[FROM Dennis Delprato (941220)]
Bill Powers (941216.1410 MST)
Dennis Delprato (941214) --
I just ran across "Is Punishment Effective? Coercive
Strategies in Social Exchange" (L. D. Molm,
Social Psychology Quarterly, 1994, v. 57, pp. 75-
94).
The author _claims_:
"These results
refute the classical exchange theorists' arguments that
punishment is ineffective and leads to retaliation...."
and
"more frequent punishment for nonexchange increased the
partner's reward exchange without increasing retaliation
or negative affect."
What is "exchange theory?"
All I know is that it is associated with George Homans,
sociology, and social psychology. My guess it sort of
applies economic "principles" in a framework of a crude
operant reward/punishment approach to social relationships.
I also guess that exchange theorist's recommendations
against punishment and coercion are, like Skinner's, based
on observations of the consequences of using these controlling
strategies.
My main question is, are either the classical arguments or the
refutation based on facts? If I say "Punishing your child will be
ineffective and will lead to retaliation," what percentage of the time
will this prediction prove false? If someone else says, "No, punishing
your child will lead to greater reward exchange (whatever that is) and
will not result in the child's retaliating," what percentage of the time
will that prediction prove false? Since you have seen the article,
perhaps you can deduce from the data presented what these percentages
would be.
I have no idea, of course, what can be predicted from the
study along the lines of the above. I can predict that we
will be hearing more about the marvels of punishment and
coercion, regardless of what can or cannot be predicted
from 2 by 3 by .... experiments involving undergraduates
who are coerced into interacting with computers.
Bill, the paper I sent to you on "Beyond Murray Sidman's
Coercion and Its Fallout" is in press in the Psychol. Record.
Unfortunately, I had to eliminate much of what little
explanatory text there was about the PCT principles, but
the principles (points) remain.
Dennis Delprato
psy_delprato@emuvax.emich.edu