Humans Behavior Discriminative Control of Punished Stereotyped Behavior

Humans Behavior: Discriminative Control of Punished Stereotyped Behavior

The problem of controlling behavior in humans who are challenged in their mental scope is of concern. While the majority of people shun the use of force, and punishments and the modern thinking on enforcing appropriate behavior is leaning to therapeutic and learning modes, altering the environment and peer pressure, there could be some truth in the use of punishment being effective in controlling impulsive and undesirable behavior. These traits and appropriate settings for the same have to be seen in the general light of the literature in psychology over the issue. For example researchers have gone deep into the exact use of discriminative control and response is still in infancy, and using the background of mental retardation, Doughty et al. (2007) have researched the results of the use of differential punishment and the antecedent stimulus using three adults with mental retardation without automatic reinforcement behavior. The stereotypy occurred frequently in the presence of a stimulus correlated with and without punishment of stereotypy. Latency measures according to the researchers show that the antecedent stimulus correlated with punishment helped in the growth of the suppression of stereotypy. These can thus indicate that discriminative control by an antecedent stimulus grows with punishment, therefore sometimes must be used to control socially inappropriate behavior. (Doughty, et al., 2007) What were the thoughts and findings that led to these ideas?

Control of the response to stimuli is learned and natural. There are many approaches that different psychologists adapted and the observation of behavioral systems approach can be seen in Kantor's inter-behavioral psychology and the observations called the operant-systems perspectives of Wahler, and the author Winett (1986) emphasizes more on social learning, and while comparing it with the other studies insists on behavioral effects, and the methods of bringing about a behavior change and measuring its impacts. Psychologists include a range of operations to discuss the reason for the origin in addition to therapy connected with the system. Some of the stimulus can be simple to create as an example the gift of money.

The alterations to the behavior can be done by changing the root to new stimuli that gives rise to a new system of behavior. The behavior geneticists who state that each attributes that get learned usually are those that the individual grew up honing. This though is similar to the effects of environment has not found favor with the environmentalists who refute behavioral inclinations that are typically increased by the stimuli which the individual grew up honing. They insist that these polarities is usually eliminated in the event most of us as we grow up. The actual parameters that shape behavior may be found according to them, with learning behavior from peers of one's age. Further progress is achieved by maturing and the concerns that come with changes in the status and being. (Buss, 1988)

Thus the factors of inheritance, person -- environment and relationship, all come into play in the changes and modification of behavior. On the other hand the environmental stimulation and the effects on human behavior cannot be analyzed in the form of an absolute reduction where environmental input like "sensory deprivation," or "sensory isolation," may make up for some of the environments and these extreme conditions do produce the basis for the study of human behavior that also creates modifications in the perception, logic, thinking and feelings. (Shannon, 1961) Thus experiences especially the sensory and perceptual experiences are dependant on the stimulus and the activation of the sensory receptors. While the learned reactions as with Pavalov's dogs are explainable as stimulus, the reactions of human subjects is not dependent on mere stimulus but on complicated variables like predisposition, attitudes, associative cognizance and personality. It also depends on individual motivation and the truth is that as of now psychologists are still debating the issue of the nature of perception. (Brown, 1961)

One aspect of this system is contingency management where the therapist uses models to control behaviors, or create new ones by altering existing stimuli and reinforcing the sanctions or rewards. It is assumed that all persons have the desired behaviors existing in the psyche but the need is strengthening their expressions. The operant reinforcement research further goes into seeking the environment that is a stumbling block in the continuous maintenance of the desirable behaviors and the often cause of the continuance of undesirable responses. Thus the environment also had to be changed with the insistence on removing the environments that often caused stimuli for regressing into undesirable behavior.