What role Does Punishment Play in Classroom Management?
Punishment can be defined as a technique that decelerates the frequency of a behavior when it is given contingent on that behavior. Reprimands, frowns, reminders and other subtle expressions can serve as punishment, and can be very effective when used appropriately. A possible disadvantage of punishment is that its effects may over generalize, eliminating more behaviors that originally intended. Another difficulty is that the student might associate the technique with the person who administered it, causing ill feeling toward the teacher. What About Taking Something Away to Decrease Unwanted Behaviors? Teachers can take away the opportunity to obtain reinforcement, attention, or a portion of some event contingent on target behavior. These three procedures are also known as timeout, extinction, and response cost. Timeout can involve physically removing a student for short periods from the reinforcing event or area. Ignoring tantrums is a withdrawal of attention that may lead to extincti
