Punishment and the Control of Human Behaviour
| Published date | 01 September 1969 |
| Date | 01 September 1969 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486586900200303 |
Punishment arul the
Control
01
Human Behaviour
PRAN CHOPRA·
THIS
arttele briefly surveys some of
the
findings of research
mto
the
punishment
process
and
its assoclated phenomena, uslng
infra-human
subfects, which appear to have meaning in
the
area
of control of
human
behaviour. Some of
the
modifications, suggested by these findings, to exist-
Ing punishment programmes as applied to
human
illegal behaviour
are
out-
llned
and
briefly discussed.
"The commonest technique of control in modem life is punishment. The
pattern
is
familiar; if a man does not behave as you wish, knock hirn down; if a child misbehaves,
spank him; if the people of a country misbehave, bomb them. Legal and police systems
are
based upon such punishments as fines, flogging, incarceration and
hard
labor.
Religious control is exerted through penances,
threats
of excommunication,
and
con-
signment to hell-fire. Education has not wholly abandoned the birch rod. In every-day
personal contact we control through censure, snubbing, disapproval or banishment.
In
short
the degree to which we use punishment as a technique of control seems
to be limited only by the degree to which we can gain
the
necessary power. All of
this is done with the intention of reducting tendencies to behave in certain ways.
Reinforcement builds up these tendencies; punishment is designed to
tear
them down."
(Skinner, 1953.)
The
use of punishment, which assumes
that
correct behaviour 18
what
ls
left
after
all erroneous beh.aviour
has
been chipped away,
has
probably
been with us for as long as mankind
has
existed. Punishment-based con-
trol
techniques are probably preferred over
the
positive
buüdtng-up,
shaplng-up approach for
at
least five reasons:
(1) Ease of
arrangement
-
the
programmmg or punishment requlres
comparatively little forethought
and
effort.
(11)
Ease of operation -
the
effects
are
immediate even
though
they
may
not
prove to be permanent.
Punishment
techniques
are
easily
learned
and
passed on. Feedback latency is minimized
and
hence
modification of procedures is comparatively simple.
(111)
Leaming
through
punishment is
nature's
way - we
leam
by faUure,
being punished when we fail, each time we fail.
(Iv) The very powerful influence of
the
Christian ethic, which makes
certain assumptions concernlng
the
nature
of man,
and
the
nature
of 'goodness'.
(v) Tradition
and
inertia.
We use punishment techniques,
but
we use
them
poorly and, further,
...
B.Sc., B.A., Dip.Ed. Lecturer, Department of Education. University of Newcastle.
Manuscript received 10th November, 1968.
149
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