Why did Skinner argue that behavior should be controlled by reinforcement contingencies rather than by punishment?
According to Skinner, the actual approach of behavior is controlled by reinforcement contingencies that provide the great hope for suiting to a number of drastic problems in an idealized condition. It also modulates in the determination of the idealized situations that helps in the strengthening of behaviors in a pre-defined manner. It also has the ability to change the entire behavior of a person in a logistic way.
Skinner specifically argued with the notion that behavior is distinctly governed by reinforcement contingencies rather than by punishment. It was due to the fact that the “mind” and the “self” play a critical role in selecting the behavior in basic environmental conditions that adjusted towards the fulfillment of behavior towards reinforcement contingencies and it has no direct link with punishment.
According to Skinner, he observed that the reinforcement and punishment are the two opposite sides of a life that is not symmetrical that reflects that reinforcement strengths behavior and punishment weakens behavior. Punishment creates fear, elicits aggression, induces pain on others and replaces undesirable thoughts with another.
Due to relative ineffectiveness of punishment and use of negative by-products that are greatly associated with it, Skinner constantly argued that behavior can be positively modulated through reinforcement contingencies and negatively modulated through punishment.