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INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE DISCRIMINATIVE AND AVERSIVE PROPERTIES OF PUNISHMENT 1
Author(s) -
Holz William C.,
Azrin Nathan H.
Publication year - 1962
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1962.5-229
Subject(s) - discriminative model , punishment (psychology) , reinforcement , stimulus control , avoidance learning , psychology , extinction (optical mineralogy) , stimulus (psychology) , property (philosophy) , cognitive psychology , artificial intelligence , developmental psychology , social psychology , neuroscience , computer science , chemistry , philosophy , mineralogy , epistemology , nicotine
Punishment acquires a discriminative property when it is selectively paired with either reinforcement or extinction. At the milder punishment intensities, the discriminative control exerted by punishment is similar to the discriminative control exerted by a response‐produced neutral (nonaversive) stimulus. However, the effect of the aversive property is apparent as the intensity of the punishment is increased. The aversive property of the punishment acts to enhance the discriminative control when the punishment is selectively applied during extinction periods, and to attenuate the discriminative control when the punishment is selectively applied during reinforcement periods. One major difference was found between the control exerted by the punishment and the response‐produced neutral simulus: Responding greatly increased after the S Δ punishment but not after the S Δ neutral stimulus; this increase in responding was independent of the punishment intensities studied.