Critchfield, T. S., Paletz, E. M., MacAleese, K. R., & Newland, M. C. (2003).
Punishment in human choice: Direct or competitive suppression?
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
80, 1-27.
This investigation compared the predictions of two models
describing the integration of reinforcement and punishment
effects in operant choice. Deluty's (1976)
competitive-suppression model (conceptually related to
two-factor punishment theories) and de Villiers' (1980)
direct-suppression model (conceptually related to
one-factor punishment theories) have been tested previously in
nonhumans but not at the individual level in humans. Mouse
clicking by college students was maintained in a two-alternative
concurrent schedule of variable-interval money reinforcement.
Punishment consisted of variable-interval money losses.
Experiment 1 verified that money loss was an effective punisher
in this context. Experiment 2 consisted of qualitative model
comparisons similar to those used in previous studies involving
nonhumans. Following a no-punishment baseline, punishment was
superimposed upon both response alternatives. Under schedule
values for which the direct-suppression model, but not the
competitive-suppression model, predicted distinct shifts from
baseline performance, or vice versa, 12 of 14 individual-subject
functions, generated by 7 subjects, supported the
direct-suppression model. When the punishment models were
converted to the form of the generalized matching law,
least-squares linear regression fits for a direct-suppression
model were superior to those of a competitive-suppression model
for 6 of 7 subjects. In Experiment 3, a more thorough
quantitative test of the modified models, fits for a
direct-suppression model were superior in 11 of 13 cases. These
results correspond well to those of investigations conducted with
nonhumans and provide the first individual-subject evidence that
a direct-suppression model, evaluated both qualitatively and
quantitatively, describes human punishment better than a
competitive-suppression model. We discuss implications for
developing better punishment models and future investigations of
punishment in human choice.
Key words: punishment, concurrent schedules, one factor theory,
two factor theory, mouse click, humans