Wow, I just read that NY Times story. It reminds me a lot of a similar story on last week's This American Life about a Muslim girl who was stuck in a class that pulled this exact stunt. The scariest thing in all of this is how the community, at least in these two instances, rallies behind the batshit crazy teachers. Crazy bastards.
I thought this episode of GN was really strong. R&S had a lot of energy and drew my attention to things I hadn't heard about. It's episodes like this that make GN so awesome.
Negative reinforcement is not punishment! Rym made a fairly common mistake when talking about the criminal system.
Positive reinforcement: Behavior (something being done, can be either good of bad) -> Add Stimulus (give them something , most likely good) -> Behavior Increases Example: Kid is crying in store -> Mother buys candy for child -> Kid cries at store more often
Negative reinforcement: Behavior (something being done, can be either good of bad) -> Remove Stimulus (remove something, most likely something that is disliked) -> Behavior Increases Example: Kid does not like homework -> parent allows removes chores if child does homework -> Kid does homework
Punishment: Behavior (something being done, most likely something bad) -> Add Stimulus (add something, usually bad) -> Behavior Decreases Example: Kid is misbehaving -> parent hits kid -> kid stops misbehaving
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Positive reinforcement: Behavior (something being done, can be either good of bad) -> Add Stimulus (give them something , most likely good) -> Behavior Increases
Example: Kid is crying in store -> Mother buys candy for child -> Kid cries at store more often
Negative reinforcement: Behavior (something being done, can be either good of bad) -> Remove Stimulus (remove something, most likely something that is disliked) -> Behavior Increases
Example: Kid does not like homework -> parent allows removes chores if child does homework -> Kid does homework
Punishment: Behavior (something being done, most likely something bad) -> Add Stimulus (add something, usually bad) -> Behavior Decreases
Example: Kid is misbehaving -> parent hits kid -> kid stops misbehaving