Understanding The Impact Of Positive Vs. Negative Punishment

If your child misbehaves, you may be uncertain of how best to handle the situation. You may also not know how to encourage more desirable and appropriate behaviors. And if you’re trying to encourage them to act a certain way, what is the most effective way to do so? As a parent or caregiver, figuring out how to support and guide your child’s behavior most effectively can be challenging. 

There are a range of approaches to managing behavior and offering discipline, including positive punishment and negative punishment, as well as positive and negative reinforcement. In this context, positive and negative can be thought of in terms of addition and subtraction: positive means adding to the situation, and negative means removing from it. 

In this article, we’ll explore how positive and negative punishment work, the impacts they can have, and the ways therapy can support parents and caregivers in navigating this process.  

Positive vs. negative punishment: What’s the difference?

Behavior modification, such as positive and negative punishment, has ties to the idea of operant conditioning developed by psychologist B.F. Skinner, which suggests that operant behaviors are “controlled” by their consequences. In other words, behavior can be shaped by punishment or reinforcement, or a combination of the two.

To dive into these ideas further, let’s define several key terms around behavior modification: 

Positive punishment

Positive punishment involves adding something to the situation to discourage undesired behavior, decreasing the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated. It involves adding an adverse consequence for a certain behavior. This might involve forcing a child to do an unpleasant task as punishment, such as cleaning the house, or the addition of a negative stimulus, such as spanking.

Negative punishment

Negative punishment involves removing something from the situation to discourage undesired behavior; it is meant to decrease the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated. It involves removing a favorable consequence for a certain behavior. For example, a parent confiscates a child’s phone when they receive a poor grade on an important test.

Positive reinforcement

Positive reinforcement involves adding something to the circumstances to encourage desired behavior; it aims to increase the likelihood that the behavior will occur. It involves adding a reward to encourage a certain behavior. For example, candy is given to a student when they answer a question correctly.

Negative reinforcement

Negative reinforcement is removing something from the circumstances to encourage desired behavior and is intended to increase the likelihood of the behavior happening. It involves removing an unpleasant consequence for a behavior; for example, a beeping sound stops when you attach your seatbelt. 

In general, positive punishment refers to adding an aversive stimulus to decrease behavior, teaching a child that if they repeat the action, an adverse or negative consequence will occur, such as being spanked for a specific target behavior. Negative punishment centers on removing a favorable outcome from the circumstances, such as taking away a phone or favored toy, to reduce the chance of the behavior occurring. 

Examples of positive punishment

To illustrate this concept, included below are several examples of positive punishment. Keep in mind that these are not necessarily the best ways to handle a situation, they are simply meant to show what positive punishment might include: 

• Scolding or yelling at a child when they exhibit undesired behaviors. 
• Adding extra chores or an unpleasant task like writing sentences about their responsibilities when they misbehave. 
• Assigning extra work to students who turn in their homework late. 
• Instituting additional rules for adolescents who break curfew. 

Exploring the impacts of punishment and reinforcement

With these definitions in mind, now let’s explore the potential impacts of these various forms of behavior modification and what the research has to say about them. 

Positive vs. negative punishment impact

Both positive and negative punishment may have a range of potential effects that are worth considering when examining different forms of discipline. For instance:

• Researchers note that punishment may have a range of problematic consequences, and so it should be used “very cautiously.” In particular, punishment may lead to aggression, avoidance, and may prompt those who are punished to resort to punishing others as they model what they have learned.
• Researchers also note that corporal punishment of children can lead to long-term emotional distress, including sadness, anger, anxiety, and fear.
• In looking at positive vs. negative punishment, some researchers found that positive punishment was a stronger predictor of the presence of clinical levels of anxiety and depression compared to negative punishment. 

Reinforcement may be more effective

On the flip side, many experts today favor reinforcement over punishment, and some argue that positive reinforcement, in particular, is the most effective way to teach a new behavior. As noted earlier, positive reinforcement involves adding a reward to encourage a certain behavior. 

Encouraging desired behaviors through positive reinforcement while providing guidance to understand the reasoning behind changes can help you teach children appropriate behavior and encourage repeated instances. Studies show that using positive reinforcement alone or combining positive and negative reinforcement can also effectively increase complaisance with desired behaviors while reducing levels of destructive behavior. 

Support for parents and caregivers

As a parent or caregiver, figuring out how to help manage your child’s behavior and offer discipline when necessary can be a confusing and challenging process. But you don’t have to navigate these waters alone. If you would like support in this process, connecting with a licensed therapist may help. 

How can therapy help?

There are a wide variety of topics and areas in which a mental health professional can offer support and guidance. For instance, some of the potential topics and benefits of therapy for parents and caregivers could include: 

1. Teaching valuable communication, compromise, and conflict-resolution skills

In therapy, you can work with a professional to learn practical, effective ways to communicate and connect with your child and work through challenges or disagreements. 

2. Learn healthy, productive ways to cope with stress and parenting challenges

Coping skills are valuable emotion regulation strategies, and working with a therapist can teach you healthy, practical ways to manage your stress and emotional reactions related to parenting challenges. 

3. Gain a deeper understanding of emotions and how they affect family dynamics

Working with a licensed therapist can help you develop your emotional intelligence, awareness, and literacy, so you can recognize your own and others’ feelings, understand how they influence mood and behavior, and know how to talk about feelings and needs. 

4. Promote and model self-care and mental health

Feeling guilty about taking time for self-care is common among parents, but taking time for your own mental health can teach your children how important it is to safeguard their mental, physical, and emotional health and well-being, setting a positive example for them. 

Support through online therapy

Even if they are interested in therapy, many parents and caregivers may have schedules that are already too packed with commitments and responsibilities related to their children, and so it can seem very difficult to make time for something like therapy. In these cases, online therapy may be a valuable alternative: with online therapy through a platform like BetterHelp, you can meet with a licensed therapist wherever you have internet, which may make it easier to schedule as you don’t have to worry about the added time or hassle of a commute. 

Plus, researchers have demonstrated that online interventions can be effective ways to support parents in managing child conduct concerns. For instance, a 2019 study found that a therapist-assisted online parenting intervention was similarly effective as a face-to-face intervention for the treatment of child conduct problems. 

While BetterHelp can offer support to adults, if you are a parent or guardian who believes your child’s disciplinary issues stem from an underlying concern and think online therapy for teens ages 13 to 19 could help, contact TeenCounseling for more information about the available options.