Question

1. Discuss the different effects of reward, punishment, and modeling on aggressive behavior.

2. Based on this information, why do you think that society's opinion on spanking children has changed over the last 30 years? Do you agree? Why or why not? (Use facts and research to back up your opinion).

Answer 1

• Rewarding violence in video games can increase aggressive affect, aggressive cognition, and aggressive behavior. it is possible that in addition to direct reward for violent actions, increased exposure to violent actions within the rewarding game plays a role in increasing aggressive cognition or behavior.
• Children spend hours playing video games, many of which involve engaging in extremely violent behaviors. The games often require the player to take the role of a violent person, to identify with the character, to select victims, and of course to kill people. These behaviors are rewarded by winning points and moving on to higher levels and are repeated over and over.
• Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1963) noted that children who observed a model rewarded for aggressive behavior were much more likely to imitate that behavior than children who observed a model punished for the same behavior.Vicarious reinforcement suggests that individuals need not experience rewards or punishments themselves in order to learn behaviors; rather, they can observe and interpret the consequences experienced by a model and make inferences as to the likelihood of incurring
  these outcomes themselves.Modeling teaches new ideas about aggression and can help explain why exposure to violence increases aggressive behavior in the long run.
• Children who witness their parents being violent or who are themselves abused are more likely as adults to inflict abuse on their partners and children.
• Gershoff (2002) found that although children who were spanked by their parents as punishment were more likely to immediately comply with the parents’ demands, they were also more aggressive, showed less ability to control aggression, and had poorer mental health in the long term. The problem seems to be that children who are punished for bad behavior may be more likely to change their behavior only for external reasons, rather than internalizing the norms of being good for its own sake.
• Views about spanking have changed because it does lead to negative effects and mental health problems in children if used consistenly by parents or teachers.Physical discipline is slowly declining in schools and at home as well because of the adverse long lasting impacts it has on children.Physically hitting children is no more permitted.Many studies have shown that physical punishment including spanking, hitting and other means of causing pain can lead to increased aggression, antisocial behavior, physical injury and mental health problems for children.I do agree with this and very much against any kind of physical punishments for children.Physical punishment doesn’t work to get kids to comply, so parents think they have to keep escalating it. That is why it is so dangerous and that is why now slowly declining.
• A study published in Child Abuse and Neglect revealed an intergenerational cycle of violence in homes where physical punishment was used. Researchers interviewed parents and children age 3 to 7 from more than 100 families. Children who were physically punished were more likely to endorse hitting as a means of resolving their conflicts with peers and siblings. Parents who had experienced frequent physical punishment during their childhood were more likely to believe it was acceptable, and they frequently spanked their children. Their children, in turn, often believed spanking was an appropriate disciplinary method.