Function of Punishment Ⅱ. The Differential Punishment Effects on the Habit Strength Established by Distributed and Massed learning

In common sense, the most distinctive function of the punishment is the inhibitory effect by which unfavorable behavior or misconduct is eliminated. Some psychologists experimentally demonstrated this aspect of punishment. But on the contrary, Solomon, Kamin, and Wynne(11) experimentally demonstrated the facilitation effect of punishment. For this facilitatory effect of punishment, Mowrer(7) called it as a crazy response. Gwinn(8) in 1949 corrected it as a normal phenomenon of punishment. He trained rats to run down a circular way to a goal box where then after was charged with electric current as punishment. The stronger the punishment the more facilitative it was than the weaker one, and the animals continued running into the stronger punishment for more trials than into the weaker one.