sentance
At an even more extreme level, jail serves as a positive punishment for all those who have committed some really serious crime. Imprisonment is a very negative consequence whose mere threat decreases the frequency with which individuals are willing to break the law or rule.
Other examples
Although these are the three areas in which positive punishment can most easily be observed, the truth is that it also occurs in many others. For example, traffic tickets are a very clear example of this tool derived from operant conditioning.
References
“What is positive punishment?” In: Healthline. Retrieved on: June 29, 2020 from Healthline: healthline.com.
“12 Examples of Positive Punishment & Negative Reinforcement”in: Positive Psychology. Retrieved on: June 29, 2020 from Positive Psychology: positivepsychology.com.
“Positive Punishment and Operant Conditioning”in: VeryWell Mind. Retrieved on: June 29, 2020 from VeryWell Mind: verywellmind.com.
“Real life examples of positive punishment” in: Your Dictionary. Retrieved on: June 29, 2020 from Your Dictionary: examples.yourdictionary.com.
“Positive punishment”in: Psychestudy. Retrieved on: June 29, 2020 from Psychestudy: psychestudy.com.