Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Behavioral science suggests that punishment is the worst way of teaching any human to behave. Even just ignoring bad behavior is better.

What works best is ignoring bad behavior and rewarding good one randomly (so not every time).

And I would warn against overly relying on food as a form of reward and punishment, unless you want to give your kid an eating disorder for the rest of their life.



> Behavioral science suggests that punishment is the worst way of teaching any human to behave. Even just ignoring bad behavior is better.

Citation? And is this actually reproducible?

By default I don’t trust any social / behavioral science study. The field is broken.


I wasn't aware that using food as a reward is a risk factor for eating disorders. I mean it has an elegance to it, but equally, most elegant ideas don't play out well in reality. Could you add a reference or some detail?




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: