Punishment is a term used to refer to any change that occurs after a behavior that reduces the likelihood that the behavior will occur again in the future. Punishment is focused on reducing or getting rid of unwanted behaviors. Punishment can be effective in some cases. 小题1: Prison is one example. After being sent to jail for a crime, people often continue committing crimes once they are away from prison. Why is it that punishment seems to work in some instances, but not in others？Researchers have found a number of factors that contribute to how effective punishment is. First, punishment is more likely to lead to a reduction in behavior if it immediately follows the behavior. 小题2: It may help explain why sending people to jail does not always lead to a reduction in criminal behaviors. Another factor is that punishment achieves greater results when it is consistently applied. 小题3: For example, people often continue to drive over the speed limit even after receiving a speeding ticket. Why? Because the behavior is inconsistently punished. 小题4: One of them is that any behavior changes that result from punishment are often temporary(暂时的). Perhaps the greatest one is the fact that punishment makes people not perform certain actions, but it does not actually offer any information about more appropriate or desired behaviors. Another thing to consider about punishment is that it can have unintended and undesirable consequences. For example, approximately 75 percent of parents in the United States report hitting their children. 小题5: For this reason, psychologists suggest that any short-term gains from using punishment should be weighed because it may produce potential long-term consequences.
F. However, you can probably think of situations where punishment does not reduce a behavior. G. Researchers have found that this type of physical punishment can lead to antisocial behaviors among children. |