My parents smacked me. I don't think I'm emotionally scarred from the experience, though I won't be smacking any children that I have. I think it involves an element of fear and humiliation that I think is unnecessary. I also think the worst time to smack your child is when you're angry or frustrated since you're likely to unintentionally be more forceful than you would mean to be. Then later when you're calmer, smacking mightn't seem necessary. There are many ways to discipline children without smacking - my parents used them too - sending me to my room, withholding treats. Even knowing your parents are totally disappointed in you is pretty effective for lots of people. Now I wouldn't say parents who do smack their children are *wrong* for doing so, but for me, it's not the way I want to go.
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Originally posted by Mr. Mopery:
Is it negative reinforcement?
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No it isn't
. Just for the record, since I see confusion about operant conditioning theory and reinforcement/punishment all the time, I'll just briefly explain the terms and what they mean. Reinforcement is something you do to encourage a certain behaviour. Punishment is something you do to discourage certain behaviour. Positive means to add something to the situation, negative means to take something away from the situation. So then, positive reinforcement is adding something to encourage behaviour - giving treats if your child does some chore. Negative reinforcement is taking something away to encourage behaviour - saying your child doesn't have to do their chores if they do all their homework. Positive punishment is adding something to discourage behaviour - smacking your child if they do something you want them not to do. Negative punishment is taking something away to discourage behaviour - not letting them watch TV if they've been naughty [img]smile.gif[/img]