PSYCH 140

• Punishment


  A decrease in the strength, or weakening, of behavior due to its consequence
• Types of punishment


  • Positive punishment
  • Negative punishment
• 5 general principles of the APA Ethics Code

  • Beneficence and Nonmaleficence
  • Fidelity and Responsibility
  • Integrity
  • Justice
  • Respect for People's Rights and Dignity
• Negative punishment


  How is time out among play- or school-age children considered a negative punishment?
• Positive and negative punishment are similar in that both decrease behavior
• Principle A. Beneficence and Nonmaleficence


  Psychologists strive to benefit those with whom they work and take care to do no harm
• Variables affecting punishment


  • Contingency
  • Contiguity
  • Punisher intensity
  • Introductory level of punisher
  • Reinforcement of the punished behavior
  • Motivating operations
  • Alternative sources of reinforcement
• Principle B: Fidelity and Responsibility

  Psychologists establish relationships of trust with those with whom they work, and they uphold professional standards of conduct, clarify their professional roles and obligations, accept appropriate responsibility for their behavior, and seek to manage conflicts of interest that could lead to exploitation
• Introductory level of punisher

  • Using an effective level of punishment from the very beginning is extremely important
  • Begin with a punisher that is intense enough to suppress the behavior at the outset
• Reinforcement of the punished behavior

  Unwanted behaviors almost certainly are reinforced - with this, effectiveness of punishment depends on the frequency, amount, and quality of reinforcers the behavior produces
• Principle C. Integrity

  Psychologists seek to promote accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness in the science, teaching, and practice of psychology
• Motivating operations

  Effectiveness of a punishment can be increased by performing an establishing operation
• Alternative sources of reinforcement

  The availability of alternative ways of obtaining reinforcement also influences the effectiveness
• Principle D. Justice

  Psychologists recognize that fairness and justice entitle all persons to access to and benefit from the contributions of psychology and to equal quality in the processes, procedures, and services being conducted by psychologists
• A child playing at the dinner table

  • Every time the child plays, they get attention from their parents
  • If there is no punishment following the child's unwanted behavior of playing at the dinner table, the child will continue doing it (because they receive attention when doing so)
  • If there is punishment (say, the child is reprimanded) following the unwanted behavior, but there are no other alternative ways in which the child can receive their parents' attention, they will continue to play at the dinner table, oftentimes
  • If there is punishment (i.e., reprimand) following the unwanted behavior, but there is an alternative way of receiving attention such as when the child prepares the plates and utensils for dining, the child will eventually stop playing at the dining table
• Principle E. Respect for People's Rights and Dignity

  Psychologists respect the dignity and worth of all people, and the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality, and self-determination
• Theories of punishment

  • Two-process theory (punishment involves both classical and operant conditioning)
  • One-process theory (punishment only involves operant conditioning)
• Ethical Codes on Research and Publication

  • Institutional Approval
  • Informed Consent to Research
  • Human Care and Use of Animals in Research
• Problems with punishment

  • Escape/avoidance
  • Aggression
  • General suppression of behavior or apathy
  • Abuse by the punisher
  • Reinforcement of the punished behavior
  • Imitation of the punisher
• Institutional Approval

  The primary goal the UPVREB is to ensure that students, faculty, and researchers comply with the ethical conduct of research involving human participants
• Alternatives to punishment

  • Response prevention
  • Extinction
  • Differential reinforcement
• Extinction

  If a student regularly goes outside during class discussion to take short breaks, to eat, to go the CR, etc., I might want to put that behavior on extinction. But the decline of going outside (i.e., undesirable behavior) is expected to be slow.
• Human Care and Use of Animals in Research

  • Psychologists acquire, care for, use, and dispose of animals in compliance with … state, and local laws and regulations, and with professional standards
  • Psychologists trained in research methods and experienced in the care of laboratory animals supervise all procedures involving animals and are responsible for ensuring appropriate consideration of their comfort, health, and humane treatment
  • Psychologists make reasonable efforts to minimize the discomfort, infection, illness, and pain of animal subjects
• Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DFA)

  Alternative behavior: going outside within prescribed schedules of breaks.
• Differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI)

  Incompatible behavior: staying all throughout the discussion
• PAP Code of Ethics for Philippine Psychologists and Psychometricians

  • Preface
  • Declaration of Principles
  • Preamble
  • Four Principles
  • General Ethical Standards and Procedures
  • Ethical Standards and Procedures in Specific Functions
• Differential reinforcement of low rate

  Low rate: going outside only every after 30 minutes.
• Four Principles


  • Respect for the Dignity of Persons and Peoples
  • Competent Caring for the Well-Being of Persons and Peoples
  • Integrity
  • Professional and Scientific Responsibilities to Society
• Goal Acceptability


  The degree to which the outcome or behavioral goals are fair, appropriate, and reasonable
• Goal Acceptability Criteria


  • Social validity
  • Clinical significance
• Trying to Make Gays Straight: The Failure of "Conversion" Therapies
• • Conversion therapies are designed and applied to change clients' sexual preferences from gay to heterosexual
  • Procedures involved aversive methods such as electric shock
  • Research has shown that none of these therapies is effective in changing sexual orientation
• Should a therapy program pursue the goal of decreasing children's extremely oppositional and aggressive behavior if doing so requires getting them to play alone much of the time?
• Treatment Acceptability


  • The extent to which the client and community consider the methods of a behavior change program to be fair, appropriate, and reasonable for the circumstances
  • To protect clients' rights and to make the intervention agreeable to clients so they will participate fully in the treatment
• Was using physical punishment acceptable in this case? Was it acceptable to return her to the original treatment conditions?
• Forgetting


  The deterioration in performance of learned behavior following a retention interval. Retentional interval is the period during which learning or practice of the behavior does not occur.
• Some scholars argue that behaviors don't deteriorate, they merely change due to changes in environment from the time of training and time of testing
• If forgetting is a change in behavior due to experience, and learning is a change in behavior due to experience, then forgetting is learning
• Types of memory


  • Short-term memory
  • Long-term memory
  • Declarative memory
  • Episodic memory
  • Semantic memory
  • Nondeclarative memory
  • Procedural memory
• Measures of forgetting


  • Free recall
  • Relearning method or savings method
  • Recognition
  • Extinction method
  • Gradient degradation