Pros and Cons of Spanking

The theory of discipline has been debated for decades. Arguments over how it should be carried out and how harsh it should be has been discussed. One aspect of discipline has been shoved into the dark, the effect on the child. No matter how much it is spoken of children remember what happened to them in their childhood. Whether they were pleasant or not can lead to problems later in life. One debate that shall soon be settled deals with the spanking of children. Some will agree that there is nothing wrong with spanking a child, but some argue that it is wrong. There have been countless arguments over it leading to extreme aggression or emotional troubles. From a psychological stand point there are a few ways to look at it. In modern psychology there are three concepts of learning. None have been proven any more plausible than the others, so taking a look at each one seems to be the best idea. Classical conditioning was the first and most basic concept of learning. A man named Ivan Pavlov founded this theory. The core of this concept says that once the conditioned stimulus is paired with another secondary stimulus in the absence of the originally stimulus the same outcome will occur. In the case of spanking there are a few things. The unconditioned or secondary stimulus is the raising of the paddle or opening the drawer to grab the spoon. The unconditioned response is to feel a pain or say out when the paddle hits. After the unconditioned stimulus is pair with the conditioned stimulus or getting hit. The two will be paired in the brain of the child. All of this sounds a bit confusing, the basics of it is, when the child sees the hand being raised or the drawer opening it will become scared. Even though they haven’t gotten hit yet the will pair the raised hand with pain. In their mind they both are the same thing. This is not a good thing to have happen. Later in that child’s life, possibly when at a friends house a drawer may be opened or a hand rose. The child

Cited: Robinette, Renne, Ph.D. "Three Major Types of Learning." Three Major Types of Learning. University of Washington, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.