Vicarious punishment is the tendency to avoid some behaviors that had been criticized or had a bad result. In this case, Adam saw that his sister was scolded because of a wrong behavior (to hit another child, in this case). Adam used to do the same, but after realizing that it was a bad thing, then he begins to avoid, just because he saw the consequences in his sister.
Explanation: punishment is carried out to decrease a behaviour and the likelihood of its occurrence in the future. The impact of vicarious punishment is illustrated when Adam discontinued hitting other children from observing his sister being scolded. Vicarious punishment as a type of social learning occurs when the likelihood of engaging in a is greatly reduced after having observed the negative consequences another faced for the same behavior. In simpler terms, an individual avoids a behavior because someone else has been punished for it.
