Before talking about punishment, we have to distinguish between punishment in a traditional, and psychological sense. Traditionally, punishment is defined as when an authority imposes a penalty for a misdeed. In psychology, punishment is any stimulus that decreases the frequency of undesired behavior.
Positive punishment & Negative punishment
Positive punishment means when you are adding a stimulus after undesirable behavior has occured to reduce its frequency. An example of positive punishment is if your child is being naughty and you scold them.
Negative punishment is when you remove a desirable stimulus after undesirable behavior has occurred to reduce its frequency. An example of this is if a student is talking and interrupting the teacher during class, the teacher can take away the student’s breaktime as a negative punishment.
An easy way to remember is that positive punishment adds a stimulus while negative punishment removes one. While there is no definitive evidence on which kind is more effective, we recommend just doing what is most effective for your child.
Is it actually effective?
The short answer is yes, if you have the time and energy to carry out the following conditions. Keep in mind there are more effective options! Researchers have shown that two factors dramatically increase effectiveness of punishments: immediacy and consistency.
Parents should apply the punishment directly after the undesirable behavior has occurred. This is because if parents wait for too long, their child will not build strong associations between the punishment and the undesirable action. This notion also presents itself in the justice system. Prison usually occurs long after the crime, and this might explain why prison does not always reduce criminal behavior.
For the same reasons, parents should also consistently apply the same punishment after the same undesirable behavior
Potential consequences
While punishment may be effective in the short run, undesirable behaviors often reappear in the long run when punitive consequences are not enforced. In children, punishment signals what not to do, but parents often forget to explain what they should do instead. Furthermore, physical punishment can also negatively impact social, cognitive, and emotional development.
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