I am developing an experiment to test negative and positive stimulus in learning. Two teams of six men will be trained military style over three weeks. One team will never be punished and one team will never be rewarded.

Is there any history of such an experiment or similar on animals or humans?

-- edmund wardle (ed.wardle@rdfmedia.com), August 19, 2003

Answers

I know of no experiment exactly like this (but this isn't my area of expertise). What I can tell you is that the experimental evidence showed, in general, that punishment is much LESS effective than (positive) reinforcement in modifying behavior.

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), August 21, 2003.

Try this one: a bit out of date, but it might help: Walters G.C. & Grusec, J.E. (1977) . Punishment. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman,

-- Douglas Creelman (creelman@psych.utoronto.ca), August 25, 2003.