Self-punitive behavior: Effects of percentage of punishment on extinction of escape and avoidance responses

Self-punitive responding by goal-shocked rats.

“…The equivalent self-punitive effects with escape and avoidance run times obtained in the present study are consistent with results reported by Bender and Melvin (1967), although they used 0-sec. and 5-sec.…”

“…Moreover, with shock termination and a substantial safe period occurring in the goal box, the safety value of the goal box may supercede possible aversive consequences of an initial brief shock. Finally, with punishment in the goal box, escape and avoidance contingencies may produce response consequences that are different from those that have been obtained with punishment in the runway (Beecroft & Brown, 1967;Bender & Melvin, 1967).…”

Effects of percentage of goal-punished extinction trials on self-punitive behavior

“…Thus, the results of the current study, in addition to those of previous relevant studies, allow the conclusion that some minimal number of punished extinction trials is sufficient to produce the self-punitive effect and establish a generality between the goal-shock and alleyshock procedures. Just what minimum number of shocks during extinction may be necessary to produce selfpunitive behavior is not clear, but it must be fairly small, as Bender and Melvin (1967) report that as little as 10% punished extinction trials is sufficient to maintain self-punitive running .…”

Sources of reinforcement in the establishment of self-punitive behavior.

“…The second experiment was undertaken to study the "learning of selfpunitive running" (e.g., Melvin & Smith, 1967). While this speed increment is usually limited to the first seven punishment trials, Bender and Melvin (1967) found a gradual increase in speed over 70 trials for avoidance-trained Ss given 50% punishment. This paradigm, combined with an analysis of alley-section speeds, allowed one to assess the contribution of several factors to the development of punishment-induced facilitation.…”