ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the accumulated findings on punishment and other forms of aversive control, assuming that this knowledge about the effects and side effects of aversive control is a better strategy for improving the human condition than continued ignorance of the facts. It explains the traditional distinction between escape and avoidance. The basic aversive contingencies were outlined in terms of positive and negative punishment and negative reinforcement. Humans extensively use and arrange aversive stimuli to control the behavior of others at the individual, societal, and institutional levels. In America, aversive control and punishment not only occur at high frequency in parent–child relationships, but also are prevalent aspects of domestic violence between men and women. Behavioral interventions often focus on changing the conditions that influence the victim's stay/leave behavior by altering contingencies and changing motivational operations. Provocation by others is a common form of aversive stimulation that occurs in a variety of social settings.
