ABSTRACT
The Principle of Punishment A punisher is an immediate consequence of an operant behavior that causes that behavior to decrease in frequency. Punishers are sometimes referred to as aversive stimuli, or simply aversives. Once an event has been determined to function as a punisher for a particular behavior of an individual in a particular situation, that event can be used to decrease other operant behaviors of that individual in other situations. Associated with the concept of a punisher is the principle of punishment: If, in a given situation, someone does something that is immediately followed by a punisher, then that person is less likely to do the same thing again when she or he next encounters a similar situation. In Ben’s case, contingent exercise was a punisher for his hitting.
