Microsoft Word Chapter 1 done doc

1. Punishment : Punishment can be defined as delivery of 
aversive consequences. It is a major technique for reducing 
aggression. People who are given punishment: 
Are made to pay fines 
Put in prison 
Placed under solitary confinement 
Receive physical punishment for their aggressive acts, etc. 
It is a common belief among the members of the society that 
those individuals who have indulged in acts of aggression needs 
to be punished. The amount of punishment people receive 
should be matched to the magnitude of the harm they have 
caused. For example breaking someone’s arm should deserve 
less punishment than permanently harming them or killing them. 
In addition, the magnitude of punishment should take in to 
account the extenuating (mitigating or justifying) circumstances. 
For example, was there some good reason for indulging in 
aggressive actions such as self-defense or was it an act of 
hostile aggression. The main aim of punishing the individual 
who have indulged in acts of aggression is to deter him/her form 
engaging in such acts in the future. Secondly, aggressive acts 
which are hard to detect, For example, that involve hidden or 
covert forms of harming others, should be strongly punished 
because only strong punishment will deter people from 
engaging in actions they believe they can get away with. 
Common sense suggests that either punishing the 
aggressors for their violent behaviour or merely threatening to 
do so may be a highly effective means of preventing these 
persons from engaging in such activities. On the basis of such 
a general belief, most societies have established severe 
punishments for murder, rape, assault and similar aggressive 
crimes. Even psychologists have generally accepted the 
suggestion that actual or threatened punishment is an effective 
deterrent to human violence. Dollard and Miller have remarked 
that "the strength of inhibition of any act of aggression varies 
positively with the amount of punishment anticipated to be a 
consequence of that act." Similarly, Richard Walters suggested 
that “it is only continual expectation of retaliation of the recipient 
or other members of society that prevents many individuals from 

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more freely expressing aggression.” These remarks indicate 
that if the aggressor knows that he will be punished for his 
aggressive behaviour, he is likely to control his aggression, at 
least to some extent.
Parents as well as social institutions resort to punishment to 
control children's aggressive behaviour and aggressive activities 
of the criminals. Punishment is assigned in proportion to the 
extent of seriousness of the aggressive behaviour. It is true that 
punishment is sometimes quite effective. Results of several 
studies conducted with children suggest that the frequency or 
intensity of such behaviour can often be considerably reduced 
by even mild forms of punishment like social disapproval.