vicarious punishment

Examples of vicarious punishment in the following topics:

• Bandura and Observational Learning

  • Three main conditions were included: a) the model-reward condition, in which the children saw a second adult give the aggressive model candy for a "championship performance"; b) the model-punished condition, in which the children saw a second adult scold the model for their aggression; and c) the no-consequence condition, in which the children simply saw the model behave aggressively.
  • Those in the model-reward and no-consequence conditions were more willing to imitate the aggressive acts than those in the model-punished condition.
  • If you saw that the model was reinforced for her behavior, you will be more motivated to copy her; this is known as vicarious reinforcement.
  • On the other hand, if you observed the model being punished, you would be less motivated to copy her; this is called vicarious punishment.

• Reinforcement and Punishment

  • Reinforcement and punishment are principles that are used in operant conditioning.
  • Both reinforcement and punishment can be positive or negative.
  • Positive punishments add an aversive stimulus to decrease a behavior or response.
  • Negative punishments remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior or response.
  • See the green and red backgrounds above, which represent reinforcement and punishment, respectively.

• Unconscious Perception and Influences on Behavior

  • Subliminal advertising was first created by James Vicary in 1957, a market researcher, when he inserted the words "Eat Popcorn" and "Drink Coca-Cola" into a movie to study the impact it would have on movie concession sales.

• Moral Development in Childhood

  • Any behavior that results in a punishment is deemed as bad, whereas any behavior that results in a reward is deemed as good.
  • Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience - In this stage, children find it hard to distinguish between two separate moral points of view, especially in a moral dilemma.
  • The focus continues to be on behaving according to adult rules and avoiding punishment.

• Defining Learning

  • Operant conditioning is the learning process by which behaviors are reinforced or punished, thus strengthening or extinguishing a response.
  • Over time, the rats learned that stepping on the lever directly caused the release of food, demonstrating that behavior can be influenced by rewards or punishments.

• Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development

  • Stage 1 focuses on the child's desire to obey rules and avoid being punished.
  • For example, an action is perceived as morally wrong because the perpetrator is punished; the worse the punishment for the act is, the more "bad" the act is perceived to be.
  • In this way, the individual acts because it is morally right to do so (and not because he or she wants to avoid punishment), it is in their best interest, it is expected, it is legal, or it is previously agreed upon.

• Behavior Therapy and Applied Behavioral Analysis

  • Punishment such as a timeout or a sharp “No!”
  • Social skills training teaches clients skills to access natural reinforcers and lessen life punishment.
  • Skinner developed the idea of operant conditioning in 1937, when he tested the learning of rats through reinforcement and punishment in what is now called a Skinner box.
  • Finally, many have critiqued the use of punishment in certain forms of behavior therapy as inhumane.

• Basic Principles of Operant Conditioning

  • Skinner theorized that if a behavior is followed by reinforcement, that behavior is more likely to be repeated, but if it is followed by punishment, it is less likely to be repeated.
  • He also believed that this learned association could end, or become extinct, if the reinforcement or punishment was removed.

• Basic Principles of Operant Conditioning: Skinner

  • Skinner theorized that if a behavior is followed by reinforcement, that behavior is more likely to be repeated, but if it is followed by some sort of aversive stimuli or punishment, it is less likely to be repeated.
  • He also believed that this learned association could end, or become extinct, if the reinforcement or punishment was removed.

• Bandura's and Rotter's Social-Cognitive Theories of Personality

  • Behavior refers to anything that we do that may be rewarded or punished.
  • Finally, the context in which the behavior occurs refers to the environment or situation, which includes rewarding/punishing stimuli.