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Escape, Avoidance and
Punishment
Chapter 9
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Classes of Reinforcing and
Punishing Stimuli
Present
Positive
Increase
Reinforcer
Positive
Reinforcer
Decrease
Punisher
Positive
Punisher
Remove
Negative
Negative
Reinforcer
Negative
Punisher
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Reinforcement and Punishment
• All things being equal, most people will respond
better to both immediate reinforcement and
immediate punishment.
• Most punishments in American society are given
for behaviors that are immediately reinforcing,
while the threat of the punishments for these deeds
is delayed and uncertain.
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Reinforcement and Punishment
• Punishment tends to be ineffective except
for temporarily suppressing undesirable
behavior.
• Mild, logical and consistent punishment can
be informative and helpful.
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Four Categories of Operant Conditioning
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Avoidance
• Negative
reinforcement
– Escape
– Avoidance
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Two-Process Theory of Avoidance
• Classical Conditioning - fear
• Operant Conditioning - reduction of fear
• Evidence supporting two-factor theory
– Second order conditioning
• Problems with two-factor theory
– Avoidance without fear or fear reduction
• Extinction of Avoidance
– Where is the extinction?
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
One-Factor Theory
• Operant Conditioning Only
• Sidman Avoidance
– Free operant avoidance
– Shock-Shock or S-S interval
– Response-Shock or R-S interval
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
One-Factor Theory
• Hernstein and Hineline Experiment
– Shock frequency reduction
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Avoidance and Phobias
• Passive avoidance
• Classically conditioned fear response 
phobias
• Avoidance learning  phobic response
• Phobias
– Avoidance of CS
– Single trial learning
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Avoidance and ObsessiveCompulsive Disorders
• OCD- active avoidance
• Exposure and response prevention
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Biological Constraints in Avoidance
Learning
• Bolles
– Species-specific defense mechanisms SSDRs
– Freezing, fleeing and fighting
– Difficult for pigeons to learn key peck or rats a
bar press
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Learned Helplessness
• Seligman
– Repeated exposure to (aversive) events that are
unpredictable and uncontrollable can have
debilitating effects.
– Motivational, cognitive, emotional impairment
– depression
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Punishment
• Types of Punishment
– Positive punishment
– Negative punishment
• Time-out
• Response cost – removal of specific reinforcer
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Punishment
• Intrinsic punishment – punishment inherent
in aspect of behavior.
• Extrinsic punishment –
• Primary
• Secondary
– Generalized secondary punishers
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Punishment
• Is punishment the opposite of reinforcement
– The truncated Law of Effect
– Temporary suppression
• Suppression
– Decrease in behavior that does not depend on
the relationship between behavior and
environmental events
• Importance of Contingency
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Shock Maintained Responding
• Is it reinforcement or
punishment?
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Disadvantages of Punishment
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
General Suppression
Stimulus Control/ SD for punishment
Can generate or induce avoidance or escape
Elicit strong emotional effects
Elicit aggression
Requires continual monitoring
Modeling effects
Generate abusive behavior
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Effectiveness of Punishment
• Azrin and Holz 1966
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–
–
–
–
–
–
Manner of introduction
Immediacy of punishment
Schedule of punishment
Schedule of reinforcement
Motivational variables
Availability of other reinforcers
Punisher as discriminative stimulus
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Theories of Punishment
• Conditioned Suppression – punishment
does not weaken behavior .. Produces
emotional response interferes with behavior
• Avoidance theory – punishment actually
involves a type of avoidance conditioning
avoidance response any other behavior.
• Premack – low probability behavior can be
used to punish high probability behavior.
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.
Noncontingent Punishment?
• Learned helplessness
• Experimental Neurosis
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Steven I. Dworkin, Ph.D.