Punishment-based interventions are among the most controversial treatments in the applied behavior
analysis literature. The controversy concerns both the efficacy and the ethics of punishment. Five hundred
randomly selected members of the Association for Behavior Analysis were sent a survey concerning their
views on the efficacy and ethics of punishment. Respondents were asked to agree or disagree with
statements about punishment using a six-point Likert-style scale, and to answer several open-ended
questions. Respondents exhibited marked variability in their attitudes toward punishment, but on several
points, opinions appeared to converge. Demographic variables were found to relate to attitudes, and views
on the efficacy of punishment predicted views on its ethical status. Implications of these findings for
future research and applied practice are discussed.