Abstract
Punishment acquires a discriminative property when it is selectively paired with either reinforcement or extinction. At the milder punishment intensities, the discriminative control exerted by punishment is similar to the discriminative control exerted by a response-produced neutral (nonaversive) stimulus. However, the effect of the aversive property is apparent as the intensity of the punishment is increased. The aversive property of the punishment acts to enhance the discriminative control when the punishment is selectively applied during extinction periods, and to attenuate the discriminative control when the punishment is selectively applied during reinforcement periods. One major difference was found between the control exerted by the punishment and the response-produced neutral simulus: Responding greatly increased after the SΔ punishment but not after the SΔ neutral stimulus; this increase in responding was independent of the punishment intensities studied.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- AZRIN N. H., HOLZ W. C. Punishment during fixed-interval reinforcement. J Exp Anal Behav. 1961 Oct;4:343–347. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1961.4-343. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- AZRIN N. H. Sequential effects of punishment. Science. 1960 Feb 26;131(3400):605–606. doi: 10.1126/science.131.3400.605. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- HOLZ W. C., AZRIN N. H. Discriminative properties of punishment. J Exp Anal Behav. 1961 Jul;4:225–232. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1961.4-225. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- KELLEHER R. T. Stimulus-producing responses in chimpanzees. J Exp Anal Behav. 1958 Jan;1:87–102. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1958.1-87. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- REYNOLDS G. S. Behavioral contrast. J Exp Anal Behav. 1961 Jan;4:57–71. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1961.4-57. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- WYCKOFF L. B., Jr The role of observing responses in discrimination learning. Psychol Rev. 1952 Nov;59(6):431–442. doi: 10.1037/h0053932. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]