Acceptability of Alternative Punishments

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Abstract
In this study 201 randomly selected adult residents of Christchurch, New Zealand, were presented with one of four case descriptions, depicting either a boy or a girl having the behavior problem of serious noncompliance occurring either at school or at home. They then read descriptions of each of five alternative punishment techniques: time-out, response cost, overcorrection, social reprimands, and physical punishment (in counterbalanced order) and completed the Treatment Evaluation Inventory following each of the descriptions. The rankings of the procedures from most to least acceptable were response cost, social reprimands, time-out, overcorrection, and physical punishment. The least acceptable punishments were more acceptable when administered at home than at school, and this was especially true for girls. Otherwise, there were no differences in acceptability attributable to gender of the case. Differences between respondents in gender, age, education level, and family status were not associated with significant differences in punishment acceptability.