On 31 Aug 2009 at 13:41, Michael Britt wrote: > In the latest episode of my podcast I interviewed the author of a > great parenting book: Raising Children You Can Live With. Although > the author discuss a lot of great ideas regarding how to interact with > your child, it seems that my brief thoughts regarding the ineffectiveness > of spanking is getting the most response.
While I personally find spanking a distasteful method of child behaviour control, that does not stop me from pointing out that the evidence against it on scientific grounds is more equivocal than most people realize, the anti-spanking crowd being dominant in academic circles. The major problem is that much of the research is correlational, rending causal conclusions moot. Any even-handed (open, of course) treatment of this issue should include mention of the minority position of respected academics such as Diane Baumrind and Robert Lazerele that "normative" spanking (which excludes child abuse) has not been shown to be harmful to the child, and may in some circumstances be helpful. Of course, one is free to take a moral position on this issue (as I do), but it should not be justified by reference to studies of uncertain scientific merit. See, for example http://www.storesonline.com/site/846699/page/907857 and http://faculty.biola.edu/paulp/ (bibliographies for Lazerele) http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/bul1284580.pdf (Baumrind/Lazerele commentary, Psychological Bulletin, 2002) http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/3518 (Baumrind invited address to APA [press release, 2001) Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: sbl...@ubishops.ca 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
