1. Running Head: PUNISHMENT VS. REINFORCEMENT 1
Punishment vs. Reinforcement
Amber Stump
Kaplan University

2. PUNISHMENT VS. REINFORCEMENT 2
PUNISHMENT VS. REINFORCEMENT
In Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) there are different schools of thought when it
comes to whether punishment or reinforcement is better for a client when helping them to
modify a behavior. Modifying a behavior can be either stopping a negative behavior or
beginning a positive behavior, sometimes it can even be starting a new positive behavior which
is replacing a current negative behavior. Does reinforcement or punishment work better when
modifying positive and negative behaviors?
If you want to study the different types of treatment programs and make a decision based
on other people’s opinions then that is a way you can go, or you can embrace the fact that you
went to school to become an ABA professional because you were not only smart enough to do so
but because it is an area you truly care about and want to make a difference in. If you stop and
really think about it the answer to the question of whether reinforcement or punishment is better,
you will find the answer inside you. You have studied the history of this profession; the steps
leading up to what is now known, the treatments that were tried and those that failed as well as
the ones that work well and you know all the information on what the technical answer should
be. But, knowing the obvious answer and knowing how you will treat your client are two
different things.
Before you can even begin to choose a treatment program, there are steps that need to be
taken that can help an ABA professional to discover what may be the most beneficial treatment
program for the client, whether that treatment program involves medication is not going to be
discussed here. These are a few of the basic steps to take before you begin the treatment phase;
The first step is to do a functional behavior analysis (FBA) to determine what variables may be
contributing to the undesirable behaviors the ABA professional has been contacted and retained

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to treat. After an FBA is done, the ABA professional will conduct direct and/or indirect
observations to add to the outcomes of the FBA. After these are done the ABA professional then
sits down and goes over all the information and determines what might be the best form of
treatment for that particular client. These treatments include some type of reinforcement or
punishment.
The history of reinforcement in the ABA field began in 1913 with John Watson
observing behavior and stating it was considered proper psychology, later it was further defined
and renamed and put into categories by not only B.F. Skinner but Ivar Lovaas as well. Of course
Lovaas also included corporal-type punishments to his lineup of acceptable modifications to
behavior, but this was later found to do more harm than to help a client to modify behaviors by
other leading psychologists that came along later.
In ABA there is positive and negative reinforcement as well as positive and negative
punishment. It is hard to say that any one of them is good or bad when you are trying to modify
the behavior of one particular client. Each client is different and each will respond differently to
the type of modification technique used for them. The ABA professional has to determine which
one of the four main types of treatments is going to work for a particular client.
Positive reinforcement is giving a stimulus to the client to motivate them to repeat the
desired behavior again and again in the future. Negative reinforcement is the removal of a
stimulus the client doesn’t like once they have completed the desired behavior making them want
to repeat the desired behavior again to avoid that stimulus.
Positive punishment is giving the client a negative consequence immediately after an
undesired behavior is seen, this should keep the client from wanting to repeat that undesired

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behavior so there is no repeat of the negative consequence. Negative punishment is the removal
of something the client likes as a punishment in relation to an undesired behavior being
exhibited. Again, each client is different and finding what works with each client is up to the
ABA professional to discover.
Positive punishment has been respected and maligned over the past two centuries. John
Locke said in 1824 that it can lead to bigger problems in the future by spanking (or using
corporal punishment) on children. This is something that has also been reiterated over and over
and is still heard today. It breaks down to one person having power over another, it can lead to
more and bigger forms of punishment that could become what is considered abusive, as the
person giving the punishment is looking for submission and if the person who is being punished
does not want to submit then the punishment could venture into a larger issue of abuse, such as;
hitting, smacking, punching, calling them degrading things, etc.
Positive punishment treatments can have a legal ramification such as the child’s parent
being arrested for abuse and the child being placed into a government home. It could have a
socio-cultural ramification of name calling that could affect the child well into adulthood. It
could have individual ramifications not only for the child but their children when it is time for
them to begin the punishment procedure as the adults, and learned behavior is there. Ethically it
could be construed as damaging to an ABA professional’s career to tell a parent that they need to
use positive punishments (corporal punishments) like spanking the child because it could start a
slippery slope to something much worse. Some experts say spanking could be attributed to
increased antisocial behavior, mental health issues, and problems with self-control.
The subject of positive punishment has to be examined from the side of it being a good
thing for some though, or it wouldn’t be used in ABA anymore. It can be about immediate

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punishments that are not physical in nature, such as; objects being removed from the client as
soon as they exhibit the undesirable behavior. It may be the one thing that works for a client
where all other types of reinforcement or punishment have no effect. It cannot be ruled out
completely, saying it should never be used could be a short sighted statement. Again we have to
look at this from a purely professional approach, does this work for this client? That really
should be the only question asked in most situations. But, in the situation of spanking, first try all
other avenues of treatment, try the reinforcements and the punishments before a parent is told to
spank a child (client), because it could be that this step isn’t needed, it may always be a last
resort effort that never needs to be put into your repertoire of treatments.
Negative punishment consists of removing a favored activity or object once an
undesirable behavior has been exhibited, the object or activity is not given back until the
undesirable behavior is not repeated then the object or activity is given back and the negative
punishment should not have to be repeated. An example; if a child will not be quiet during class
time, the teacher could take away recess time as a negative punishment for the talking. The next
day the child does not talk out of turn and they get to go to recess, but if the child talks again
during class the next day then that child still does have recess. This has taught them the lesson
that talking when they are not supposed to can lead to their recess being taken away and not
given back until they stop the undesirable behavior. If recess is something they love to do then it
is an effective punishment, the teacher has then found an effective treatment for that child. That
teacher knows that this treatment program will work in the future for that child.
This is the same situation with an ABA professional; they need to find what works for
their client. What works for one of their clients may not work for the next. It is a situation of trial
and error. Negative punishment also has a bigger picture. People who are found guilty and sent

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to prison for a determinate amount of time are being treated for undesirable behavior with
negative punishments. Not only does the ABA field use these treatments, but you can see them
working in even the bigger parts of our government.
The socio-cultural ramifications from negative punishment are that people who are
locked up may have children who grow up to think it is okay to be locked up like their parent(s)
are/were. The legal ramifications are the cost to the taxpayers when someone has to go through
the legal system. The individual ramifications could include recidivism on the part of someone
who has already been locked up in prison, as well as how being locked up affects their future.
The ethical ramifications could include someone who is locked up being treated badly
while they are locked up. Ethically, treating someone badly, even when locked up would be
wrong, but once they are found guilty and locked up they are not really listened to anymore.
These ramifications are extreme but can also be used on a much smaller scale for children in
school, or clients of an ABA professional as well.
Negative reinforcement is when you remove something a client hates once a desired
behavior has been completed and it is repeated again and again. Example; A male child hates
cleaning the toilet. He habitually urinates all over the toilet instead of properly going to the
restroom and so the mother has told him that until he stops urinating all over the toilet for a
predetermined amount of time he will have to clean the toilet every day. This negative
reinforcement treatment works because he hates cleaning the toilet, so to stop doing something
he hates all he has to do is stop the negative behavior of urinating all over the toilet. Once he
stops the undesirable behavior for the predetermined amount of time, the undesirable negative
reinforcement is removed. Thus, the undesirable behavior is fixed.

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This type of reinforcement can work in a lot of situations where a client, child, or person
is not responding to other types of treatment, such as; positive reinforcement (praise), negative
punishment (removing a desired thing), or positive punishment (immediate punishment for an
undesired behavior). Again we see that in the case of a client, or child, etc. it comes down to the
ABA professional finding the treatment program which works best for each person.
The socio-cultural ramifications of this can be having to do an undesired punishment that
can affect how they are seen by people in their community (like making a child hold up a sign in
a public place about what they did). The legal ramifications could be there if what they were
doing as an undesirable behavior was against the law, then they would have to deal with being in
trouble with the law. Ethical ramifications may include an ABA professional giving them an
undesirable punishment that isn’t ethically sound. Individual ramifications could include how the
client feels about themselves if the undesirable behavior is embarrassing and it is brought to the
attention of others in the treatment program while having to do the undesirable reinforcement.
Positive reinforcement is when you give a reward for positive (good) behavior because
you want the positive behavior to continue. The positive reinforcements can include words of
praise, objects of desire, such as; food, games, toys, vacations, etc., really anything that the client
wants can be used as a positive reinforcement for continuing positive behavior. An example; at
the end of the academic year schools have award ceremonies where kids receive awards for
things like; math, friendship, attendance, etc. These awards foster a positive feeling right before
kids go off to their summer breaks; it keeps them feeling positive and ready to begin a new
school year. This is larger use of the positive reinforcement treatment program. Again we see the
use of ABA treatments in places other than an ABA professional’s office.

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Positive reinforcement can also include a token economy in the school system, or even in
the home. A token economy has specific guidelines. They include; target behaviors to increase or
decrease. Tokens to be handed out when the desired behavior is exhibited or the undesired
behavior is absent, and prizes (back up reinforcers) the tokens can be exchanged for. In a
classroom setting a teacher, or teacher’s assistant (TA) has a list of behaviors they want to
increase or decrease, such as; raising the hand when answering, sitting in the seat, not blurting
out the answers, not hitting or kicking, walking nicely in a straight line to other places outside
the classroom.
Every time the child completes a desired behavior or refrains from exhibited an undesired
behavior the teacher or TA hands them a token. Then after they have saved up a certain amount
of tokens they can turn them in for a prize (back up reinforcers). Back up reinforcers can include
items such as; a candy bar, a small toy, minutes to access the computer or game system, or even
saving time to go to a preferred activity, such as; the pool, the zoo, the park, etc. After the token
economy has worked it will be time to consider phasing it out. One way to do that is to replace
the tokens with something else, such as praise, so as a child gets older they will look forward to
praise as much as they used to look forward to the tokens.
The legal ramifications of positive reinforcement could be trying to bribe an official to
continue behavior that is good for another person but maybe against the law or is not good for
society. Ethical ramifications could also be in the bribe area, by bribing an ABA professional to
get a wife to do certain things that the husband likes, that would be imposing on the wife’s sense
of self, and completely unethical, even if the thing the husband wants the wife to do is a good
thing, like washing the dishes. Individual ramifications could include the person getting all the
positive reinforcements but never learning to take responsibility for themselves as adults because

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they got everything handed to them, as long as they did what they were told to do, or they grow
up thinking that since they did a good job they deserve to get a treat, that could lead to being
overweight and unhealthy, or an unfair sense of entitlement.
Socio-cultural ramifications of positive reinforcement could be that they person has no
sense of real life, or of struggle because they have always had things given to them as long as
they did what they were told. They could go to their job and if they are not handed a reward
every day for doing what they are told to do they may quit that job thinking it isn’t worth it,
which could lead to the wrong sense of how the world works.
Differential reinforcement is a combination of positive and negative reinforcements used
in tandem. An example would be if a child is in a store with the parent and the child throws a fit
for something they want, the parent ignores the tantrum, not paying attention to the child. The
child then calms down and comes up to the parent later and asks politely if they can have the
object they wanted earlier. The parent first says thank you for calming down and yes you may
have the item since you asked me nicely. This example shows how the child first threw a fit and
the parent reacted with negative reinforcement by removing their attention from the child’s
negative behavior, then the child later asks and the parent rewards the positive behavior with
positive reinforcement.
This type of reinforcement seamlessly uses two types of treatments that work well
together. If this is looked at from a legal standpoint, we see it every day, people obey the law and
do not go to jail, the police leave them alone (positive reinforcement) , if they break the law, the
police arrest them and they end up in trouble (negative reinforcement). Ethically this seems to be
a good treatment program to have your client use. If you’re an ABA professional you would try
having a parent use this with your client (child). This can fit all socio-cultural settings, it is well

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known that if you break the law you will get into trouble, if you don’t then the law will leave you
alone. Individually it can also be a help to a person who isn’t an ABA professional, a mother can
use this type of treatment at home in a regular home setting for things like chores, attitude
problems, etc.
Positive behavior support (PBS) is a type of positive reinforcement used in schools to
help the teacher be able to stay on track with teaching rather than having to stop to dole out a
punishment for negative behaviors. It has also been studied in after-school, playground, and
summer programs and looks to be a treatment that has a chance of working better than the typical
punishment type of treatment often used in schools (sending kids to the principal, calling them
out in front of the class, etc.)
Studies have been done to find a correlation between preschoolers who receive praise and
those who don’t and they have found long term effects that can lead to mental health issues such
as; low self-esteem, eating disorders, over achieving, constant pleasing of others, and even some
more serious issues such as; self-harm, harm to others, and learned behaviors that affect their
children later in life (these lists are not all inclusive). Replacing negative comments and
punishments with positive reinforcements has been shown to help preschoolers learn better and
feel better about themselves and others as they move through school and into life.
The issue comes down to which is better, reinforcers or punishments? Each type of
treatment has its own drawbacks and has its own reasons for working. If you read all the research
done on all the types of reinforcers and all the types of punishments, you could end up being
quite confused as to what you should believe and/or what you should be using in terms of
treating your client. Do you offer reinforcers first? Do you offer punishments first? Should you
offer a combination of the two? How do you decide which is better?

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The simple answer is none of them are better than any of the others. As stated before,
each type of reinforcer and each type of punishment has something in it that could be helpful to
your client, or they wouldn’t be offered as treatment options. The question really comes down to
what type of treatment is better for your client? The client is what matters here; they are the ones
you are supposed to be helping. So, it doesn’t matter what type of treatment you chose as long as
it is the most helpful for the client, so it’s a tie, punishment or reinforcement, not punishment vs.
reinforcement.

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