{"id":1543,"date":"2015-07-25T02:25:32","date_gmt":"2015-07-25T02:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/?p=1543"},"modified":"2015-07-26T15:31:51","modified_gmt":"2015-07-26T15:31:51","slug":"punishment-only-training-huh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/?p=1543","title":{"rendered":"Punishment-only Training: Huh?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the common modern concepts in ‘scientific’ training is\u00a0‘punished-based’ (Ken Ramirez from the Shedd Aquarium uses ‘coercion based’) training. The problem is that they claim to be ‘science-based.’ That is a contradiction for a number of reasons. First, nobody is “punishment-based” because punishment stops behavior. How can one create behaviors while stopping them? Second, without a context there is no logical way to determine whether reinforcement or punishment is the\u00a0correct answer to a training problem. Third, nobody is limited to\u00a0using a single polarity.\u00a0What “punishment-based” really means is an attempt to demonize “others” with a term that implies abuse. This destroys any possibility of discussing behavioral control rationally. Here’s an example –
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\nIn a recent Facebook conversation on the Association for Behavior Analysis International page, a competing behavior expert claimed to have a better way of teaching children. His name is Greene. He threw an ironic accusation against the metaphoric children of Skinner \u2013 one they aren’t used to. He said they used punishment. One of the defenders of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) lamented that there are parents out there who use punishment-only and haven’t received the enlightened bounty of coercion-free ABA. This was my reply. I have added two citations \u2013 one to Skinner and one to Sidman. (I’m not real popular among the various ideologically driven behavior analysts in that group. I stick around because some of the people there are the parents or loved-ones of people who are confined in the care of behavior analysts and deserve to know where the bodies are buried.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The “punishment only” argument is a straw man. Nobody does that. It’s as illogical as the “positive reinforcement only” ideology that is pervasive in behavioral science. Worse, there is no distinction made between contingent and non-contingent punishment – though the two classifications have entirely different effects on behavior.<\/p>\n

Skinner started the “punishment doesn’t work” mantra. (Science and Human Behavior) Sidman did the “coercion is always damaging” part of it. (Coercion and Its Fallout) Now the chickens have come home to roost. Behavior analysts can’t talk about punishment or coercion because they helped conflate punishment with abuse. That eliminates the possibility of creating effective pro-social programs for behavioral control. Here are two different perspectives on the topic.<\/p>\n

“Further, as Azrin and Holz (1966) have pointed out, gross observation seems to indicate that no chronic emotional maladjustment is engendered by a child’s having been burned by touching a radiator or having skinned a knee by falling off a bike. It is fortunate that punishment does not produce strong lasting emotional effects under most circumstances since it would be impossible to eliminate punishment from the natural environment. ” Ron Van Houten, The Effects of Punishment on Human Behvaior, Axelrod and Apsche, Academic Press, 1983.<\/p>\n

“Providing negative consequences is the fastest, most effective means of eliminating unwanted behavior. Far faster than developing stimulus control or teaching an alternate behavior. ” Nate Azrin, (personal communication)<\/p>\n

So, no contingent punishment, no stopping anti-social behavior. If you do not have the ability to say the word punishment without negative connotations and make the distinction between contingent and non-contingent punishment you cannot study behavior objectively, meaning scientifically. At the ABAI 2015 conference there were no presentations that discussed any aspecf of the image below. That a behavior analyst might choose not to use contingent punishment isn’t the point. People experience punishment all the time and are harmed by it and also benefit from it. So, who is going to present at the next ABAI conference on the blessings of contingent \"pricked-finger-and-cactus-spine\"<\/a>punishment? It teaches you to ride a bike and not touch cactus. Or should we oppose bike riding because it includes punishing contingencies? The cactus touching is beyond the scope of advocacy or opposition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the common modern concepts in ‘scientific’ training is\u00a0‘punished-based’ (Ken Ramirez from the Shedd Aquarium uses ‘coercion based’) training. The problem is that they claim to be ‘science-based.’ That is a contradiction for a number of reasons. First, nobody is “punishment-based” because punishment stops behavior. How can one create behaviors while stopping them? Second, without a context there is no logical way to determine whether reinforcement or punishment is the\u00a0correct answer to a training … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1543"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1551,"href":"https:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543\/revisions\/1551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clickandtreat.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}