Punishment happens: some comments on Lerman and Vorndran's review.

Some readers will view the article by Lerman and Vorndran as controversial. It is a review of existing basic and applied research on punishment and a call for additional research on punishment. The thesis of my commentary is that the paper should not be viewed as controversial. Punishment happens. To ignore a natural phenomenon and its implications for a technology of behavior is akin to ignoring the physical nature of the universe. A science and a technology of behavior are incomplete without research on punishment. Five reasons to pursue punishment research are discussed, along with some caveats.