Reinforcement and punishment can sometimes be a puzzling concept, especially when we tend to think of reinforcement as positive and punishment as negative. I think it is important for parents, behaviour analysts and anyone who is involved in the field of ABA to really get a handle on this concept. Why? Because it is one of the basic behavioural principles on which ABA is founded.
Once I was able to appreciate the two for what they actually are, it became easier not only to identify reinforcement and punishment, but also to become proficient in their use.
Let me start by defining the two. Reinforcement is anything that occurs after behaviour occurred and increases the likelihood of that behaviour happening again in the future. Punishment on the other hand is the exact opposite. Punishment is anything that happens after behaviour, causing the likelihood of that behaviour to decrease in the future.
So we say for example that behaviour has been reinforced if it happens more in the future and punished if it happens less. Whether the thing that happened is “good” or “bad” doesn’t matter, it is whether or not it increases or decreases the likelihood of that behaviour happening again.
Whoa! I’m actually starting to confuse myself, let’s hope you are still with me. Let us consider real life situations. Let us say your child has a challenging behaviour of calling out in class instead of raising his hand. After he calls out, his peers may engage him, by making a comment or the teacher may reprimand him. You notice that the teacher’s feedback is that “he keeps calling out in class, and it seems to be getting worse”. This is because the engagement of the peers and the teacher’s verbal reprimand are actually reinforcing the behaviour, causing it to increase. More specifically the behaviour is being reinforced by social attention. On the other-hand, if the teacher’s reaction was to remove him from the class and it still continues to increase, the removal from the classroom would also be reinforcing the behaviour (negative reinforcement). In this case, the behaviour is being reinforced by escape.
With a better conceptualization of reinforcement it becomes easier for you to understand what motivates your child’s behaviour and if you understand what controls the behaviour you can better understand how to manage it, and how to manipulate the environment to direct the behaviour. For example, in the first scenario it is obvious that attention (engagement of others) is what motivates the behaviour. Alternatively, the child can be taught to raise his hand and then teacher attention can be provided dependent on that. In the second scenario where the behaviour is being maintained by escape (removal from the classroom), the alternative can be to provide the child with a break after a set number of times he raises his hand or after a set number of minutes of sitting quietly.
Once you have a better understanding of reinforcement and punishment it is easier to identify and therefore control or use these principles.
On the flip side punishment is something that we tend to avoid. In keeping with best practice and least restrictive methods, this would be the last strategy I use as a behaviour analyst . As a mother, some situations may call for punishment. So let us try to understand it.
As stated above, punishment essentially decreases the future likelihood of a behaviour occurring. This includes, time-outs, verbal reprimand, spanking, and even praise, smiling and accolades. Yes, praise can be considered punishment. Remember, as long as the future likelihood of behaviour decreases, that behaviour is being punished.
Say you have a child who is quite shy. You want her to come out of her shell, so you decide to put her in a drama or theater program. You noticed the first time you went to a play she impressed you, she was bold, confident and spoke loudly on stage. Naturally you praised her and gave accolades. At one point during the play you could not help but give your daughter a standing ovation (even though you were the only one). The next presentation, you notice your daughter is less bold and has faded into the background. She is not as confident and you can barely hear her say her lines. You still clap, smile and praise her. By the third presentation, you notice your daughter has actually decided she prefers to shine behind the scenes. What happened? Well, in this case, praise has actually acted as punishment. How? Because the behaviour you originally wanted has decreased. What now? You still want to see the desired behaviour of bold, loud, confident speaking. Maybe you can encourage her to perform in front of a smaller group and do not publicly praise her. Instead, you can reinforce bold and confident speaking with time alone with your daughter, a trip to the movies or mall is more likely to shape the behaviour you want rather than praise. —Deborah Vincent
