While there is a very limited and brief place for
punishment, it typically is not as effective as reinforcement. Unfortunately, the two are often confused
with parents, teachers, others, believing they are punishing a child/teen/adult
but are actually reinforcing negative or inappropriate behavior.
For example: If a child/teen craves interaction with his or
her parents and only gets it when misbehaving, even though that interaction may
seem punitive, the interaction may well be reinforcing.
Decades ago, I knew someone who would attack others and do
some very gross and inappropriate behaviors.
He had been doing this for much of his life. He lived in an institution and every time he
would do something like this, he would be tied down in his bed or his arms
would be put in tubes to stop the behavior.
While the behavior would stop for a short time, it would soon
return. Unfortunately, almost the only
time anyone would touch or interact with him was when “punishing” him.
Fortunately, I was able to implement a different strategy
and the behavior stopped in about a month.
(Remember: Nature abhors a vacuum. Anytime… or almost anytime, you want to get
rid of a negative or inappropriate behavior, it needs to be replaced with an appropriate
behavior that fills the same or a similar need.)
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