Punishment
There are a lot of ways to look at the US epidemic of gun violence. You can quite legitimately see it as an issue of gun control, of toxic masculinity, of white male privilege. But there’s another lens to look at it through that is related to all of those issues, but not the same. Perhaps you remember from some long-ago psych class that there are basically two ways of changing behavior: reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement increases behavior. If doing a thing gets you a result that you like, you are more likely to do it again. Punishment decreases behavior. If doing a thing gets you a result that you don’t like, you are less likely to do it again. Pretty straightforward. It’s how we’re wired. It’s how everything with a central nervous system is wired.
Everyone responds to reinforcement and punishment. But we have different attitudes toward the best ways to change other people’s behavior. Some people, on principle, gravitate toward reinforcement. They believe, philosophically and politically, that the best way to get people to behave in ways that we want is to reward good behavior, and to set up society in ways that encourage good behavior. After your homework is done I will be happy to take you to your friend’s house to play. Thank you so much for getting that report to me early — that helps so much! Here is a chip celebrating your achievement of a year of sobriety.
Some people are more inclined toward putting their faith in punishment. They believe that the only way to keep people in line is through making them regret their choices. That kid has no respect — he needs a good ass-whupping. North Korea needs to feel the full might of our fury. The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
Guns are the ultimate form of faith in punishment, a way to feel in control because you have the power to exact the ultimate cost. Mass shooters commit their crimes because they feel like a set of people or the world in general needs to be punished for their own suffering or the victims’ “misbehavior. “ People who feel that the solution to mass shootings is to arm more people have the same faith in punishment. If we can make the cost high enough, no one will try that again. No one would dare to try to shoot up a school if they knew the teachers were armed.
Punishment is an entirely valid form of learning. But remember this. Punishment is defined as something that decreases behavior. If it doesn’t decrease behavior, it’s just violence. It is all too easy for a punishment model to become not a tool for learning, but rather an article of faith. Literally, religious faith if you believe in a punishing God that will exact retribution on the people you don’t approve of. But also an article of faith in that if punishment doesn’t work, the answer becomes more punishment. If having more guns per capita than any other developed nation doesn’t keep us safe, the answer is to have more guns. If putting armed guards in schools doesn’t keep us safe (and the evidence is it doesn’t), then the answer is to arm the teachers. If you were operating out of logic, you would look at something that wasn’t working, and try something different. But if your faith is in the power of punishment, more punishment is the only option available.
Punishment has a powerful draw. It makes us feel strong, and in control. It offers solutions that are quick, and don’t require much thinking. Reinforcement-based solutions tend to take planning and careful implementation. Relying on blowing someone away does not. But the costs of a faith in punishment are high. It presumes that we are in adversarial relationship to one another, not a community of folks seeking a solution together. It invites people to go through the world looking for opportunities to exact retribution. And lives are lost along the way.
