Utah State University.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2021 Jan;115(1):185-203. doi: 10.1002/jeab.653. Epub 2020 Dec 6.
In his book Coercion and Its Fallout Murray Sidman argued against the use of punishment based on concerns about its shortcomings and side effects. Among his concerns were the temporary nature of response suppression produced by punishment, the dangers of conditioned punishment, increases in escape and avoidance responses, punishment-induced aggression, and the development of countercontrol. This paper revisits Sidman's arguments about these putative shortcomings and side effects by examining the available data. Although Sidman's concerns are reasonable and should be considered when using any form of behavioral control, there appears to be a lack of strong empirical support for the notion that these potential problems with punishment are necessarily ubiquitous, long-lasting, or specific to punishment. We describe the need for additional research on punishment in general, and especially on its putative shortcomings and side effects. We also suggest the need for more effective formal theories of punishment that provide a principled account of how, why, and when lasting effects of punishment and its potential side effects might be expected to occur or not. In addition to being necessary for a complete account of behavior, such data and theories might contribute to improved interventions for problems of human concern.
在他的著作《强制及其后果》中，默里·西德曼（Murray Sidman）反对基于对惩罚的缺点和副作用的担忧而使用惩罚。他关注的问题包括惩罚产生的反应抑制的暂时性、条件性惩罚的危险、逃避和回避反应的增加、惩罚引起的攻击以及反控制的发展。本文通过检查现有数据，重新审视了 Sidman 关于这些假定缺点和副作用的论点。尽管 Sidman 的担忧是合理的，在使用任何形式的行为控制时都应该考虑到这些问题，但似乎没有强有力的实证证据支持这样一种观点，即惩罚的这些潜在问题必然是普遍存在的、持久的或特定于惩罚的。我们描述了对惩罚进行一般研究的必要性，特别是对其假定缺点和副作用进行研究的必要性。我们还建议需要更有效的惩罚形式理论，该理论为惩罚的持久影响及其潜在副作用可能发生或不发生的方式、原因和时间提供了一个有原则的解释。除了对行为的完整描述是必要的之外，这样的数据和理论可能有助于改善对人类关注问题的干预措施。
