Disciplining a child using positive punishment has always been a controversial approach. It has been proven that positive punishment has negative consequences in the long run. Corporal punishment is specifically more harmful as it intends to cause physical pain. Despite the growing evidence against corporal punishment’s harmful consequences, parents use it extensively to discipline their children. Corporal punishments, including spanking, hitting, and slapping, put children at risk of developing aggression, anti-social behavior, and psychological problems. It can also cause physical injury.
Corporal punishment is based on the principles of operand conditioning. B.F Skinner is the proponent of operand conditioning (Skinner, 1963). It is also called instrumental learning as it works by establishing the association between a behavior and a consequence. There are two major types of operand conditioning which are punishment and reinforcement. Punishment involves punishing bad behavior, and reinforcement involves rewarding good behavior. These are further divided into two types (positive punishment, negative punishment, positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement). By positive, it means that a stimulus is being added to the child’s environment, while negative means that a stimulus is removed from their environment. For example, we add an aversive stimulus in the environment of the child for displaying deviant behavior. Positive punishment has been widely debated because it only stops negative behavior without teaching positive behavior. Corporal punishment is a form of positive punishment which is extensively criticized for being too harsh.
According to a meta-analysis, corporal punishment has a strong, positive association with immediate compliance and physical abuse. The strong correlation with these two opposite questions ignites controversy about it. On the positive side, it is associated with immediate compliance. However, its association with physical abuse warns that corporal punishment usually escalates to physical abuse, which is definitely against human rights. The meta-analysis also concluded that corporal punishment neither teaches children the right behavior nor stops children from performing negative behaviors in the absence of parents or discipliners. Another study found that corporal punishment is associated with aggressive tendencies, anti-social behavior, decreased cognitive achievement, poor parent-child relationship, psychological problems, and decreased morality (Smith, 2006).
It is recommended that the parents use physical punishment alternatives to decrease negative behaviors in their children. The two essential alternatives include:
Listen and talk
The influence of language can be seen even before the child learns to speak. If your child has done something wrong, tell them how you feel about it. Also, ask them to explain their reasons for doing so. Tell them why their behavior was inappropriate.
Be a role model
It is a very effective alternative as it teaches children the right behaviors to perform. The parents should set examples of what they want their children to do by doing it themselves. So, act and behave the way you want your child to do so.
To summarize, corporal punishment causes physical pain and puts children at risk of negative consequences. Alternative methods must be adopted to discipline the child instead of employing corporal punishments.
References
Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: a meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological bulletin, 128(4), 539.
Skinner, B. F. (1963). Operant behavior. American psychologist, 18(8), 503.
Smith, A. B. (2006). The state of research on the effects of physical punishment. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 27, 114.
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