Effects of reinforcement for alternative behavior during punishment of self-injury

A number of variables influence the effectiveness of punishment and may det ermine the extent to which less intrusive forms of punishment may be used a s alternatives to more intrusive interventions. For example, it has been su ggested that response suppression during punishment may be facilitated if r einforcement is concurrently available for an alternative response. However , results of basic research demonstrating this finding have not been replic ated with interventions more commonly prescribed as treatments for problem behavior. We evaluated the effects of relatively benign punishment procedur es (reprimands or brief manual restraint) on the self-injurious behavior of 4 individuals who had been diagnosed with mental retardation, when access to reinforcement for alternative behavior (manipulation of leisure material s) was and was nor available. In all cases, punishment produced greater res ponse suppression when reinforcement for an alternative response was availa ble.