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Punishment
There are some problems with the use of punishers. Perhaps this is
why they are unpopular. Whereas negative reinforcement involves the
conditioning of preceding signals that predict the potentially
aversive stimulus, punishment is a form of backward conditioning
because any signalling of the aversive stimulus is either absent or
follows the undesirable behaviour. Trainers who use punishment to
eliminate undesirable behaviour have to be careful that the wrong
association is not created. Rather than correctly associating the
undesirable behaviour with a painful consequence, many animals learn
to fear the trainer or the training area.
The punishment procedure makes the onset of an aversive stimulus
contingent on a particular response. The punishment procedure may or
may not lead to a reduction in the response. The situation is
complicated because the punishing stimulus also elicits other
responses, which may actually increase the performance of the
"punished response". Whipping a horse for bolting will usually serve
to rocket it forth once more.
Presentation of aversive stimuli will usually produce an overall
suppression of behaviour. However, with the passage of time, the
behaviour recovers. In other words, a reduction in performance of
the punished response may have nothing to do with the specific link
between the response and the "punishing" stimulus. So, even if the
thrashing produced a reduction in the bolting response it is not
clear why.
The effectiveness of punishments is limited by a number of factors
including punishment intensity. The more motivated an animal is to
perform an action, the greater the intensity of the punishment
required to stop it. When punishing unwanted behaviours linked to
anxiety, such as a dog barking when left alone, the result may be an
unwelcome and possibly inhumane escalation in distress. If there are
no alternative treatments, there may be ways of maximising the
effectiveness of punishment. For instance, by using an aversive
sound such as a high-pitched alarm it may be possible to distract as
well as punish the perpetrator. This is likely to be particularly
effective if the stimulus is presented at the beginning of the
unwelcome behaviour sequence because at this stage that motivation
is lowest and distraction is possible. |
