Which of the following is an example of vicarious punishment?
Group of answer choices
Job wants to avoid being fired, so he follows the shop rules and does not smoke in the bathroom.
Belinda saw Mavis receive a hug for cleaning his room. She is careful to clean her room because she saw Mavis get a reward for doing it.
Laurie wants to receive a smiley sticker and she knows from reading the rulebook that she will receive one if she behaves herself.
Jeong observes his sister Bronwyn getting spanked for spitting out her carrots. Because he does not like getting spanked, he chews and swallows the carrots even though he hates them.
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The correct answer is:
Jeong observes his sister Bronwyn getting spanked for spitting out her carrots. Because he does not like getting spanked, he chews and swallows the carrots even though he hates them.
Explanation:
Vicarious punishment is a concept from social learning theory, primarily associated with the work of psychologist Albert Bandura. It refers to the process of learning by observing the consequences of another individual’s behavior, specifically when that behavior is punished. In other words, an individual decides not to perform a particular action after witnessing someone else being punished for it. The punishment does not happen directly to the observer, but the observer changes their behavior in response to what they have seen happen to someone else.
In the correct scenario, Jeong sees his sister Bronwyn get spanked for spitting out her carrots. As a result of watching this consequence, Jeong changes his own behavior and chooses to chew and swallow his carrots, even though he dislikes them. This is a textbook example of vicarious punishment: Jeong is not directly punished, but he learns from Bronwyn’s experience and avoids the same behavior (spitting out food) to avoid punishment.
Now let’s briefly look at why the other options are incorrect:
- Job follows shop rules to avoid being fired: This is an example of direct negative reinforcement or punishment avoidance, but not vicarious—Job is acting based on rules, not observation.
- Belinda saw Mavis receive a hug for cleaning his room: This is vicarious reinforcement, not punishment. Belinda observes someone receiving a reward and changes her behavior to gain a similar reward.
- Laurie wants a smiley sticker after reading a rulebook: This reflects rule-based reinforcement or operant conditioning based on stated consequences, not from observing others.
In conclusion, vicarious punishment involves learning to avoid a behavior by seeing someone else receive a negative outcome. Jeong’s behavior change fits this definition precisely. Would you like examples of vicarious reinforcement too?