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Corporal Punishment Is Nature Or Nurture?

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Nature versus nurture has long been debated, especially in psychological research. Are humans’ development preconceived by their genes, or developed during their life cycle from experiences? As time has pasts and many studies have been created, many scientists have put their input on whether nature, or nurture, has a major impact on shaping humans. Two psychologist, Aristotle and Plato, are two individuals who studied and argued this topic heavily. Plato thought that our character, intelligence, and certain ideas are inborn, while Aristotle contended that everything in the mind comes from our senses and the external world. (Myers & Dewall, 8) I strongly believe that while both may play a huge part in shaping us, nature has the most to do with …show more content…

Corporal punishment has been an integral part of how parents discipline their children throughout the history of the United States (Greven, 1991) and has been a focus of psychological research for decades (e.g., Caselles & Milner, 2000; Eron, Walder, Huesmann, & Lefkowitz, 1974; Glueck & Glueck, 1950; MacKinnon, 1938; J. McCord, 1988b; Sears, 1961; Straus, 1994a). With this study on children and corporal punishment from the parental figure, it is supposed to stop children from misbehaving immediately instead of constantly having to tell them and the child not learning. Although immediate response is the goal of this punishment, long- term moralizing behaviors is the main goal. With this punishment parents want the child to stop behaving immediately as well as remembering the punishment of what happens when they misbehave, then causing the child to keep the behavior away or controlled. The association between corporal punishment and children’s aggression is one of the most studied and debated findings in the child-rearing literature (Coie & Dodge, 1998; Steinmetz, 1979) Corporal punishment has been shown that it increases aggression in children and soon will cause criminal activity. When the child experiences the corporal punishment, in their future it may influence them to behave in the same manner as the parents did. This then can result in domestic violence situations in their

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