Punishment to Reduce Aggressive Behaviour
🌱 Note! Please reach out to me if you notice any mistakes or inconsistencies as I don’t want to spread misinformation. Besides, I’m here to learn so letting me know would only be of help! With that said, happy reading!
Source: Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Sommers, S. R. (2021). Social psychology (Tenth Global Edition). Pearson Education Limited.
Severe punishment and its (lack of) effect
Let’s get straight to the point: Punishing aggression to get rid of it? No-no. Bad approach. Ineffective approach. While threats of immediate and harsh punishment may stop the undesired aggressive behaviour short-term, it won’t get to the roots of the issue. The reason the person acted out in the first place still isn’t dealt with. Despite the punishment, their aggressive values remain (and might even turn more extreme!) Besides - especially when it comes to raising children - severe punishment is a way for the punished person(s) learn that 'oh, if I'm tired or frustrated with someone it's okay for me to scream at them and grab them', which, Yikes.
Harsh punishment (screaming, threatening, getting physical, extensive negative consequences, etc.) -> Target is likely to respond with anxiety and/or anger (not increased cooperation or a change in their internal values)
Physical punishment (punching, hitting, grabbing, spanking, hair-pulling, etc.) -> Increased risk for development of low self-esteem, depression, and violent behaviour. Target is likely to become even more aggressive and antisocial over time
In sum, we shouldn’t use severe punishment because:
Aggressive values that caused the behaviour in the first place remain; No long-term effect
Teaches the punished person that the punishing behaviour is okay, e.g., ‘ It’s okay for me to hit people if they’re being unreasonable’
Only teaches the person who behaved aggressively what they shouldn’t do, not what they should do instead; Doesn’t present them with an alternative; No constructive feedback to promote change
Will bring about a heap of negative consequences unrelated to the act that’s being punished, e.g., low self-esteem
So no punishment? At all?
Does this mean that no punishment whatsoever works? Is punishing someone always wrong? No, not necessarily. An alternative that seems to work better is mild punishment. Even a punishment just powerful enough to stop the behaviour in question (e.g., giving someone a stern look) is more likely to make the behaviour stop long-term than severe punishment is. The psychological principles behind this method are quite interesting, actually. I’ll keep it short and concise, but basically what happens is that when you refrain from acting the way you want to act without sufficient external factors to explain why you’re restraining yourself, your brain tries to find the ‘why’ and comes to the conclusion that ‘hm, maybe I didn’t want to do that thing that much after all’. It does this in an attempt of reducing the discomfort you feel when you’re resisting a temptation. In a situation like that it simply makes us feel better to have some sort of justification, such as thinking ‘I didn’t really wanna do that anyway'.
And that’s that on that! Hopefully you found this an interesting read and will think twice before you decide to start yelling at someone. Good luck with your studies & take care! ☀️
