Punishment Guidelines
As discussed in this unit’s activities, punishment is not just those contrived consequences that are set up to decrease behavior but also something that naturally occurs. For example, when walking across a wet slippery floor one may fall and hurt oneself. The behavior of walking across a wet slippery floor is punished by the added, aversive consequence of falling and hurting oneself.
- Provide three examples of positive punishment in ABC (three term contingency) format. Explain why they are positive punishment.
- Provide three examples of negative punishment in ABC (three term contingency) format. Explain why they are negative punishment.
- Discuss whether the behaviors you identified in your examples were necessary for the subject’s overall well-being. In other words, if these behaviors continued to occur, would that put survival or overall well-being at risk?
- Finally, discuss your previous understanding of punishment before you took this course, and explain whether it is the same or different from how punishment is defined in the science of behavior analysis.
