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Evaluating the Psychological Effectiveness of Corporal Punishment.

Student number: 042705 Prac class: 11 am Tuesday Due date: 1st April, 2014 Page count: 3 pages

Corporal punishment, is the use of physical force in order to coerce an individual, often a child, to stop performing undesirable behaviours (Gershoff, 2002; Straus, 1994). It has become a hot topic of discussion and debate in the media in recent years as groups and countries around the world have questioned the legitimacy and consequences of punishing children (White, 2013). The discussion whether corporal punishment constitutes child abuse, or alternatively that contemporary children are misbehaving because of insufficient punishment or political correctness, has been debated since many countries and interest groups making moves to illegalise it (White, 2013). The uncertain links to child abuse and questions over the repercussions of corporal punishment make it an important area of research as education in this better informs parents and makes child abuse more identifiable through learning appropriate responses to misbehaviour. Research shows both positive and negative repercussions of physical punishment and the purpose of this essay will be to explore the consequences of corporal punishment and evaluate its effectiveness in reducing undesirable behaviours. Studies show that corporal punishment does have advantages, with some arguing that it is effective in changing behaviour when used appropriately (Gershoff, 2002) Corporal punishment can best be understood through the concept of operant conditioning. Positive punishment , as opposed to positive or negative reinforcement, means that as the punishment is applied to the child a smack or slap for example after the child displays undesirable behaviour, then so the chances of the behaviour repeating should decrease. If this were reinforcement, the consequence would result in an increase in desirable behaviour. This is why the aversive behaviour modification is so potent, by pairing what an authority figure perceives as unwanted behaviour with physical harm, the organism learns to avoid committing the undesirable actions and the behaviour decreases (Nye, 2000). However, the effectiveness of punishment arguably further hinges upon other conditions to maximise its

effectiveness. Studies show it should be swiftly applied (Abramowitz & OLeary, 1990), consistent (Acker & OLeary, 1996) and explained within context (Larzelere et al, 1996). Studies further show that reinforcement schedules have been more effective than punishment in experiments (McAllister et al., 1969). However, extensive research has shown that there are both immediate, severe and long lasting effects of corporal punishment (Gershoff, 2002a; Fang & Corso, 2007; Taylor et al., 2010). Gershoff (2002a, 2002b) and Fang & Corso (2007) in particular criticise the use of corporal punishment as they have shown links between children being punished and the individual being raised to potentially abuse both their children and spouse. as well as legitimising aggressive behaviour. Gershoff found strong links between corporal punishment as children and aggressive behaviours later in life, something she attributed to parents displaying aggressive behaviour and the child believing that it was acceptable and legitimate (2002). Her metanalysis also showed that the more frequently and severely the child was punished, the more likely they were to be aggressive as they grew. Another strong argument against the effectiveness of corporal punishment is that it only teaches the child not to behave a certain way, not to teach it the correct behaviour (2002a, 2002b). By merely punishing the child, the adult is saying, No, dont do that, which is effective in causing the behaviour to cease. However, it does not teach the child how they should be behaving. Other studies (Larzelere et al, 1996; McAllister et al., 1969) have shown that reinforcement, the approval of desired behaviour is much more effective at teaching children how to behave. Corporal punishment, when paired with appropriate discussion about proper behaviours becomes much more efficient also (Larzelere et al, 1996). However, studies are often confounded by the definition of abuse versus domestic punishment, and therefore questions are raised as to whether the study is actually testing corporal punishment effectiveness, or child abuse effectiveness (Holden, 2002). Gershoffs

metanalysis (2002) was criticised for not omitting from her examination punishments that were deemed more aggressive or extreme than mere physical discipline and that may have crossed the line towards abuse (Baumrind, D., et al., 2002). Additionally, correlation does not equal causation. Many different stimulus have been applied to the development of aggression in adulthood, including playing high school sports (Levy, 2014), genetics or simple inequality (Goldsmith, 2014). In studying the effectiveness of corporal punishment it becomes clear that it is quite dangerous and there are many negative outcomes in the long run. For corporal punishment to be effective parents should be taught how and when to use it, but also the consequences. It is, arguably, not effective to use punishment when other behaviour modification options are available.

References

Abramowitz, A. J., & OLeary, S. G., (1990). Effectiveness of delayed punishment in an applied setting. Behavior Therapy, 21, 231-239. Baumrind, D., Larzelere, R. E., & Cowan, P. A. (2002). Ordinary physical punishments: Is it harmful? Comment on Gershoff (2002)/ Psychological Bulletin, 128(4), 580-589. Fang, X., & Corso, P. S., (2007). Child maltreatment, youth violence and intimate partner violence. American Journal of Preventative Medicine. 33(4), 281-290. Gershoff, E. T., (2002a). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 128(94), 539-579. Gershoff, E. T., (2002b). Corporal punishment, physical abuse, and the burden of proof: Reply to Baumrind, Larzelere, and Cowan (2002), Holden (2002), and Parke (2002). Psychological Bulletin. 128(4), 602-611. Goldsmith, T. (2006). What Causes Domestic Violence?. Psych Central. From http://psychcentral.com/lib/what-causes-domestic-violence/000344 Larzelere, R. E., Schnieder, W. N., Larson, D. B., & Pike, P. L., (1996). The effects of discipline responses in delaying toddler misbehaviour recurrences. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 18, 35-37. Levy, S. (26 March 2014). Study: Boys Who Play High School Sports More Likely to Be Abusive in Relationships. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from http://www.healthline.com/health-news/men-teens-who-play-sports-more-likely-toabuse-032614 McAllister, L. W., Stachowiak, J. G., Baer, D. M., & Conderman, L. (1969). The application of operant conditioning techniques on a secondary school classroom. Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis. 2, 227-285. Nye, R. D. (2000). Three psychologies. Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co. White, C. (2013, August 29). Why doctors are telling us not to smack our children. ABC Health and Wellbeing. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/stories/2013/08/29/3836505.htm