Dangers Of Disciplining Children

According to Alan Kazdin, there are three criteria that determines when you need to discipline a child. These would include deterioration in functioning (whether at school or home), a child not being manageable, and the last one is if the child is causing some sort of danger or harm to others or themselves (Speaking of Psychology: Disciplining children effectively). However, understanding when a child needs to be disciplined is not the part most parents have problems with. The problem for most lies in choosing the most effective way to alter a child 's unwanted behavior. With research now showing that moderate to severe spanking can cause mental, physical, and academic health problems, some parents are more confused than ever. Just a couple …show more content…
Skinner did one of the experiments that psychologists look back on the most in regards to reinforcement. He placed rats in boxes that had levers that, when pressed, would give the rats food. At first, the rats just saw the connection as random but quickly learned that the food was a direct result of pushing the lever. This may not seem like it has a lot to do with parenting, but studies have shown that positive reinforcement, adding a positive stimulus, is shown to increase desired behavior better than the other three disciplinary options. In a study done on children in the sixth grade taking a math test, those who were given a positive reinforcer performed better than those given a positive punishment and the control group. In this study, the children were given candy as a reward for every answer correct. This is an example of a primary reinforcer which is a reward that is unlearned such as food or water. Secondary reinforcers are also a common reward and those are things that you have to learn the value of, such as coins, stickers on a sticker chart, or a voucher of some sort. The children in this study that were given a positive punishment if they performed poorly were forced to come after school to practice more. These children ended up having a test score that was averaged at almost ten percent lower than those who were positively reinforced. Some people might argue that positive reinforcement is coddling or bribing a child. This can be true in the same way that positive punishment can be a threat, but when positive reinforcement is enforced properly it is shown to boost self esteem, improve behavior and performance, and stress children out less than the