Negative Punishment Research Articles

Understanding the Functionality of Depression Among Australian Breast Cancer Patients: Implications for Cognitive and Behavioural Interventions

Depression in breast cancer (BCa) patients can reduce quality of life, relationships and treatment compliance, thus constituting a major target for cognitive behavioural (CBT) interventions. Although CBT treatments, which are built upon consideration of the roles of antecedents and consequences for depressive behaviour, are effective, the nature of those antecedents which trigger depression among BCa patients has received relatively little attention. Hypotheses were (1) to determine if BCa patients were experiencing either or both of punishment type I and II and (2) to identify if these aspects of punishment were related to overall depression. Two hundred fifty-three BCa patients completed a standardised depression scale, and data were factor analysed. Components were interpreted for their relationship to punishment type I or II. Two major components emerged: (1) loss of previously available sources of personal or social reinforcement (i.e. punishment type II or negative punishment) and (2) behavioural, emotional and cognitive responses to those losses. These two components represent the total symptomatology of major depressive episode from DSM-IV-TR. These findings support the application of a functional analytic model of depression within CBT assessment and treatment procedures with BCa patients.

Use of Popular Television to Enhance Students' Understanding of Operant Conditioning

Students typically struggle to understand operant conditioning concepts. However, no well-designed experimental research exists examining the efficacy of popular media in teaching these concepts. The present randomised, double-blind experiment examined the impact of using exemplars of operant conditioning concepts (positive and negative reinforcement and positive and negative punishment) from popular television on learning operant conditioning concepts in a group of 171 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology classes. The experimental group indicated more enjoyment of the educational session but scored only marginally higher on a learning assessment of basic operant conditioning concepts.

Positive (But Not Negative) Punishment Predicts Anxiety and Depression Among Prostate Cancer Patients: An Exploration of the Behaviour Analytic Model of Depression

AbstractThe relative power of Positive and Negative Punishment as predictors of anxiety and depression was investigated within the gender-specific population of Prostate Cancer patients. As well as being a more powerful predictor of total test scores, Positive Punishment was also a stronger predictor of the presence of clinical levels of anxiety and depression. Examination of the particular Positive Punishment events that were significantly associated with clinical anxiety and depression showed considerable overlap, supporting the concept of a combined anxiety-depression disorder. Suggestions for behavioural interventions with this patient group are made.

O efeito de contingências de reforçamento programadas sobre o relato de eventos privados.

Este experimento investigou o controle de contingências programadas sobre eventos privados do tipo sentir, empregando um procedimento que eliciou tais eventos e evocou o tacto dos mesmos, elucidando como as contingências de reforçamento programadas se relacionam com tactos de eventos privados. Participaram 20 estudantes, de ambos os sexos (11-14 anos) que executaram tarefas do software Psychotacto2.0. O software simulou quatro contingências básicas (reforço e punição, positiva e negativa) coletando relatos verbais sobre sentimentos em cada contingência. Resultados: Em cada fase, predominaram os relatos: Reforçamento Positivo: contentamento, ansiedade, satisfação e alegria; Punição Negativa: frustração, desapontamento, tristeza e apreensão; Punição Positiva: raiva, aborrecimento, ansiedade, apreensão e medo; Reforçamento Negativo: ansiedade, apreensão e alívio. Conclui-se que a exposição às contingências pode eliciar eventos privados do tipo sentir e produzir tactos que coincidem em grande parte com os tactos "esperados" em cada contingência, de acordo com análises teóricas dos estudos em Análise do Comportamento.

Evaluating features of behavioral treatments in the nonhuman animal laboratory.

Behavioral treatments for severe problem behavior are often derived from basic behavioral principles initially evaluated in the nonhuman operant laboratory. It is less common to see laboratory experiments conducted for the specific purpose of addressing nuances of behavioral treatments. Because of functional analysis/ assessment methods that are now commonly used in applied behavior analysis, integrated basic and applied research is more feasible and bidirectional. This is true because a functional analysis identifies reinforcers for problem behavior and, thus, control of those reinforcers is possible in a way that is similar to controlling access to reinforcers in basic research. Because of our enthusiasm for the possibility of conducting basic research on common behavioral treatments, we initiated a rat laboratory for that purpose. In this paper, we describe some early work from the laboratory. Keywords: behavioral treatment, severe problem behavior, functional analysis, basic and applied research, rat laboratory. ********** Applied behavior analysis has benefited significantly from laboratory findings involving nonhuman subjects (Branch & Hackenberg, 1998). Treatments designed to decrease severe problem behavior have included various forms of differential reinforcement (e.g., differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior [DRI], differential reinforcement of alternative behavior [DRA], or differential reinforcement of other behavior [DRO]; Vollmer & Iwata, 1992), extinction (EXT; Lerman & Iwata, 1996); positive and negative punishment (Lerman & Vorndran, 2002); and time-based schedules, or noncontingent reinforcement (NCR; Vollmer, Iwata, Zarcone, Smith, & Mazaleski, 1993). All of these procedures were initially evaluated in the nonhuman operant laboratory. For example, the basic parameters of delivering punishing stimuli (e.g., immediacy, intensity, schedule, and motivation) in applied settings are to this day based on the pioneering work of Azrin and colleagues in the 1950s and 1960s involving nonhumans as subjects (e.g., Azrin, 1956; Azrin, 1960; Azrin & Holz, 1966). Historically, the relationship between basic and applied research has been largely unidirectional (Vollmer & Hackenberg, 2001). That is, findings from nonhuman animal laboratories have been utilized by applied researchers and incorporated into behavioral treatments designed to reduce behavioral excesses or increase behavioral deficits among a wide range of populations (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 1987; Miltenberger, 2004). The reverse, however, (nonhuman animal research designed to answer questions of applied significance) has been the subject of appreciably less research. This unidirectional course may seem pragmatic to some, and as Mace (1994) noted, its proponents may suggest that in the absence of effective technologies designed to address problems of social significance, nonhuman animal research may yield limited tangible outcomes. Although this unidirectional relationship has been effective in the majority of instances, several nuances encountered in application have not been addressed by nonhuman animal research. In addition, as suggested by Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968), the difference between applied and basic research is not simply that which discovers and that which applies. Applied researchers may venture back to the nonhuman animal laboratory to investigate problems analogous to those of social significance encountered in more typical applied settings. This approach is common in other scientific fields, such as genetics and pharmacy. The purpose of this paper is to first detail the logic of studying behavioral treatments in a laboratory context. We contend that the approach is useful because: (a) laboratory research lends a degree of control over specific nuances of treatments that could not be controlled in applied situations, and (b) the advent of functional analysis methods allows applied researchers to control and manipulate specific reinforcers for problem behavior; therefore, control and manipulation of reinforcers are more analogous to that in basic research than it would be if arbitrary reinforcers were used to treat behavior disorders. …

Views on the efficacy and ethics of punishment: Results from a national survey.

Punishment is typically defined as a reduction in behavior due to a consequence made contingent on the performance of that behavior (Azrin & Holz, 1966). The consequence can be the introduction of an aversive stimulus (i.e., positive punishment) such as electric shock, loud noise, a reprimand, etc., or the removal of a reinforcing stimulus (i.e., negative punishment) such as food, money, or access to the social environment. Punishment-based strategies developed for clinical use include overcorrection, time-out, response cost, visual screening, and many more (Axelrod & Apsche, 1983; Conyers et al., 2004). Punishment-based interventions are among the most controversial treatments for behavior disorders in the applied behavior analysis literature (e.g., Johnston, 1991; Matson & Kazdin, 1981; Repp & Singh, 1990). The controversy is actually double, concerning both the efficacy and the ethics of punishment, and both researchers and practitioners tend to argue for or against the morality of punishment by developing a position on its efficacy. Some scholars (e.g., LaVigna & Donnellan, 1986) have argued that punishment is unnecessary, claiming that reinforcement-based strategies provide the efficacy of punishment without harmful side effects, thereby making punishment unethical. Alternatively, other scholars (e.g., Axelrod, 1990; Foxx, 2005) have argued that punishment, especially when used in conjunction with reinforcement, has efficacy superior to that of reinforcement alone, making punishment at least sometimes ethical. Controversy over punishment has led to dozens of position papers (see chapters in Repp & Singh, 1990), as well as debates over the legality of aversive stimuli (Lohrmann-O'Rourke & Zirkel, 1998), the long-term effects of punishment-based discipline (Benjet & Kazdin, 2003), and even the interpretation of B. F. Skinner's position on punishment (Dinsmoor, 1992). However, despite frequent comments about the diversity of opinion on the ethics and efficacy of punishment, no empirical research has focused on this diversity itself. That is, no systematic survey has examined attitudes toward punishment in a representative sample of the general public, professionals in the field of behavior analysis, or psychologists in general. Without such data, it is difficult to assess whether either side in the punishment debate constitutes a mainstream view or a radical one. Although no general survey exists, there has been a small amount of research on attitudes toward punishment among professionals who work with individuals with disabilities. Irvin and Lunderworld (1988) asked special education teachers to rate various punishment procedures on four dimensions: restrictiveness, intrusiveness, acceptability, and efficacy. These investigators found that teachers' perceptions of efficacy was closely related to acceptability but not to restrictiveness or intrusiveness, suggesting that these participants were able to separate their judgments of efficacy from other judgments that focused more on the ethics of punishment procedures. Harris, Handleman, Gill, and Fong (1991) conducted a related study investigating the relationship between use of aversives and job satisfaction in a sample of direct care staff working in programs serving individuals with autism. Harris and colleagues divided participants into two groups, depending on whether the participants' programs permitted the use of aversives, and found that participants who were permitted to use strong aversives had a greater sense of personal accomplishment in their work. This finding, taken in the context of other results, suggested that giving staff a fuller range of treatment strategies increases a sense of satisfaction and control in one's work and prevents the burnout so common in clinical work. Research on service providers has recently been supplemented by studies investigating perceptions of punishment among typically developing children. …

Level of response suppression and amphetamine effects on negatively punished adjunctive licking

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the level of response suppression is a major determinant of the effect of D-amphetamine on negatively punished adjunctive drinking. Rats were initially exposed to a multiple fixed-time (FT) 30-s FT 30-s food delivery schedule. They were then divided into two groups and subjected to one of two different multiple schedules, FT 30-s FT 45-s or FT 30-s FT 90-s. The FT 45-s and FT 90-s components were signalled by a tone. Comparably high levels of adjunctive licking were observed in both FT 30-s components, intermediate licking levels in the FT 45-s component, and little licking in the FT 90-s component. Licking during the FT 30-s components was subsequently punished by lick-contingent signalled delays (by a blackout) in food delivery. The duration of such delays was adjusted to reduce licking to levels obtained in the FT 45-s or FT 90-s components, respectively for each of the two groups. Punished licking was increased by 0.3 and 1.0 mg/kg of D-amphetamine, an effect that was greater in the FT 30-s FT 90-s group. No increase in licking was observed in the FT 45-s component, but the 1.0 mg/kg dose also increased responding in the FT 90-s component. In general, no statistically significant differences were found between the effects of D-amphetamine on punished and unpunished schedule-induced licking. As licking decreased during the FT 90-s component when the punishment contingency was introduced in the alternate component, the punishment procedure and FT 30-s component were entirely removed. On this occasion, D-amphetamine failed to increase licking induced by the FT 90-s schedule. These results indicate that the level of response suppression might be a good indicator of the degree to which D-amphetamine shows antipunishment effects on adjunctive licking reduced by negative punishment procedures.

Effects of negative punishment contingencies on cocaine self-administration by rhesus monkeys.

Although punishment contingencies are widely used with human drug users, basic research on the effectiveness of these procedures is limited. The present study evaluated the effects of a negative punishment contingency, response-contingent timeout (TO) presentation, on cocaine-maintained responding. Rhesus monkeys were trained under a multiple fixed-interval (FI) 5-min cocaine, conjoint FI 5-min cocaine, variable-interval (VI) 30-sec TO schedule. TO values were either 0 (baseline), 10, 30, or 60s in length. During the TO periods, the FI clock continued to operate but the discriminative stimuli signaling cocaine availability were removed, and responding had no scheduled consequence. Cocaine maintained responding in all monkeys and the dose-effect curve was characterized as an inverted U-shaped function. The response-contingent TO presentations reduced response rates maintained by cocaine in all monkeys compared to baseline. The magnitude of the reduction in response rates was not a function of the length of the TO period (i.e. intensity of the punisher), and the punishment effect was enhanced by increases in cocaine dose. When responding was punished, response rates in the unpunished components either also decreased (i.e. response induction; approximately 30% of the cases) or were not affected (approximately 60%). These results demonstrate that cocaine-maintained behavior can be decreased by environmental manipulations involving negative punishment contingencies.

Effects of blood alcohol concentrations on negative punishment: implications for decision making.

A series of studies examined how various blood ethanol concentrations influenced the effectiveness of a negative punishment procedure in a risk-taking/decision-making task. Based on the animal punishment literature plus the impression that ethanol diminishes the effects of punishment and impairs decision making, it was predicted that individuals receiving alcohol would increase their risk- taking behavior despite the presence of a negative punishment stimulus (point loss) given on a variable schedule. In Experiment 1, a within-subjects design with repeated measures was used where 10 male subjects played a modified computer-generated choice game under three levels of punishment certainty, three levels of punishment severity and four ranges of blood ethanol (0.00%, 0.01-0.049%, 0.050-0.099%, 0.10-0.15%) Results indicated significant decreases in risk taking as either punishment certainty or severity was increased. However, no significant effects were found for ethanol, or interactions of ethanol with punishment certainty or punishment severity. Two additional studies examining aspects of the experimental procedure produced similar results Overall, the results of these studies do not support the hypothesis that high concentrations of blood alcohol are sufficient in and of themselves to eliminate the suppression function of negative punishment contingencies leading to increased risk-taking behavior. The implications of these results for understanding blood alcohol effects are discussed.

The role of food substitutes in a token economy system.

Data from five behaviour management (token economy) units were analysed for periods of 10-20 weeks before and after the use of a food substitute (Complan), provided when insufficient tokens had been earned to buy a full- or part-meal. The efficacy of this form of negative punishment to control disturbed and aggressive behaviour was examined. No evidence was found to suggest that the contingent use of a food substitute made any contribution to the therapeutic process.

The Correctional Custody Facility

Abstract The military, like certain religious and ideological groups, is widely regarded as an extreme example of the phenomena of re-socialization: a process in which an individual is trained in a lifestyle generally inconsistent with a previous lifestyle. In the military, those who fail to adequately internalize their new socialization process can be subject to a variety of negative sanctions, including counselling, non-judicial punishment, imprisonment, or discharge from the service. This paper discusses and describes a method of rehabilitation for the first-time offender that is intended to recreate and strengthen the original resocializaiion process: the Correctional Custody Facility.

Tangible Self-Consequation and Arithmetical Problem-Solving: An Exploratory Comparison of Four Strategies

In an exploratory investigation, 25 volunteer postgraduate students were exposed to a control and four self-consequation conditions of positive and negative reward and positive and negative punishment. The experimental tasks were arithmetic problems matched for difficulty. Generally, the results indicated that, when subjects were operating under the two self-reward conditions whereby they self-reinforced correct responses, they attempted more items and produced more correct responses. Conversely, as predicted, participants in the two self-punishment conditions were more accurate.

The Effects of External Reinforcement on Power Structure in Task Oriented Groups

This paper examines the network of social power relations and the resultant social structure under a variety of external reinforcement conditions. The results clearly indicate that the nature of external reinforcement affects both the amount of structural differentiation which occurs in task oriented groups and their structural stability. The paper suggests some broader implications for the study of formal organizations, particularly studies of productivity. The structures and processes which develop in groups and formal organizations reflect, in part, the environment in which such systems exist. By having some information about the nature of a group's environment, it should be possible to make predictions about the types of activities which may take place (cf. Gray and Sullivan; Greenstein; Hamblin; Sullivan). The problem becomes complicated, however, by our apparent inability to specify those dimensional aspects ofthe environment which should make such predictions possible. In the most general sense these dimensions consist, in part, of the kinds of feedback or information the environment supplies groups regarding their relative success in dealing with environmental problems. Following Skinner we posit the most important aspect of feedback a group can receive to be positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement supplies a group with the most essential information about task performance. Positive reinforcement indicates that a group has done something well, or at least adequately, and should signify that the group is on the right track in problem solution. Other reinforcing events (i.e., negative reinforcement, positive punishment or negative punishment) may be useful in developing behavior strategies, but such events are less important than positive reinforcement, which should most effectively lead groups to successful behaviors (e.g., shaping). Thus we should expect to find that the quantity and quality of positive environmental reinforcement has effects on the internal working of

Behavior modification of aggressive behavior on a nursery school bus: A case study

A case study is presented in which aggressive behavior of two preschool boys on a nursery school bus was modified by the introduction of a negative punishment contingency in which the Ss were told they would be detained on the bus until the second time the bus passed their house (delay of reinforcement) if abusive behavior occurred. The practical implications of the study and the relative merits of choosing negative punishment over positive punishment as therapy with children are discussed.

PRAVILIMA VOĐENA PONAŠANJA – DA LI IH ODREĐUJU SPOLJAŠNJE ILI UNUTRAŠNJE VARIJABLE?

Cilj ovog istraživanja jeste ispitivanje efekata spoljašnjih varijabli (vrsta instrukcije, promjena u kontekstu, redoslijed izlaganja stimulusa) i unutrašnje varijable (konformizam) na pravilima vođena ponašanja, tj. na slijeđenje disfunkcionalnog pravila i vrijeme reakcije prilikom davanja odgovora. U istraživanju su korištene tri vrste instrukcije: one koje u sebi sadrže nagradu, kaznu zadavanjem i kaznu oduzimanjem. Eksperiment je koncipiran tako da je u prvoj fazi pravilo bilo funkcionalno tj. dovodilo do osvajanja bodova, dok je bez najave u promjeni konteksta, u drugoj fazi, pravilo postalo disfunkcionalno – nije donosilo bodove. U eksperimentu je učestvovalo 94 studenta Univerziteta u Banjoj Luci, starosti od 19 do 21 godine, pri čemu je bilo više pripadnica ženskog pola (81).
 Dobijeni rezultati pokazuju da promjena konteksta u kome pravilo više nije funkcionalno, kao i informacija o nagradi u sklopu instrukcije, značajno povećava vjerovatnoću napuštanja disfunkcionalnog pravila, dok izraženiji konformizam, s druge strane, smanjuje vjerovatnoću napuštanja disfunkcionalnog pravila. Nadalje, rezultati pokazuju da postoje značajne dvostruke interakcije varijabli u predikciji slijeđenja pravila. Najviši logistički regresioni koeficijenti su dobijeni za interakcije spoljašnjih varijabli, tj. konteksta i vrste instrukcije, dok su za interakcije vrste instrukcije i konformizma, kao i konteksta i konformizma, vrijednosti logističkih regresionih koeficijenata nešto niži. Trostruke interakcije između unutrašnjih i spoljašnjih varijabli u predikciji slijeđenja pravila su takođe značajne. Promjena konteksta, manje izražen konformizam i informacija o nagradi u sklopu instrukcije povećavaju vjerovatnoću napuštanja disfunkcionalnog pravila, dok promjena konteksta u interakciji sa izraženijim konformizmom i informacijom o kazni oduzimanjem smanjuju vjerovatnoću napuštanja pravila. Na vrijeme reakcije efekat ostvaruju spoljašnje varijable, dok unutrašnja, tj. konformizam, ne ostvaruje značajan efekat. Promjena u kontekstu, kao i informacija o kazni oduzimanjem u sklopu instrukcije dovode do produžavanja vremena reagovanje, dok redoslijed izlaganja dovodi do njegovog skraćivanja.