Shawshank RedemptionThe following video link has been shared with the class. The film can be viewed for free. The picture is clear. If you skip the movie then, it will stop and it may take time to buffer, but if you do not skip there will probably be no issues about the quality. Enjoy!
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ReplyDeleteFound many examples of punishment, positive & negative reinforcement. The punishment examples were perhaps easiest for me. (applying something aversive to diminish behavior) There were several times when characters were sent to the “hole” for behaviors that the guards or warden didn’t like. Those are perhaps the clearest. Some examples include when the prisoners first arrived, one asked when do they eat and was beaten by the guard – guards are the ones who ask the questions and other comments are not tolerated. Another example was the new fat guy prisoner who cried first. The guards beat him for this behavior (oops, killing him).
ReplyDeleteThe examples of positive and negative reinforcement were more complicated for me. Positive – applying some positive stimulus to increase behavior and negative – removing a negative stimulus to increase behavior, seemed to be more a matter of the prisoner’s perspective and this changed the longer a prisoner remained in prison. For example, being able to go out into the yard for exercise is positive reinforcement (a desired experience) for appropriate or cooperative behavior. However, it could also be negative reinforcement (removing a negative experience – being confined inside, in one’s cell or in the “hole”). Similarly the group of men who were picked to build the road - positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior or for successfully bribing the guards to get on the list to be selected for the detail – and the positive part of this was being outside the prison walls. But this is also negative reinforcement (removing the aversive) being away from the prison – encourages compliant behavior.
These make me wonder if positive and negative reinforcement are often events that go hand in hand or these are opposite sides of the same coin, i.e. removing the aversive is the same as applying the positive. And, perhaps which way you might describe the stimulus depends entirely on your perspective. Your perspective may be one of getting away from something negative rather than getting hold of something positive?
This is Gloria. Not really sure how to get my name posted.
ReplyDeleteSteve, those are great examples of punishment. What srikes me is that Andy risks punishment for himself by digging his way out of prison, in order to give others hope for freedom. I can't help but think that the act of digging himself out was positive reinforcement in a sense, he continued to get away with it and his digging continued. This seperated himself from the harsh realities of prison and allowed him to dream of another place. These dreams of freedom also reinforced hi behaviors.
However, my favorite example of punishment in the movie is when the arden Norton is caught for money laundering and is arrested himself.
There are some good examples of positive reinforcement - one such example is Andy's library project. Although it takes him six years of weekly letter writing to the senator's office, he finally is able to somewhat achieve his goal by getting book and material donations along with a $200 check. His response is to start a twice weekly letter writing campaign. Thus the act of writing letters (positive stimulus)got him what he wanted - library materials and funds (positive reinforcment), so he continued the behavior (increase behavior).
ReplyDeleteWow!I am encouraged by the rich dialogue this topic has evoked. I can't help but think about what Steve said about the prisoners perspective for example one would think that it is positive to be released from jail however the releasing of the older prisoner became a form of punishment from his perspective. It really makes one think.
ReplyDeleteOne of the sources I looked at discussed the point that Steve raised. How the same reinforcement could be positive or negative depending on the perspective of who was experiencing it. Some psychologists argue that the distinction between positive & negative reinforcement is unnecessary (they are two sides of the same coin), and that we should just say reinforcement.
ReplyDeletesome examples from the movie
positive reinforcement- if Andy launders the warden's money, he gets to do his library where he can feel good about helping prisoners & giving them hope.
negative reinforcement- Andy annoys the funding office with his aversive frequent letters into increasing Shawshank's funding. The letters stop once Andy is satisfied with the funding office increase in funds.
Punishment- the warden threatens Andy that if he doesn't launder money, he will do the roughest time possible at Shawshank.
Brook's instutionalization reminded me of learned helplessness.
The most glaring premise of this movie was that everything has a price, anything can be bought or sold. I guess this can be a result when behavior is irrevocably changed by environment. The operant conditioning of the prisoners was most often affected by punishment. Everything that was unpleasant always led to someone being punished - severely in at least 2 cases (the prisoner that is beaten to death by the guard because he's crying, and the rapist - Bogs - that ends up in a wheelchair when he gets 'a taste of his own medicine.' The analogy of the cigarettes as a 'reward' for a good or bad deed reinforced aggression, sometimes out of helpless frustration. Almost all of the prisoners were weakened in some way (verbal or physicial abuse or intimidation) by punishment that was meant to decrease their resistance to what someone else wanted - compliance. All of the reinforcements seemed to breed a kind of dependence that minimized how each of them begin to judge themselves. There was clearly some brutal disarming of self. Again the environment was a significant factor in the prison adaptation experience.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it was never spoken, the guard who was helped to keep his $35,000 inheritance did a 'pleasant' thing for Andy by eliminating the threat of Bogs and his horny crew. Bogs' behavior was unwillingly changed by the guard. I would call this extinction.
ReplyDeletePosted for Suzette Porter she is having technical difficulties posting herself
ReplyDeletePositive, Negative Reinforcement vs. Punishment
Perseverance come to mind as it relates to Andy fight for freedom at any cost, and he did incur cost; the fight to get the library up, the financial assignments he had to keep up, fiscal advice/jobs he rendered and ironically commenting crimes of fraud! This of course was all working towards the ultimate goal of mental and physical freedom. This was truly positive reinforcement in action. For Andy did not enjoy utilizing his profession for illegal purposes, but he had to do something that he don't enjoy for a chance to do something that they do enjoy, which was building the library and literacy. Which I believe gave him a sense of purpose and provided a calming spirit in the mist of his grief, loss and falsely being accused.
An example of negative reinforcement was when Norton, the warden continued to give directives (really expectations of) to Andy to continue conspiring for him and keeping his books. Fearing exposure if Andy was set free after the truth was again reveled of the true killer of his wife and lover; Norton had Andy sent to solitary confinement, which was punishment, (but I ask for what?) The negative reinforcement returns, when he threatens Andy that he will withdraw the guards' protection if he does not continue conspiring with him. It is evident, in the mind and eyes of the warden, that he got his point across when two months later, Andy is released from solitary confinement and returns to the main prison population. After that he was never the same individual, this act of punishment really appeared to produce a seemingly broken man with little hope. Resilient, he continued on his journey for equality and true justice. The main motivation for freedom and justice to be served was that of hope and determination.
Post for Marisela Corona
ReplyDeleteI agree with Steve, I found many examples of punishment and few of positive or negative reinforcement examples, mainly because punishment is easier to identify in a movie such as Shawshank Redemption. After all, punishment is a regular routine of prison life. A perfect example of punishment as Steve mentioned is when the new inmate was hit on the stomach for asking a question after the warden implied that he wanted feedback from the inmates by asking “any questions?” This also seems to be a form of negative reinforcement. I believe Gloria tried to explain negative reinforcement by giving an example in class about rats. The example given was about a rat being placed in a cage and receiving electrical shock (the shock is a negative reinforcement). As soon as the rat runs on the wheel or presses on a bar the shock stops. The rat’s behavior of running on the wheel or pressing on the bar is rewarded by the stopping of the shock. In the example of Shawshank Redemption the beating is the negative reinforcement, the reward is seizing the beating when no questions are asked (which is what the warden really wanted---no questions to be asked by the inmates).
A form of punishment that isn’t noted on this blog is the murder of Andy’s wife and her lover. I know that Andy is innocent, but, in the beginning we are led to believe that he murder his wife because she was unfaithful (the murder can be interpreted as the punishment for cheating). Thereby, Andy is incarcerated for the murder of his wife and her lover (Andy’s incarceration is also a form of punishment for breaking the law, which is committing murder).
Time in “the hole” is also a form of punishment that Andy and Bogs experienced. Bog spent 1-week in the whole after beating Andy “1 inch from his life”. Andy spent 2 weeks in the whole after locking one of the guards in the bathroom and locking himself in the warden’s office so he could play a record for the inmates to hear over the P.A. system. Then he spend 2 month in the whole for calling the warden “obtuse” when Andy told him what Tommy knew of the real killer to his wife and lovers murder.
As Ms. Evans stated, Brooks, the older inmate, saw his release after fifty years as a punishment rather than a reward. Another form of punishment for an action that should have been rewarded was Tommy’s murder. Rather than being rewarded for coming forward with the truth of Andy’s wife and lovers real murderer, he was shot in order to keep Andy locked up and therefore, the warden could continue his money laundering scheme.
Although it’s difficult to point out positive reinforcement in a jail setting where there is a limited amount of rewards that could be granted or allowed to inmates there are positive rewards that have gone unnoted. Rewards are offered at the start of a prison term, principally in the form of “good time”. An example is Red’s release after 40 years of serving time for his crime, he expressed regret, and therefore, he was released before the completion of his sentence. Another example of positive reinforcement is playing movies for the inmates for good behavior or allowing them to smoke (although the cigars have to be smuggled in).
Accommodations are also a form of positive reinforcement. Andy was allowed to run his library, help inmates achieve their G.E.D, write letters to get funding for his library project, and allowed to keep posters on his cell wall in return for aiding the warden in his money laundering scheme and helping guards prepare their taxes and other financial inquiries or requests.