Do you think it is possible for a person to be punished too hard. ? Is it possible for excessive punishment to

Question

be counter-productive? The punishment ends up making the person angry and unwilling to try any more. Do you agree?

I'm not talking about children, i'm talking about adults

Answer 1

Absolutely. I'm living proof of that. My father would punish me severly for very minor things. It just made me hate him more and be more defiant. Even today I will react to anyone who is trying to bully me. I will always stand up for those I believe are being treated poorly or unfairly though even if I don't like them or agree with them. I guess there is some good that can come out of a bad situation.

Answer 2

The death penalty...bit excessive! LoL Seriously look at our prison system, if punishment is the answer then why do most people end up back on prison as repeat offenders? I do not know what should be done to punish an adult, but I do think that not everyone should be punished the same - not children nor adults. Everyone is different. So punishment for some adults will turn them wacky, others will rebel and may be worse than they were, and others will straighten right up and learn the lesson the first time! Also I think that to some people a punishment may seem severe whereas another person may take it lightly, just depends on a persons tolerance level. So yes, I do believe excessive punishment (as defined by the person being punished) can be counter-productive.

Excellent answer Bradley P ;)

Answer 3

Excessive punishment can cause learned helplessness which lead depression, apathy, and submission. The person or animal will become completely dependent on others and lose emotional qualities which can lead to violent acts. Animal experimentation has shown that when an animal has entered into the mental state of learned helplessness; the animal will not even attempt to escape an evasive condition like getting shocked even though they could have easily jumped out of the shock area. There is also some research on humans.

Answer 4

Yes, I agree...and not just as someone who is fighting tooth and nail multiple mood disorders (depression, post-traumatic stress) courtesy of a profoundly violent and abusive father and a brain-damaged, disabled and unwillingly neglectful mother....

I agree with you because B.F. Skinner, one of the founding fathers of Modern Behavioral Psychology, had this to say:

That there are four ways to modify one's response to a stimulus:

--you can add a positive, *rewarding* behavior you wish to maintain,
--you can withdraw a negative, *improving the hygiene* of a situation for someone,
--you can withhold a positive, *withdrawing a privilege* in the face of behavior you wish to end, or
--you can add a negative, *punishing* behavior you wish ended.

Those options are presented in the order of effectiveness. Rewarding *good behavior* is your most effective option, followed by improving hygiene and conditions, followed by withdrawing a privilege, followed by punishing, the LEAST effective option.

Which is sad when you think about all the "psychologists" out there who peddle the damn workbooks, suck-up to the HMOs, preach the doctrine of Burns and call it Cognitive "Behavioral" Therapy....excuse me for a moment....

I've heard the browbeatings and the snap of rubber bands around wrists and the relentless dumbing-down and second-guessing that passes for "behavioralism" with you people, and only have one question to ask:

Where are the Rewards? Where is the good stuff? How *can* you call something "behavioral" when all it does is punish and withhold positives? Hello???

Ok, I'll stop now, I have a wiki link to look up. :p

Answer 5

The punishment should fit the crime. Example: you come home and on your report card there's all A's except for one C, and your punishment was being grounded for a month, no friends, no phone calls, etc. Doesn't fit the crime, and how will that help bring your grade up?! Instead of punishment, how about some tutoring? Help, not hurt!

Answer 6

Yes, I agree. Punishment is inherently counter-productive. It often leads to rebellion and resistance rather than learning and improvement.

Answer 7

of course there is excessive punishments. i don't agree with physical punishments (spanking) BUT I DO think that a punishment needs to be severe so a child thinks twice about repeating the behavior. my favorite punishment for my younger children is to set them down in time out. i set the timer for 3 minutes and during that time i lecture them on their behavior. my older children get NO TIMER SET and i lecture them until i'm tired and then make them come up with a suitable punishment... OR, if they can't come up with one that i agree to, I SENTANCE them to 4 days of community service at the local nursing home. (needless to say THEY come up with decent punishments for themselves... because as a mother i've done my job... MADE THEM AFRAID of mom's punishments.) my kids ALL tell me that the worst part of time out is the lectures! my kids don't resent me THEY RESPECT me. respect is good for the child/parent relationship!

Answer 8

Excessive punishments provoke a person to rebellion if the person can change the environment, or make a person accept pain as pleasure when a person can not change the environment.(moral masochism)
Both are unwanted.

Answer 9

Excessive punishment leads to shame. In my experience nothing healthy is born from shame.

Answer 10

i think,its
1)when the person makes mistake for 1st time or even 2nd time,he should not be punished but a torough explaination of wrong aspects of mistake done.
2)if the mistake is reoccuring,then dfinetly its the person's own willing to do it puposefully.for this he/she shuld be definetly pinished severly.