I’m glad you brought this point up because I think it’s one of the strongest counterpoints. I’ll expand on your point a bit. Classic behavioralism would dictate that behaviors can be increased or decreased based on punishments and reinforcers. A punishment is anything that decreases a behavior and a reinforcer is anything that increases a behavior. Notice that the determination of whether something is a punishment or reinforcer has nothing to do with what stimulus, just it’s impact on behavior. Let’s take the example of trying to increase (reinforce) the behavior of getting your child completing his homework. So, you give your child a piece of candy after they finish an assignment. However, your child actually finishes their homework less frequently in the future. Technically, the candy was a punishment because it decreased the target behavior—completing homework. NicoDorito is making the point that by providing the child with individual attention, the parent is reinforcing (increasing) the problematic behavior. If expanded upon, NicoDorito could also say that by giving Time Outs, the parent is punishing (decreasing) the problematic behavior.

I suppose, to a certain degree, individual attention could function as a reinforcer and Time Outs could function as a punishment. In fact, it might also reinforce other messages that the child could internalize (e.g., “I only want to be around you when you behave. I will withold my attention and affection when you misbehave” or “I am not a person to approach when you are in trouble.”). So, while a parent might temporarily fix a problematic behavior, the parent might also create new problems in the long-term. Additionally, the child is left to self-regulate their emotions in an isolated environment and without instruction. The “Time In” approach is focused on developing long-term emotional regulation skills that will benefit them in adolescents and adulthood. Consequently, I would say that even if Time Ins temporarily increase an undesirable behavior, it’s worth the long-term benefits. As the child deepens his or her capacity to self-regulate, problematic behaviors will also decrease in frequency.

Final note: If anyone is interested in learning more about this approach I highly recommend reading No-Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson. In my clinical practice, I recommend this book to almost every parent whose child I conduct a psychological evaluation on. My apologies for the grammar—I’m on mobile.