Critical Thinking Essay—Physical Punishment
It is one of the biggest challenges for most parents to manage their children’s behavior. Physical punishment is a discipline method used to cause a child to experience pain to control or correct his or her unacceptable behavior. In physical punishment, parents usually hit a child with hands or objects such as a cane, belt, shoe and so on.
Should parents use physical punishment when disciplining their children? It is difficult for everyone to agree upon an answer to this question because of the different perspectives people have on this issue.
Pick one position—in favor of physical punishment, or against physical punishment—and make an argument supporting your position.
In constructing your argument use the Learning Theories we studied in Chapter 5: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. (This is not an opinion assignment, therefore make sure you argue your position based on Learning Theories, not something else).
To write a good essay, you should:
-Define these forms of learning. Where applicable, specify the mental associations an organism makes in these forms of learning.
-Make sure to present the concept of “punishment” in operant conditioning. Mention its uses in behavior modification and the potential problems associated with it.
-Show what a child who is spanked learns through each way of learning.
-Give examples to clarify and support your argument.
As a guideline, the essay should be a minimum of 1000 words (two pages).
