S1E4 - PUNISHMENT AND ITS FALLOUT

This episode Zach and Caleb discuss the ethics surrounding the use of punishment and implications for some often-used procedures (e.g., DRO or positive practice). They are joined by Dr. Joshua Jessel, Dr. Robert Ross, and Dr. Paulo Guilhardi. 

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the unintended consequences that can happen when using punishment procedures and explain how to design a safe, positive treatment environment that reduces these risks. 

2. Identify and preemptively mitigate side effects described by Sidman's coercion framework—including conditional avoidance, counter-control, aggression, and generalized suppression of un-targeted behavior.

3. Contrast how complex schedules of reinforcement, such as Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO), interact with concurrent punishment schedules to determine clinical efficacy and ensure compliance with least-restrictive standards.

4. Analyze the clinical, legal, and multi-disciplinary peer review structures necessary to ethically approve, monitor, and fade punishment protocols within restricted educational and residential settings.

5. Describe empirical data-based guidelines to thin aversive schedules, ensuring that behavior change is successfully maintained by natural environmental contingencies without a resurgence of the target behavior.

6. Evaluate how staff and caregiver procedural fidelity interacts with a client's problem behavior, specifically analyzing the reinforcing properties of rapid behavioral suppression on the implementation team.

Show Notes:

BACB Professional and Ethical Compliance Codes-  4.08, 4.09 
https://www.bacb.com/wp-content/uploads/BACB-Compliance-Code-english_190318.pdf

References:

Campbell, B. A., & Church, R. M. (1969). Punishment and aversive behavior. Appleton-Century-Crofts and Fleschner Publishing Company.

Catania, A. C. (2007). Learning (interim 4th ed.). Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan.

Church, R. M. (1963). The varied effects of punishment on behavior. Psychological Review, 70, 369

Greene, R. J., & Hoats, D. L. (1971). Aversive tickling: A simple conditioning technique. Behavior Therapy.

Honig, W. K. (1966). Operant behavior: Areas of research and application.

Jessel, J., & Ingvarsson, E. T. (2016). Recent advances in applied research on DRO procedures. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 49, 991-995.

Jessel, J., Ingvarsson, E. T., Metras, R., Kirk, H., & Whipple, R. (2018). Achieving socially significant reductions in problem behavior following the interview‐informed synthesized contingency analysis: A summary of 25 outpatient applications. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 51, 130-157.

Kazdin, A. E. (1997). Parent management training: Evidence, outcomes, and issues. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1349-1356.

Lerman, D. C., & Toole, L. M. (2011). Developing function-based punishment procedures for problem behavior. Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis, 335-347.

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