This paper reports the results of an experiment that investigates the two-sided relationship between punishment and welfare. First, it contributes to the literature on the behavioral determinants of punishment by examining the role of relative income and income comparisons as a determinant of punishment in a two-stage public good game when inequality arises endogenously from the subjects' behav...

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...

Much has been gained by the EIA. By the deadline, 100% of school systems were in compliance, and no waivers were granted. The percentage of students in temporary classrooms declined from 5.4% to 4.2%. The number of systems with facilities rated “Poor” declined from 16 to 8, and the actual number of “Poor” schools went down from 44 to 20. In the 5-year period examined in this study, the number o...

A survey was undertaken of the opinions of two groups of forensic psychiatrists to determine their views regarding forensic ethical issues. Although AAPL has made significant strides for our profession by adopting ethical guidelines, some important issues have not yet been addressed, as revealed by our survey. Included were items heretofore considered too "controversial" for incorporation into ...

People are often inconsistent in the way they apply their values to their political beliefs (e.g., citing the value of life in opposing capital punishment while simultaneously supporting abortion rights). How do people confront such inconsistencies? Liberals were more likely to say that issues that could draw on several competing values were complex issues that required value tradeoffs, whereas...

Punishment of defectors and cooperators is prevalent when their behaviour deviates from the social norm. Why atypical behaviour is more likely to be punished than typical behaviour remains unclear. One possible proximate explanation is that individuals simply dislike norm violators. However, an alternative possibility exists: individuals may be more likely to punish atypical behaviour, because ...

Response inhibition is an important control mechanism in reacting effectively to sudden changes in the environment, and a deficit in this mechanism is thought to be a main feature of various impulse control disorders, including psychopathy. This study investigated the effects of reward and punishment on the inhibitory capabilities of non-clinical participants with both high and low levels of ps...

Third party punishment can be evolutionarily stable if there is heterogeneity in the cost of punishment or if punishers receive a reputational benefit from their actions. A dominant position might allow some individuals to punish at a lower cost than others and by doing so access these reputational benefits. Three vignette-based studies measured participants' judgements of a third party punishe...

In a recent experiment [Boksem, M.A.S., Tops, M., Wester, A.E., Meijman, T.F., Lorist, M.M., 2006. Error-related ERP components and individual differences in punishment and reward sensitivity. Brain Research 1101, 92-101], we showed that error-related ERP components were related to punishment and reward sensitivity. The present study was conducted to further evaluate the relationship between pu...

The hypothesis that a penny lost is valued more highly than a penny earned was tested in human choice. Five participants clicked a computer mouse under concurrent variable-interval schedules of monetary reinforcement. In the no-punishment condition, the schedules arranged monetary gain. In the punishment conditions, a schedule of monetary loss was superimposed on one response alternative. Devia...