Time-out, response cost, and overcorrection are the punishment procedures most common in applied settings. Each can backfire if you skip the basics.
Why it matters
Reinforcement-based procedures come first. When a behavior is dangerous or has not improved enough with reinforcement alone, a punishment component may be considered, and you need to know how each procedure works, what can go wrong, and which safeguards to build in.
When a consequence or a plan "isn't working", ask two questions: what is removed or added after the behavior, and is the behavior actually decreasing?
Key ideas
- Punishment is defined by its effect. A procedure called "time-out" is punishment only if the target behavior decreases in the future. If it holds steady or increases, it is not functioning as a punisher, whatever the plan calls it.
- Time-out from positive reinforcement is a negative punishment procedure. Contingent on the behavior, the person loses access to reinforcement, or the chance to earn it, for a brief, set period.
- Nonexclusion time-out: the person stays in the setting. Examples are planned ignoring, removing a specific reinforcer (such as pausing a video), contingent observation (sitting at the edge of an activity and watching), and the time-out ribbon (removing a band that signals the person can earn reinforcement).
- Exclusion time-out: the person is moved away from the reinforcing environment, for example to a separate area of the room or a different room.
- Time-out depends on the time-in. Time-out works only when the environment the person leaves is rich in reinforcement. Leaving a boring or demanding activity may be a relief.
- Response cost is also negative punishment. A specific amount of a reinforcer the person already has (tokens, points, minutes of a privilege) is taken away contingent on the behavior. It fits naturally into token economies. Size each fine so the person always keeps a reserve.
- Overcorrection is usually classified as positive punishment. Contingent on the behavior, the person must perform effortful behavior that is directly related to the problem behavior.
- Restitutional overcorrection: repair the effects of the behavior and restore the environment to a state better than it was before.
- Positive practice overcorrection: repeatedly practice a correct form of the behavior.
- Safeguards always travel with punishment. Pair any punishment procedure with reinforcement for an alternative behavior, train and supervise implementers, collect frequent data, and plan to fade the procedure. The ethics code for behavior analysts calls for extra safeguards when a procedure is restrictive or risks harm.
Definitions
- Time-out from positive reinforcement: contingent loss of access to positive reinforcement, or of the opportunity to earn it, for a specified time.
- Exclusion time-out: time-out in which the person is removed from the reinforcing setting.
- Nonexclusion time-out: time-out in which the person stays in the setting but reinforcement is unavailable for a period.
- Response cost: contingent removal of a specific amount of a reinforcer the person already possesses.
- Overcorrection: contingent effortful behavior directly related to the problem behavior; it has two forms.
- Restitutional overcorrection: repairing the effects of a behavior and restoring the environment beyond its original condition.
- Positive practice overcorrection: repeatedly practicing a correct form of the behavior after an instance of the problem behavior.
Examples from a session
Three procedures in three settings
- Contingent observation at school: Amara, 7, grabs materials during a group art project. After each grab, she sits just outside the table area for 2 minutes. She can watch her classmates but cannot take part or earn praise.
- Response cost in a clinic: Daniel, 13, earns points toward gaming time for completing work. Each time he throws an item, he loses 2 points from his total. His BCBA set the earning rate so he almost always keeps points in reserve.
- Overcorrection at home: Rosa, 10, writes on a wall. She washes off her marks and then wipes down the rest of the wall (restitution). When Kenji, 16, runs through the house after being asked to walk, he walks the same route calmly three times (positive practice).
Non-example: Daniel's teacher stops responding when he calls out, because her attention was maintaining it. No points are removed, so this is extinction, not response cost.
Common mistakes / exam traps
- Escape-maintained behavior and time-out. If escape from demands maintains a behavior, time-out removes the demand and can negatively reinforce it, so the behavior increases. Check function before choosing time-out.
- A weak time-in. If little reinforcement is available before time-out, there is little to lose. Enrich the time-in first.
- Response cost vs. extinction. Extinction withholds the reinforcer that maintains the behavior. Response cost takes away reinforcers the person already has, which may be unrelated to the behavior's function.
- Running out of tokens, or of token value. A zero balance leaves nothing to lose, and the system stops working. Letting a balance go into debt weakens the value of earning. Tokens also lose value when the backup items are no longer wanted; refresh them before raising fines.
- Ending time-out during problem behavior. If time-out ends while the person is still yelling or hitting, release can reinforce that behavior. Plans often require a few seconds without problem behavior first.
- Overcorrection is not simple correction. Restoring the environment to its original state is simple correction. Overcorrection goes further, with improvement (restitution) or repeated practice.
- Overcorrection vs. contingent exercise. Overcorrection activities relate directly to the problem behavior; contingent exercise uses unrelated effortful activity.
- Practical burdens. Overcorrection takes staff time, and physical guidance can lead to resistance. Exclusion time-out needs a safe, monitored space and short, planned durations.
Exam trap
Response cost vs. time-out: response cost removes a specific amount of a reinforcer the person holds. Time-out removes access to reinforcement for a period of time.
Exam trap
If a stem says a "time-out" plan led to more problem behavior, look first at function (escape) and at the quality of the time-in, not at making the time-out longer.
Quick check
Kofi, 8, has earned 20 minutes of computer time. After he pushes a peer at recess, his teacher subtracts 5 minutes from his earned time. Pushing decreases over the next two weeks. Which procedure was used?
Related topics
- Positive vs. negative punishment (B.5)
- Kinds of punishers: unconditioned, conditioned, and generalized (B.8)
- Differential reinforcement (DRA, DRO, DRL, DRH) with and without extinction (G.2)
- Emotional and elicited side effects of behavior-change procedures (G.18)
- Planning for unwanted effects of reinforcement, extinction, and punishment (H.4)