Punishment: By Stimulus Presentation By Stimulus Removal

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PunishmentBy Stimulus PresentationBy Stimulus
Removal

• Chaps 14 and 15

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PunishmentBy Stimulus Presentation
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Introduction

• Punishment is
• Poorly understood
• Frequently misapplied
• Controversial
• Will you ever use it?
• Under what conditions?
• Why talk about it?

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Punishment is Controversial

• Many states have outlawed the use of some
  punishers (e.g., contingent electric shock)
• Some advocates claim that reinforcement-based
  procedures are sufficient to reduce all problem
  behavior (e.g., DRO, DRA)
• Others disagree
• Even if we are able to eliminate the
  clinical/educational need for punishment,
  research on punishment is still warranted
• Punishment contingencies that are arranged by the
  physical world are impossible to eliminate exs?

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Punishment.

• Should only be used if there is a doctoral level
  behavior analyst on staff full time
• Why?

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Introduction

• As a principle of behavior, punishment is not
  about punishing the person.
• Punishment is a
• response consequence contingency that
  suppresses the future frequency of similar
  responses.

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Definitions Nature of Punishment

• Positive Punishment Type I Punishment
• Presentation of a stimulus (or an increase in
  the intensity of an already present stimulus)
  immediately following a behavior that results in
  a decrease in the frequency of the behavior.
• Negative Punishment Type II Punishment
• The termination of an already present stimulus
  (or a decrease in the intensity of an already
  present stimulus) immediately following a
  behavior that results in a decrease in the future
  frequency of the behavior.

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Three-term contingencies illustrating positive
and negative punishment of a discriminated
operant

• A discriminated operant for punishment is the
  product of a conditioning history in which
  responses in the presence of the SDp have been
  punished and similar responses in the absence of
  the SDp have not been punished.
• A response (R) emitted in the presence of a
  discriminative stimulus (SDp) is followed closely
  in time by a stimulus change (SP) and results in
  a decreased frequency of similar responses in
  the future when the SDp is present.

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Definitions Nature of Punishment

• Discriminative Effects of Punishment
• SDp
• A stimulus condition in the presence of which a
  response has a lower probability of occurrence
  than it does in its absence as a result of
  response-contingent punishment delivery in the
  presence of the stimulus.

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Definitions Nature of Punishment

• Unconditioned Punisher
• Primary punisher or unlearned punisher
• E.g.?
• Conditioned Punisher
• Secondary punisher or learned punisher
• E.g.?
• Verbal Analog Conditioning
• E.g.,?
• Generalized Conditioned Punisher
• E.g.,?

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Definitions Nature of Punishment

• - IMPORTANT POINT -
• Punishers, like reinforcers, are not defined by
  their physical properties, but by their
  functions.
• What does that mean?

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Ethical Considerations Regarding the Use of
Punishment

• Right to Safe and Humane Treatment
• The first ethical canon and responsibility for
  any human services program is to do no harm.
• Least Restrictive Alternative
• Doctrine of the Least Restrictive Alternative
• The less intrusive procedures should be tried and
  found to be ineffective before more intrusive
  procedures are implemented.
• Interventions can be viewed as falling along a
  continuum of restrictiveness from least to most.
• Gast Wolery (1987) suggest that a more
  intrusive but effective procedure should be
  chosen over a less intrusive but ineffective
  procedure

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Hierarchy of Procedural Alternatives
Least intrusive

• Level I
• Reinforcement-Based Strategies
• Level II
• Extinction
• Level III
• Negative Punishment
• Level IV
• Positive Punishment

Most intrusive
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Ethical Considerations Regarding the Use of
Punishment

• Right to Effective Treatment
• Failing to use a punishment procedure that
  research has show to suppress self-destructive
  behavior similar to the clients is unethical
  because it withholds a potentially effective
  treatment and may maintain a dangerous or
  uncomfortable state for the person.
• Developing and Using a Punishment Policy with
  Procedural Safeguards
• Follow a written policy statement.
• Consult local, state, or professional association
  policy statement regarding the use of punishment.

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BACB Guidelines for Responsible
Conducthttp//www.bacb.com/consum_frame.html

• 4.02 Reinforcement/Punishment.
• The behavior analyst recommends reinforcement
  rather than punishment whenever possible. If
  punishment procedures are necessary, the behavior
  analyst always includes reinforcement procedures
  for alternative behavior in the program

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ABA Statement on the
Right to Effective Behavioral
Treatmentwww.abainternational.org/ABA/statements/
treatment.asp

• Individuals who receive behavioral treatment have
  a right to
• 6 - The most effective treatment procedures
  available An individual is entitled to effective
  and scientifically validated treatment in turn,
  the behavior analyst has an obligation to use
  only those procedures demonstrated by research to
  be effective. Decisions on the use of potentially
  restrictive treatment are based on consideration
  of its absolute and relative level of
  restrictiveness, the amount of time required to
  produce a clinically significant outcome, and the
  consequences that would result from delayed
  intervention.

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Possible Side Effects and Problems with
Punishment

• Elicitation of undesirable emotional response and
  aggression
• Punishment, especially positive punishment in the
  form of aversive stimulation, may evoke
  aggressive behavior with respondent and operant
  components.
• Aggressive behavior following punishment that
  occurs because it has enabled the person to
  escape the aversive stimulation in the past is
  referred to as operant aggression.
• Escape and Avoidance
• Natural reactions to aversive stimulation
• As the intensity of the punisher increases, so
  does the likelihood of escape and avoidance.
• Can be minimized by providing alternative
  responses that come into contact with
  reinforcement and avoid the punisher.

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Possible Side Effects and Problems with
Punishment

• Increased rate of the problem behavior under
  nonpunishment
• Behavioral Contrast
• Change in one component of a multiple schedule
  that increases or decreases the rate of
  responding on that component is accompanied by a
  change in the response rate in the opposite
  direction on the other, unaltered component of
  the schedule.

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Possible Side Effects and Problems with
Punishment

• Modeling undesirable behavior
• Punishment tactics may model undesirable
  behaviors.
• 2 decades of research have found strong
  correlation between young childrens exposure to
  harsh and excessive punishment and antisocial
  behavior and conduct disorders as adolescents and
  adults.
• (Patterson, 1982 Patterson, Reid, Dishion,
  1992 Sprague Walker, 2000).
• Not teaching the learner what to do
• Overusing punishment because of the negative
  reinforcement it provides the punishing agent.
• Negative Reinforcement of the Punishing Agents
  Behavior
• Punishment reinforces the punisher.
• Punishment tends to terminate the punished
  behavior quickly. The punishers behavior tends
  to be negatively reinforced by the immediate
  cessation of the punished behavior.

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Increasing the Effectiveness of Punishment

• Begin with a moderately high-intensity stimulus
• Do not begin with a mild punisher and slowly
  escalate the intensity (habituation might occur)
• Deliver the event immediately following behavior
• Deliver the event on an CRF schedule
• Schedule thinning can occur after the response
  has been reduced

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• Reinforce an alternative behavior

Thompson et al. (1999)
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Examples of Positive Punishment Interventions

• Reprimands
• The delivery of verbal reprimands following the
  occurrence of misbehavior is an example of
  attempted positive punishment.
• Reprimands given repeatedly may lead to the
  subject habituating to the stimulus
• Response Blocking
• Physically intervening as soon as the person
  begins to emit the problem behavior to prevent or
  block the completion of the response has been
  show to be effective in reducing the frequency of
  some problem behaviors.
• Suppressive effects of response blocking may be
  due to punishment or to extinction.
• Response blocking as a treatment intervention
  must be approached with great care.
• Side effects such as aggression and resistance to
  the response blocking procedure have occurred in
  some studies.

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Examples of Positive Punishment Interventions

• Contingent Exercise
• An intervention in which a person is required to
  perform a response that is not topographically
  related to the problem behavior.
• Contingent Electric Stimulation
• 46 studies have demonstrated that contingent
  electric stimulation can be a safe and highly
  effective method for suppressing chronic and
  life- threatening self-injurious behavior (SIB).
• Self Injurious Behavior Inhibiting System (SIBIS)
• One of the most rigorously researched and
  carefully applied procedures for implementing
  punishment by electric stimulation for
  self-inflicted blows to the head or face.

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Linscheid, Iwata, Ricketts, Williams, Griffin,
1990
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Guidelines for Using Punishment Effectively

• Select Effective and Appropriate Punishers
• Punishment as part of a behavior change program
  has nothing to do with retribution.
• Punishment is not about threats.
• When punishers are threatened and not delivered,
  the child learns that your verbal threats are not
  associated with the actual punishing behavior.
• Conduct Punisher Assessments
• Parallel process to a reinforcer assessment
• Advantages
• 1. The sooner an effective punisher can be
  identified, the sooner it can be applied to treat
  the problem behavior.
• 2. Data from punisher assessments might reveal
  the magnitude or intensity of punisher necessary
  for behavioral suppression. Allows practitioner
  to determine the smallest intensity of punisher
  that is still affective.
• Consider Using Varied Punishers
• Varying the form of the punishing stimulus
  enhanced the punishing effect.
• It appears that by presenting a varied format of
  commonly used punishers, inappropriate behaviors
  may further decrease without the use of more
  intrusive punishment procedures.

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Guidelines for Using Punishment Effectively

• Use the Least Intensity of Punishment That is
  Effective
• Ethical guidelines and the doctrine of the least
  restrictive alternative demand that the most
  effective, but least intrusive, form of
  punishment be used initially.
• Questions to answer when deciding on a form of
  punishment
• Will this form of punishment suppress the
  behavior?
• Will this form of punishment be controlled from
  application to application?
• Punishment is more effective when the stimulus is
  delivered at its optimum level initially than
  when its intensity is gradually increased over
  time.

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Guidelines for Using Punishment Effectively

• Deliver the Punishment Immediately
• Every instance of the inappropriate behavior
  should be punished.
• Punishment affects most the behavior that
  immediately precedes the onset of punishment.
• Deliver the Punishment at the Beginning of the
  Response Chain
• As much as practical, punishment should occur
  early in the behavioral sequence rather than
  later.
• .
• Experience the Punishment Personally
• Practitioners should experience any punisher
  personally before the treatment begins
• Doing to reminds the practitioner that the
  technique produces physical discomfort.

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Guidelines for Using Punishment Effectively

• Punish Each Instance of the Behavior
• Punishment is most effective when the punisher
  follows each instance of the behavior.
• Record, Graph and Evaluate Data Daily
• Data collection in the first session or two of a
  punishment based intervention is especially
  critical.
• Graphing the frequency of the target behavior
  before, during, and after the presentation of the
  punisher establishes the effectiveness of
  punishment
• Deliver the Punishment Unemotionally
• Punishment should be delivered in a
  business-like, matter-of-fact manner.
• Resist statement such as, I told you so. Now,
  youve gone and done i. and What do you have to
  say for yourself?
• All you want to do is modify behavior, not make
  people atone for their sins.

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Guidelines for Using Punishment Effectively

• Watch for Side Effects of Punishment
• The suppression of one inappropriate behavior may
  lead to the increased expression of another or
  the complete suppression of all other behaviors.
• Decreasing episodes of self-injurious behavior
  bay produce increased levels of verbal
  noncompliance
• Expand observations to include collateral or
  parallel behaviors
• Provide Response Prompts and Reinforcement for
  Alternative Behavior.
• Punishment is most effective when the learner can
  make other responses for reinforcement.
• The more reinforcement the learner obtains by
  emitting appropriate behavior, the less motivate
  he will be to emit the problem behavior.

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Some Research to Consider

• Positive punishment is sometimes necessary to
  reduce problem behavior
• Hagopian et al. (1998) Participants with DD who
  displayed problem behaviors with various
  functions
• FCT alone was ineffective
• FCT EXT ineffective for over half of
  participants when they tried to thin the schedule
  of reinforcement
• FCT punishment produced a 90 or greater
  reduction in problem behavior even when schedule
  was thinned
• Positive punishment may be less aversive than
  extinction
• Hanley et al. (2005) allowed individuals to
  choose which intervention they preferred
• FCT Punishment was preferred to FCT
  Extinction

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Some Research to Consider

• Modeled use of LRA and moving through the
  hierarchy
• Rapp et al. (2001)
• Treated a girl with pica evaluated
• Noncontingent Reinforcement (food)
• Blocking versus Mild reprimand
• NCR Blocking
• Aversive tone

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Rapp et al. (2001)
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Concluding Perspectives

• Recognizing Punishment's Natural and Necessary
  Role in Learning
• Behavior analysts should not dismiss punishment
  as a potentially helpful option
• Punishment is a natural part of life
• Whether punishment is socially mediated, planned
  or unplanned, or conducted by sophisticated
  practitioners, Vollmer (1998) believed that a
  science of behavior should study punishment.

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Concluding Perspectives

• More Research on Punishment is Needed
• Many recommendations for punishment are derived
  from basic research conducted more than 40 years
  ago.
• Interventions Featuring Positive Punishment
  Should be Treated as Default Technologies
• Iwata (1988) recommended that punishment-based
  intervention involving the contingent application
  of aversive stimulation, such as SIBIS, be
  treated as default technologies.
• A default technology is one that a practitioner
  turns to when other methods have failed.

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PunishmentBy Stimulus Removal
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Level III Negative Punishment

• An event is terminated immediately following a
  behavior ? behavioral reduction
• 2 Types
• Response cost Loss of actual reinforcers to
  which the individual currently had access
• e.g., loss of tokens
• Time-out Loss of access or opportunity to
  receive reinforcers contingent upon problem
  behavior
• e.g., loss of access to Moms attention and cool
  toys around the house
• Contraindicated for behaviors maintained by
  escape!

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Example of Time Out
SD Adult says, Lets open our books to page 12.
Each of you should read the first paragraph to
your buddy.
Response Child pokes his buddy
SR- Adult places child in time out (peer
attention is removed)
EO Child is participating in classroom buddy
activities, where attention from peers (a
positive reinforcer) is available.
Poking a buddy occurs less often in the future
when the teacher gives a classroom instruction
and peer buddies are available.
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Time-out Procedures

• Nonexclusion
• Planned ignoring
• Withdrawal of a specific positive reinforcer
• Contingent observation
• Time-out ribbon
• Exclusion
• Time-out room
• Partition time-out
• Hallway time-out

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Effective Use of Time Out

• Reinforce and enrich the time-in environment
• Utilize differential reinforcement to reinforce
  alternative and incompatible behaviors
• Clearly define the behaviors leading to time-out
• All parties (including the target individual)
  should have explicit, observable definitions of
  the problem behavior

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Effective Use of Time Out

• Define procedures for the duration of time-out
• Initial duration should be short
• Longer than 15 minutes ineffective
• After time out return student to activity he was
  previously engaged in (dont hold a grudge)
• Define exit criteria
• If individual is misbehaving when time-out ends,
  it should be continued until inappropriate
  behavior ceases

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Effective Use of Time Out

• Exclusion vs. nonexclusion time-out
• Consider institutional policies that may prevent
  exclusion time-out
• Physical factors (i.e., lack of appropriate
  space) may prevent exclusion time-out
• Explain time-out rules to the individual
• Target behaviors, duration, exit criteria
• Obtain permission
• Administrative approvals
• Parental approvals

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Effective Use of Time Out

• Apply consistently
• Evaluate effectiveness
• Target behavior should decrease
• Track frequency and duration of time outs
• Also track collateral behaviors for side effects
• Consider other less intrusive procedures first
• Consider legal and ethical issues

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Example of Response Cost
SD Adult says, Lets open our books to page 12.
Each of you should read the first paragraph to
your buddy.
Response Child pokes his buddy
SR- 5 minutes of the recess time is removed
EO Child has 15 minutes of recess on schedule
every morning.
Poking a buddy occurs less often in the future
when the teacher gives a classroom instruction
and recess is available.
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Methods of Response Cost

• Direct fine
• Bonus response cost
• The use of reinforcers reduce the legal and
  ethical concerns
• Combined with positive reinforcement
• The use of reinforcers reduce the legal and
  ethical concerns
• Group arrangements

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Effective Use of Response Cost

• Specifically define the target behaviors that
  will result in response cost, as well as the
  fines
• Establish rules for refusals to comply with the
  response-cost procedure, and explain these
• Greater fines should be associated with more
  severe forms of problem behavior
• Be cautious of making fines so great that the
  individual becomes bankrupt

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Effective Use of Response Cost

• Fines should be posed immediately
• Response cost vs. bonus response cost
• Use least aversive initially (bonus response
  cost)
• Increases acceptability
• Decreases emotional outbursts
• Ensure reinforcement reserve (decrease likelihood
  of bankruptcy

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Effective Use of Response Cost

• Be prepared for unplanned or unexpected outcomes
• Response cost can reinforce rather than punish
  undesirable behavior
• Individuals can refuse to give up positive
  reinforcers
• Avoid overuse
• Keep records to evaluate effectiveness

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Response Cost Considerations

• Increased aggression may occur
• Ignore emotional outbursts when possible
• dont use or be prepared to ride out the storm
• Avoidance of the person who administers response
  cost or the setting may occur
• These become conditioned aversive stimuli
• Make sure positive reinforcement is available for
  appropriate behavior to reduce the likelihood of
  this outcome

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Response Cost Considerations

• Collateral reductions of desirable behaviors may
  occur
• Response cost may unintentionally suppress other,
  desirable behaviors, as well as the target
  problem behaviors
• Response cost calls attention to inappropriate
  behaviors
• Be prepared for unpredictability