Psychological punishment

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Psychological punishments are punishments that aim to cause mental pain or discomfort in order to punish an individual. Psychological punishments are usually designed to cause discomfort or pain through creating negative emotions such as humiliation, shame and fear within an individual or by depriving the individual of sensory and/or social stimulation.

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Some methods of corporal punishment, such as public flagellation, are designed to have the effects of psychological punishment as a secondary effect to the main punishment and as such the two methods can and are combined. Historically there has not been a distinct separation of pure psychological punishment without an element of physical harm as a formal type of punishment.

Psychological punishments that are particularly cruel and severe may be regarded as psychological torture - for example, the United Nations has stated that placing someone in solitary confinement for periods exceeding 15 consecutive days constitutes torture. [1]

Methods of psychological punishment include:

Aims and effects of psychological punishment

Individual

Punishments aim to alter behaviour considered defective or undesirable by trying to associate the behaviour with the feelings caused by an unpleasant stimulus through a process called operant conditioning. [2] [3] Following a behaviour that is deemed undesirable an unpleasant stimulus will be administered to the individual who carried out the behaviour in order to try and induce a negative emotional response. [3] Once the association between the behaviour and unpleasant stimulus is made the individual should learn that the outcome of a behaviour will result in an unpleasant set of emotions or feelings that outweigh the benefits gained by the undesirable behaviour and this should cause the punished individual to cease the behaviour. [2] [3] Within the context of psychological punishment the unpleasant stimulus relates to the method of punishment intended to have unpleasant psychological effects upon the punished individual.

Punishments involving public humiliation may also seek to ostracise the punished individual from society by labelling the individual as a 'deviant' or untrustworthy which would tarnish their reputation therefore making life within that society harder for them and serving as an additional long-term effect of the punishment. [4] [5] Recovering social status or dignity following a publicly humiliating punishment can be very difficult resulting in a lesser place within the social hierarchy if not an inability to reintegrate within the society resulting in social exclusion. [5] In the past or in undeveloped societies where one has to rely on social support for survival or advancement in life, becoming an outcast could be an effective death sentence and it removes the 'safety-net' that a society can provide whilst potentially making the individual a target for crime or exclusion from social events. [5] [6] Due to changing public opinions the feature of public humiliation in punishments is now very rare. [4]

Wider society

Punishment may be used to deter potential future offenders by showing them what the consequences of breaking the societal rules may be and encourage conformity to the norms within the society. Through vicarious learning one may see the outcome of a behaviour and decide whether or not they want to repeat the same behaviour based on the outcomes that they have observed therefore allowing them to determine whether or not the behaviour may be worthwhile without needing to carry out and incur the cost of the action themselves. [7] Should someone observe someone that they may be modelling, or thinking about modelling, their behaviour off of being punished the desire to replicate the same behaviour may be counteracted by the suppressive effects of the potential negative outcomes of the action therefore discouraging the person from proceeding with the action. [8] This is part of the reason why, historically, some punishments have been particularly brutal in order to have a greater deterrent effect - notable examples of this include the executions of Balthasar Gérard or Guy Fawkes. As humans can learn vicariously through observing other people punishment can make for a highly useful tool to deter undesirable behaviour and encourage following social norms.

Ensuring the vicarious effects of punishment are maximised may be done by increasing the social presence of the punishment. Punishments have historically been conducted in public places such as town squares in order to maximise the social presence of the punishment and ensure that word of the punishment could spread in a time before mass media existed. Conducting the punishment in public also helps the society in which it is occurring label the individual being punished as a 'deviant' or untrustworthy individual promoting the exclusion of the individual from society further reinforcing the need for people to conform to the societies norms in order to remain part of the society. [5]

Modern psychological punishments

Solitary confinement

Defined by the United Nations as "the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact" solitary confinement is one of the most prevalent psychological punishments used in western countries with there being at least 80,000 prisoners in the United States being held in solitary confinement alone. [9] Depending on country, prisoners may be subjected to solitary confinement at the discretion of prison guards and it is the most severe non-capital punishment one can receive. [9] [10]

Efficacy

Solitary confinement is a controversial punishment that some claim to be ineffective at preventing undesirable behaviour in prisoners in addition to being inhuman. [1] [9] Research has suggested that the efficacy of short-term exposure to solitary confinement upon violent inmates is rather limited with it appearing that no significant differences in behaviour between inmates sent to solitary confinement and those who were not. [11] Additionally it has been a well documented that long-term exposure to solitary confinement (or similar conditions) can lead to a variety of mental health issues including self-harming, depression, anger and hypersensitivity which severely impacts the prisoners ability to reintegrate into society once their sentence is complete. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social control</span> Concept within the disciplines of the social sciences and within political science

Social control is the regulations, sanctions, mechanisms, and systems that restrict the behaviour of individuals in accordance with social norms and orders. Through both informal and formal means, individuals and groups exercise social control both internally and externally. As an area of social science, social control is studied by researchers of various fields, including anthropology, criminology, law, political science, and sociology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Punishment</span> Imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome

Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular action or behavior that is deemed undesirable. It is, however, possible to distinguish between various different understandings of what punishment is.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shame</span> Affect, emotion, cognition, state or condition

Shame is an unpleasant self-conscious emotion often associated with negative self-evaluation; motivation to quit; and feelings of pain, exposure, distrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reinforcement</span> Consequence affecting an organisms future behavior

In behavioral psychology, reinforcement refers to consequences that increase the likelihood of an organism's future behavior, typically in the presence of a particular antecedent stimulus. For example, a rat can be trained to push a lever to receive food whenever a light is turned on; in this example, the light is the antecedent stimulus, the lever pushing is the operant behavior, and the food is the reinforcer. Likewise, a student that receives attention and praise when answering a teacher's question will be more likely to answer future questions in class; the teacher's question is the antecedent, the student's response is the behavior, and the praise and attention are the reinforcements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solitary confinement</span> Strict form of imprisonment

Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to discipline or separate incarcerated individuals who are considered to be security risks to other incarcerated individuals or prison staff, as well as those who violate facility rules or are deemed disruptive. However, it can also be used as protective custody for incarcerated individuals whose safety is threatened by other prisoners. This is employed to separate them from the general prison population and prevent injury or death.

Aversion therapy is a form of psychological treatment in which the patient is exposed to a stimulus while simultaneously being subjected to some form of discomfort. This conditioning is intended to cause the patient to associate the stimulus with unpleasant sensations with the intention of quelling the targeted behavior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public humiliation</span> Form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person

Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned punishment in previous centuries, and is still practiced by different means in the modern era.

Silent treatment is the refusal to communicate verbally or electronically with someone who is trying to communicate and elicit a response. It may range from just sulking to malevolent abusive controlling behaviour. It may be a passive-aggressive form of emotional abuse in which displeasure, disapproval and contempt is exhibited through nonverbal gestures while maintaining verbal silence. Clinical psychologist Harriet Braiker identifies it as a form of manipulative punishment. It may be used as a form of social rejection; according to the social psychologist Kipling Williams, it is the most common form of ostracism.

Solitude, also known as social withdrawal, is a state of seclusion or isolation, meaning lack of socialisation. Effects can be either positive or negative, depending on the situation. Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one may work, think, or rest without disturbance. It may be desired for the sake of privacy. Long-term solitude may stem from soured relationships, loss of loved ones, deliberate choice, infectious disease, mental disorders, neurological disorders such as circadian rhythm sleep disorder, or circumstances of employment or situation.

Behaviour therapy or behavioural psychotherapy is a broad term referring to clinical psychotherapy that uses techniques derived from behaviourism and/or cognitive psychology. It looks at specific, learned behaviours and how the environment, or other people's mental states, influences those behaviours, and consists of techniques based on behaviorism's theory of learning: respondent or operant conditioning. Behaviourists who practice these techniques are either behaviour analysts or cognitive-behavioural therapists. They tend to look for treatment outcomes that are objectively measurable. Behaviour therapy does not involve one specific method, but it has a wide range of techniques that can be used to treat a person's psychological problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deterrence (penology)</span> Use of punishment as a threat to deter people from offending

Deterrence in relation to criminal offending is the idea or theory that the threat of punishment will deter people from committing crime and reduce the probability and/or level of offending in society. It is one of five objectives that punishment is thought to achieve; the other four objectives are denunciation, incapacitation, retribution and rehabilitation.

Punishment is any change in a human or animal's surroundings which, occurring after a given behavior or response, reduces the likelihood of that behavior occurring again in the future. Reinforcement, referring to any behavior that increases the likelihood that a response will occurs, plays a large role in punishment. Motivating operations (MO) can be categorized in abolishing operations, decrease the effectiveness of the stimuli and establishing, increase the effectiveness of the stimuli. For example, a painful stimulus which would act as a punisher for most people may actually reinforce some behaviors of masochistic individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prison</span> Facility where people are kept as punishment for a crime

A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, remand center, hoosegow, and slammer, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various crimes. Prisons are most commonly used within a criminal-justice system by authorities: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until their trial; those who have pleaded or been found guilty of crimes at trial may be sentenced to a specified period of imprisonment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prisoner</span> Person who is deprived of liberty against their will

A prisoner is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison, or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a sentence in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 California prisoner hunger strike</span>

The 2013 California prisoner hunger strike started on July 8, 2013, involving over 29,000 inmates in protest of the state's use of solitary confinement practices and ended on September 5, 2013. The hunger strike was organized by inmates in long term solitary in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison in protest of inmates housed there that were in solitary confinement indefinitely for having supposed gang ties. Another hunger strike that added to the movement started the week before in High Desert State Prison. The focus of the High Desert State Prison hunger strike was to demand cleaner facilities, better food and better access to the library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solitary confinement in the United States</span> Form of strict imprisonment in the United States

In the United States penal system, upwards of 20 percent of state and federal prison inmates and 18 percent of local jail inmates are kept in solitary confinement or another form of restrictive housing at some point during their imprisonment. Solitary confinement (sometimes euphemistically called protective custody, punitive segregation (PSEG) or room restriction) generally comes in one of two forms: "disciplinary segregation," in which inmates are temporarily placed in solitary confinement as punishment for rule-breaking; and "administrative segregation," in which prisoners deemed to be a risk to the safety of other inmates, prison staff, or to themselves are placed in solitary confinement for extended periods of time, often months or years.


While segregation as a disciplinary measure or a precaution that protects other inmates is allegedly reserved for offenders who have committed violent acts while in prison, women in particular are often put into solitary confinement for much smaller offenses, such as throwing things or talking back to guards. Solitary confinement is also often applied to women who complain of sexual assault from prison guards or other inmates. Once they are in solitary confinement, women are often monitored more closely and disciplined more harshly than are men.

Criminal justice reform seeks to address structural issues in criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Criminal justice reform can take place at any point where the criminal justice system intervenes in citizens’ lives, including lawmaking, policing, and sentencing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confined environment psychology</span> Subcategory of environmental psychology

Confined environment psychology is a refined subcategory of environmental psychology. There can be severe neurological impacts upon remaining in a confined environment over a prolonged period of time. Confined environment psychology can come in different forms, including; by location and lack of or limited human interaction. The broad subcategory also includes the effects of social isolation on animals.

Prisoners' Justice Day is a solidarity movement that takes place annually on August 10. The movement began in Canada in 1974 in support of prisoners’ rights and to remember all the people who have died of unnatural deaths while incarcerated. The first Prisoners' Justice Day was held at the Millhaven Institution on August 10, 1975, on the first anniversary of Edward Nalon's death. In addition to a day of mourning, six prisoners took part in an eighteen-day hunger strike. In 1976, August 10 was recognized as a memorial day where prisoners would strike in opposition to the use of solitary confinement and to protest inmate conditions within the Prison System by going on a one-day hunger strike and refusing to work.

References

  1. 1 2 "The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners" (PDF). United Nations. December 2015. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  2. 1 2 Solomon, Richard L. (April 1964). "Punishment". American Psychologist. 19 (4): 239–253. doi:10.1037/h0042493 – via Ovid.
  3. 1 2 3 Lester, David (1979). "Modern Psychological Theories of Punishment and Their Implications for Penology and Corrections". Corrective and Social Psychiatry. 25: 81–85.
  4. 1 2 Shoemaker, Robert (2004), Devereaux, Simon; Griffiths, Paul (eds.), "Streets of Shame? The Crowd and Public Punishments in London, 1700–1820", Penal Practice and Culture, 1500–1900, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 232–257, doi:10.1057/9780230523241_10, ISBN   978-1-349-43269-1 , retrieved 2022-02-15
  5. 1 2 3 4 Tarlow, Sarah; Battell Lowman, Emma (2018). Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse. Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-77908-9. ISBN   978-3-319-77907-2. PMID   30044580. S2CID   189697998.
  6. ↑ Henrich, Joseph (2015). The Secret of Our Success : How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter. Princeton University Press. p. 188.
  7. ↑ Terlaak, Ann; Gong, Yan (2008-10-01). "Vicarious Learning And Inferential Accuracy in Adoption Processes". Academy of Management Review. 33 (4): 846–868. doi:10.5465/amr.2008.34421979. ISSN   0363-7425.
  8. ↑ Bandura, Albert; Ross, Dorothea; Ross, Sheila A. (December 1963). "Vicarious reinforcement and imitative learning". The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 67 (6): 601–607. doi:10.1037/h0045550. ISSN   0096-851X. PMID   14084769.
  9. 1 2 3 "Solitary Confinement in Great Britain: Still Harsh, But Rare | Solitary Watch". 19 January 2012. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  10. ↑ "Solitary confinement facts". American Friends Service Committee. 2010-04-07. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  11. ↑ Morris, Robert G. (March 2016). "Exploring the Effect of Exposure to Short-Term Solitary Confinement Among Violent Prison Inmates". Journal of Quantitative Criminology. 32 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1007/s10940-015-9250-0. ISSN   0748-4518. S2CID   42011841.
  12. ↑ Haney, Craig (November 30, 2001). "The Psychological Impact of Incarceration: Implications for Post-Prison Adjustment" . Retrieved February 1, 2022.
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