Would you take time to give your child or your student “time out” or would you take time to “punish” that student or your own child so that they can/will understand what they have done/going to do is wrong?
In our psychology courses, you psychology majors might notice that all of these psychologists basically studied the reasons “why and how” with babies all the way up to grown adults.
Throughout the courses we continue to see that B.F. Skinner uses the Operant Conditioning, which is a term used to describe the effect of the consequences of a particular behavior. Now, you are probably wondering, “did Skinner actually take the time to study the effect of a certain consequences for a particular behavior?’’
Well the answer to that is yes. There are four types of operant conditions which are; positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction.
But the two most studied are negative reinforcement and punishment. The books say negative reinforcement strengthens the behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior, and punishment weakens a behavior because a negative condition is introduced or experienced as a consequence of the behavior.
In my opinion, if a child came home from having a fight at school, what would you do as a parent, or if the child was fighting in your classroom, what would you do as a teacher? Put them in a corner? No way, I hope not.
The best way to approach this method is paddle them or let them be spanked by their parents so that child will know what he did was totally out of order.
Nowadays, we see the TV show “Dr. Phil,” where children are hitting their mothers because they think they talk too much or shouldn’t be told what to do.
Our society is constantly saying, “punishment is evil” and it will increase the negative behavior within a child. I am a living witness that it will decrease it. There is also the Bible where it states, “spare the rod spoil the child,” Proverbs23: 13-14. “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.If you beat him with a rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.” Sheol is often translated as “hell,” but has the more general meaning of death or the grave. If you are not a Christian believer you wouldn’t understand what I am referring to, therefore it will be easy just to know negative punishment only works with certain people.
I am a strong believer that if your student (education majors this example is for you) comes in the classroom and continues to spit on that same student that sits in front of him or her, what would you do, just remove him or her to another side of the classroom? NO.
You will make sure the child is punished for his negative/rude behavior. With this new generation, our teachers are trying to teach and give back to the children in their classroom without disturbance. Most parents use methods like yelling or saying “stop.”
Over and over again, putting them in time out, taking the toys away, sitting them on their lap and talking to them, giving them what they want anyway or even ignoring the situation and letting the turmoil and disobedience build up. These examples I have listed will not help the new generation of kids.
If you Google kids or celebrities that didn’t have structure or parents who didn’t believe in punishment, you’ll see that they: were pregnant early out of wedlock, had heavy usage of drugs, beat and abused their parents, moved out and became whoremongers, in and out of jail or even committed suicide, and are going through with their lives because they didn’t receive any kind of structure, nor had someone there to let them know what they were doing wasn’t acceptable.
My question to ULM students and faculty- is it really possible to let a child live today without letting them recognize right from wrong or what’s good and bad without him/her receiving punishment?
-Chelsea Wyatt, psychology major
Meriane • Apr 9, 2013 at 10:22 pm
*Sigh*
OK. The author of this article took a freshman Psych course. The author also referenced Dr. Phil and Google, which… come on. As sources, not so much.
Now, I have a one year old. He knows and understands “no” and (for now anyway!!) listens to me when I tell him not to do something. I don’t “spank” unless he is persistently doing something that is absolutely dangerous for him. Like the time he was fixated on the electrical socket covers. I told him no and removed him once, told him no and removed him twice, and the third time he crawled right back over there and tried again to wedge his little fingernail underneath the socket cover and pry it off. I spanked his hand once and removed him. He cried, but he hasn’t done it again (yet…).
Boring story complete, my point is that negative reinforcement, just like positive reinforcement, is necessary for learning and growth.. I don’t mean beat the kid, obviously. But even we as adults learn through negative reinforcement when a person we think we love leaves us, therefore making us better mates for the next one, or we get a bad grade and it makes us want to work harder for the next time etc.
As my child gets older and has a better concept of punishment/reward I believe it will be easier to discipline him. The commentor above me made some great points.
Anyway, I didn’t find this a particularly useful article, for the reasons cited above, and the the author’s condescending tone toward parents and teachers with a different disciplinary viewpoint than her own. Uh… removing the child and doing a time out are all the teacher is LEGALLY allowed to do.
Morgan Sneed • Mar 27, 2013 at 3:25 pm
In response to the opinion written by Ms. Wyatt, I would have to argue the contrary. Punishment does not necessarily produce the desired response. I know this to be true in my own childhood, not to mention that of my 3 nieces, 1 nephew and in that of my own daughter. Ms Wyatt said, “the best way to approach this method is paddle them or let them be spanked by their parents so that child will know what he did was totally out of order,” in the event a child came home after getting into a fight at school. But, I would argue this teaches violence and perpetuates violence. Why should we inflict physical harm? Now, don’t get me wrong, I had more than my fair share of spankings…BELIEVE ME! But, I believe there to be a better way. In my own rearing of my daughter, I don’t engage in the “spare the rod, spoil the child” school of thought. I was raised a Southern Baptist, but broke away from the entire concept of god and religion once I learned to think for myself. Not to say that those whom believe are right or wrong; simply, for me, I do not. However, this doesn’t mean that I don’t grasp the concept. I do. I just believe it to be antiquated and wrong. My daughter happens to be one of the happiest and most well-behaved children I’ve encountered. Perhaps it is because it is what is expected of her, perhaps its because I take the time to sit her down and explain why her actions, when unacceptable, are so. I treat her like a small adult and it works; quite well. I’m not saying I do not engage in punishment. If she doesn’t do what is expected there are consequences; the loss of more pleasurable activities, for example, I find most effective. If she doesn’t clean up as asked, she doesn’t get to go outside and play when she wants. Only after completing the assigned task does she get to do those things that she desires. Most importantly, I explain why she is experiencing the consequences and HOW she can then gain those things she desires back. Its simple logic. She gets it and does what she is asked. Most often, all she needs is a simple reminder that if she doesn’t do what she is asked then she will bear the consequences. No physical pain is necessary. But, most often; actually, more often than not, I ignore bad behavior all together, neither rewarding or punishing for those behaviors. What I do is acknowledge and reward positive or desired behavior. This, in my experience, has the most success of the various forms of conditioning Ms. Wyatt brought up. While I was in the Military, I also found this to be true when training military working dogs, as well as training junior enlisted troops. Reward simply works better than punishment.