Dana Do’s: Let’s Clear Up the Confusion Between Punishment and Reinforcement
October 5, 2023
Let’s address the concepts of punishment and reinforcement and how to navigate these terms on test questions. People tend to get confused because we study strategies that include punishment and reinforcement. We look at punishment and reinforcement in terms of their effect on behavior. Unfortunately, students get stumped by the idea that if something is aversive, or perceived as aversive, then it must be a punisher. Similarly, if something is perceived, or globally understood, as positive or pleasant, then it must be a reinforcer.
On test questions, we need to key into not whether or the consequence stimulus was pleasant or aversive, in order to make those punishment or reinforcement discriminations, because that’s subjective. That’s your opinion. Look at how the presentation, or removal of that stimulus, impacts future responding. If a behavior decreases in the future, even if the consequence was something pleasant, in your opinion, that is punishment. Even if the goal of the procedure was to reinforce behavior, if behavior decreases, it’s punishment.
Similarly, something like a time-out could increase behavior. We have to think about that when we Implement what we believe is a punishing stimulus, but yet, the outcome on behavior is an increase in that behavior. Meaning, this so-called punishing stimulus actually reinforced and increased behavior. On test questions, before you decide if something is punishment or reinforcement, make sure you first and foremost identify what happens to the behavior in the future. Punishment and reinforcement describes the effect on behavior.
