General Questions: Punishment/Reinforcement,

[e.maleken]

Can anyone just sum up quickly:
Which one is better, why.
What are the "side effects" of punishment/reinforcement (why can some types of punishment/reinforcement be ineffective)

Thanks in advance.

[Felicity Wishes]

Reinforcement is better because punishment has those side effects like anger and frustration and it doesn't provide an alternative for the behaviour.

Sometimes reinforcement and punishment can be ineffective because the punisher or the reinforcer may not be appropriate for the learner.  E.g. Giving a sticker to a 25 year old as a reinforcement would be ineffective.

[e.maleken]

Reinforcement is better because punishment has those side effects like anger and frustration and it doesn't provide an alternative for the behaviour.

Sometimes reinforcement and punishment can be ineffective because the punisher or the reinforcer may not be appropriate for the learner.  E.g. Giving a sticker to a 25 year old as a reinforcement would be ineffective.

What do you mean by providing an alternative behaviour?

[Felicity Wishes]

Reinforcement is better because punishment has those side effects like anger and frustration and it doesn't provide an alternative for the behaviour.

Sometimes reinforcement and punishment can be ineffective because the punisher or the reinforcer may not be appropriate for the learner.  E.g. Giving a sticker to a 25 year old as a reinforcement would be ineffective.

What do you mean by providing an alternative behaviour?

Well, it doesn't promote any behaviour that is good. It just reduces a bad behaviour. Say if I punished you for biting your nails, your behaviour is reduced but you are provided with no other better behaviour in its place.

[danielgb123]

It depends on the scenario as Lipton as mentioned.

Firstly, punishment is designed to decrease the frequency/likelihood of the behaviour occurring again; whereas, reinforcement aims to increase/strengthen the behaviour.
The problems associated with punishment include anger, as well as not providing an example of the desired response.

Therefore, reinforcement may be a more useful way to manage behaviour as it not only rewards desired behaviour, however also provides that example of what the desired behaviour is, as opposed to punishment which simply aims to decrease the occurrence of 'undesired' behaviour.

[Scooby]

The person who does the punishment may also be negatively reinforced for their behaviour. So, for example, if a teacher manages to get his students to be quiet by yelling at them loudly and being aggressive, he may be more likely to generalise this to other situations where he has to do the same. He's essentially being encouraged to act aggressive again in the future

[e.maleken]

Ok, i think i get it.
Thanks guys c:

[Felicity Wishes]

No probs! C: