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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 6 page paper examines studies on punishment and evaluates how punishment psychologically impacts children in America. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
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6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: RT13_SA745pun.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
still used where children are physically harmed, but parents do this, they say, in order to raise the children right. Yet, more and more, experts are coming out against the
idea of punishment, reasoning that children should be taught to do the right things and not severely reprimanded when they do something wrong. After all, they are growing up and
it is a learning process. While parents believe that children learn lessons through punishment, there is no evidence of this. Further, the psychological effects of corporal punishment for example are
certainly documented, but in examining general punishment in the context of parenting, what are the effects? Is there a psychological price tag for children who have been punished? First, punishment
in psychology is associated with the idea of conditioning. Reward and punishment as something that goes hand in hand. Rewards reinforce behavior so that the likelihood of a particular outcome
is increased (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2001). A punishment is just the opposite, so when a stimulus is presented and it is contingent on a response, that response will decrease
(Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2001). There are many examples of rewards and punishments as it respects parenting. Some parents spank their children as a form of punishment but others take away
privileges. In the latter case, a parent may rescind television-viewing privileges for a designated amount of hours. Money is sometimes offered for good grades, and this acts to reinforce academic
achievement. While positive reinforcement may sees improvement in good behavior, it does not follow that punishment reduces negative behavior. It can in some cases. In one study using African
American children, it was determined that non-abusive physical punishment is associated with both negative and positive outcomes (Horn, Joseph & Cheng, 2004). This means that sometimes, punishment does work, but
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