There are
two types of punishment, negative and positive punishment. Negative punishment
is when a stimulus is removed, something is taken away. For example, when a
child is misbehaving the parents try to get rid of the bad behavior by taking
away something that matters for the child, like taking away their computer,
phone, TV, toys or freedom. They do this in the hope that their child will
start behaving. Positive punishment is the addition or presence of a stimulus.
For example, when a child is misbehaving the parents tries to get rid of the
bad behavior by giving the child something instead of the removal of something.
This could be spanking the child when misbehaving.
Punishment
has shown that it does not work to change behavioral patterns. If a child does
something bad and the parents punish them by spanking, the only thing that
comes out of it is that the child learns to not show that kind of behavior in
the presence of the parents. As soon as the child thinks they’re not being
watched by their parents, the behavior resets and they start doing it again. The
same goes for negative punishment, the child will continue the behavior as soon
as they think they’re not being watched they continue the “bad” behavior.
If someone
is exposed to punishment over longer time, they will get used to it, acclimated
and they will stop responding to it. Punishment does not work over time, but it
can seem to be a temporarily fix to a problem.
