Corporal punishment/peaceful parenting presentation in psych 101

[Mister Hugz]

Hello there!

 

I wanted to share with y'all some of the research findings I came across whilst putting together a corporal punishment speech for my Psych 101 class.

 

Also, if you are interested in my presentation experience:

 

I read the presentation verbatim, but when it came to question time at the end of the speech, a flood of anxiety pulsed through my body.. The first question was 'why did you choose this topic?' I then thought to myself "good question! it seems i have misplaced my prefabricated response..." as I stared at the ground. I then answered with ' well I was spanked and this information Is super helpful to me. I want to help you out, especially if any of you want to become parents or are parents. Also, I am in therapy and this helped me to understand my fight or flight responses to a lot of things.' After this interaction I felt really nervous and had a hard time staying focused. The next person asked "Why do you think people tend to parent their children like they were parented?" I actually don't remember exactly what I said other than that it is a biological imperative for children to do what their parents do and something about genetics. The only thing I remember after that was that the same person asked another question and I didn't understand the question. I gave a head nod and said blankly "that's good" then walked back to my seat. My inner mom/critic has come up for me a lot in the days following the speech, which has given me some good material to bring into therapy. I would like to add that I am aware that the reason I am posting this is due to a compulsion or feeling to try to gain external validation. None the less, I hope it helps!

 

P.s. I added 2 extra studies. 1 was the Harsh Corporal Punishment-Gray matter... 2 was Gene and gender environment interplay

 

 

 

 

Spanking&Aggression-Pediatrics-2010-Taylor-415-24.pdf

Spanking as Discipline PSYCH-101.doc

Spanking and Childhood agression - Gene and Gender environment interplay2011.pdf

diminishment of gray matter with HCP-2009.pdf

CorporalPunishment-Cognitive abiltiy-Longitudinal- 2 representative age groups 2009.pdf

corporal punishment study-NewZealand 2009.pdf

1- Maternal warmth, spanking and agression- Gershoff- Study2013.pdf

[dsayers]

It takes courage to risk your own social acceptance to talk down a common, yet harmful narrative. Good for you!

 

I don't know if this will help at all, but don't forget that "I don't know" is a perfectly valid answer. I know I have an easier time answering questions while keeping that in mind. If you say 2+2=4, you don't have to also be able to find the area under a curve in order for 2+2=4 to be true. I know when I first approached the idea of anarchy for example, having it pointed out to me that nobody can have all the answers and it's actually a red flag when somebody claims to for this reason made it easier to accept.

 

I thought the "why people parent the way they were" question was uninformed. If a person hasn't learned deferral of gratification for example in obese people, they wouldn't even think to question it, or necessarily understand how it's harmful and therefore not something to pass onto a child. Also, in the context of abuse, it's common not to process child abuse because as you mentioned, there's a biological imperative for the child to conform to the parent for survival's sake. If they normalize, internalize, or repress the trauma instead, it's going to come out when they are the ones parenting. In other words, it's easy to perpetuate; it takes exposure to contrasting ideas and a lot of difficult work to break the cycle. This exposure is exactly why it's so important that we continue to speak out just as you have, as well as even intervene when we see children being aggressed against. They need to be exposed to competing ideas so that at some point, they will question that which they just accept as normal and above reproach.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[mahayana]

I was just looking for studies like these a few days ago & didn't come up with much. These are amazing! I admire your ability to give this presentation in front of a classroom. Having to give a classroom speech would trigger so much stress & anxiety for me that I would sometimes opt for a lower grade rather than face my fear. Good for you for having the courage to do it. Thank you so much for sharing!
 

[Mister Hugz]

Thank you dsayers, I appreciate the support! 

 

I will have to say that "I don't know" was not in my mind as an answer. I think the pressure to come up with something that sounded well thought out and compelling only served to exacerbate the feelings of anxiety. When I see a public speaker who has the ability to say "I am not sure", or "I dont know", I tend to feel like I can trust what they are saying. I will try to remind myself to stay grounded in the fact that I don't have all the answers next time. 

 

 

I thought the "why people parent the way they were" question was uninformed. If a person hasn't learned deferral of gratification for example in obese people, they wouldn't even think to question it, or necessarily understand how it's harmful and therefore not something to pass onto a child. Also, in the context of abuse, it's common not to process child abuse because as you mentioned, there's a biological imperative for the child to conform to the parent for survival's sake. If they normalize, internalize, or repress the trauma instead, it's going to come out when they are the ones parenting. In other words, it's easy to perpetuate; it takes exposure to contrasting ideas and a lot of difficult work to break the cycle. This exposure is exactly why it's so important that we continue to speak out just as you have, as well as even intervene when we see children being aggressed against. They need to be exposed to competing ideas so that at some point, they will question that which they just accept as normal and above reproach.

 

Well said sir!  I felt the room go kind of cold after my exit from the stage. I think this perspective->  "In other words, it's easy to perpetuate; it takes exposure to contrasting ideas and a lot of difficult work to break the cycle", would have helped the audience feel like I understand depth and challenging nature of what I am saying. 

 

Again, thank you for your thoughtful reply!

[Mister Hugz]

My pleasure, mahayana!

 

I was quite  tempted to weld my butt to my desk chair when the teacher said "next!". It feels good to hear that my post helps. If you would like more material on the subject I recommend this comprehensive review of over 200 studies. http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/research/impact-corporal-punishment.html

[TheSchoolofAthens]

That sounds like a very good presentation. I will take a look at the resources you provided, thank you for attaching them here as I look forward to reading them!

I totally understand how nerve-racking it can be to share facts and ideas that conflict with how we were treated, or how many people were treated and continue to treat others. Good on you for doing this presentation and taking the opportunity to spread rationality and morality.


 

[Mister Hugz]

Mr.Athens and you are quite welcome!

 

I want to be clear on my communication of philosophy during the presentation. I essentially used an argument from effect after I provided the evidence. I said "If they found a substance in baby formula which caused lower IQ, higher risk of depression, and alcoholism, there would be a near overnight change in the industry." I felt that the evidence I was providing was overwhelming the audience (sorrowful thousand yard stares across the room and blank stares). This made me feel the need to go easy, and maintain the 'palatability'  of the presentation, if that makes any sense. I avoided the argument from morality in hopes that the information wouldn't be bomb in the brain style smacked down only to harden the defenses. I approached it more like 'here guys I stumbled across some startling information, I hope it helps you'. After the presentation I struggled with some pretty heavy self criticism about my avoidance of the moral argument. The evidence the audience was showing (see above) helped to alleviate that criticism and the idea that philosophy isn't a rule book to beat myself up with was helpful as well. 

 

Thank you for your support 

[TheSchoolofAthens]

I understand what you are saying, you basically gave them the objective reality and said "well here is the evidence...probably shouldn't do that right?" instead of saying "First of all, if you spank your child you are acting immorally." Even though you'd be right to say the latter, the former is welcoming to introspection and thinking.

I found something interesting in the first PDF called "Physical Punishment and Childhood Aggression: The Role
of Gender and Gene–Environment Interplay"

Here it is:
"Child’s race. In order to limit the potential for
confounded results, this study also included a measure
of race in the analyses. The child’s race was measured
using information gleaned from the birth certificate
and was coded so that 0 5 non-white and 1 5 white."

I find it so odd that so many people think and work in the terms of "white" and "non-white." As if Asians and all the different types of Asians are the same as all the different types of Blacks and Hispanics and other races combined. It's just white people and colored people? I'd like to see more specific results about the different races. I know it would be a lot more work though. But it's a really detailed PDF, I am enjoying reading through it and seeing their study process. Great read for sure.