I think the reason this behaviour disagrees with traditional ideas about negative reinforcement and punishment is because those theories were built on hierarchical relationships (someone's in charge and doles out conditioning action). If the person receiving the punishment accepts the right of the person doling it out to do so, even if they resent it, they will accept its validity more readily. Also, if they feel unjustly punished, they will focus their ire on the authority rather than the community as a whole. This kind of thing can easily be seen in forums where there is a hard line between moderators and moderated.
When people feel attacked by their whole community (which is what a slew of negative votes feels like), it seems like they'd be far more likely to lash out at that community as a whole, and that means throwing out increasingly antisocial posts and attacking people with downvotes themselves.
Comments
I think the reason this behaviour disagrees with traditional ideas about negative reinforcement and punishment is because those theories were built on hierarchical relationships (someone's in charge and doles out conditioning action). If the person receiving the punishment accepts the right of the person doling it out to do so, even if they resent it, they will accept its validity more readily. Also, if they feel unjustly punished, they will focus their ire on the authority rather than the community as a whole. This kind of thing can easily be seen in forums where there is a hard line between moderators and moderated.
When people feel attacked by their whole community (which is what a slew of negative votes feels like), it seems like they'd be far more likely to lash out at that community as a whole, and that means throwing out increasingly antisocial posts and attacking people with downvotes themselves.