Quote:
Originally posted by Thoran:
When a child KNOWS what he/she is supposed to be doing and chooses not to do it, negative reinforcement is called for
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Just wanted to point out again that spanking is NOT negative reinforcement. Here's a reply I made in another spanking thread where the same comment was made:
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. An easy way to remember what is reinforcing and what is punishing, is that after being reinforced you feel good. After being punished you feel bad [img]smile.gif[/img]
The reason it's important to understand the difference, is that there is a lot of evidence that behaviour change is most effective by reinforcing and punishing is not as useful. Now that's not to say that the research is right, or applicable in this case, but if you don't understand reinforcement and punishment, and think that spanking is negative reinforcement, then you could use that evidence to support your case. Which would be wrong, and in fact the exact opposite of what the research is actually trying to show.
I agree with those that have said that this law is wrong. While I don't agree that spanking is necessary or even as effective as some means of punishment, I think that it's a parents' perogative how they choose to discipline their child within reason, and I would imagine those discipline methods that wouldn't fall into 'within reason' would already have laws against them (physical abuse etc).