Evening star., 1933-07-02


BY MARJORIE VAN DE WATER.
OBBY has been playing with the matches
x Edna has grown jealous Of the baby
and in Q ft of temper dumped him out
of his carriage!
Sweet little Ruth has learned to swear!
George has joined the neighbor boys in peg
ging stones at passing automobiles! Such hor-
rifying situations and others that make mothers
grow gray are constantly recurring problems
in any household where there are growing.
active children.
What should be done about it? Is the old
fashioned spanking the best remedy. or can
psychologists offer some better method Of In
struction- that will be more successful than
the means resorted to in the past?
Psychologists are divided In their viewpoints
regarding the place Of both reward and pun
ishment In learning.
Unfortunately for scientific accuracy, it Is not
expedient to conduct a laboratory experiment
with spanked and completely unspanked in
fants. In such experiments as have been con-
Quoted to find out the effect of punishment in
learning, the psychologists have been careful
to select punishment that didn't really hurt.
E
DARENTS, and children. too, will doubt seri-
ously whether such punishments really
punish They raise the question, also, as to
whether punishn1ents delivered cooily and i'm
personally IN the laboratory would have the
same effect as the chastisement administered IN
the heat Of parental evaporation
Yet, despite these handcaps. psychologists
do have some valuable suggestions to offer
which may be an aid to parents and teachers
in dealing with naughtineSs Of youngsters and
In training them up in the way they should 60.
Punishment as a matter of retaliation for
wrong-doing Is generally decried as being more
savage than civilized and having little value
in educating or civilzing the young. Unless
the punishment is for the purpose Of teaching
the child it should be avoided: psychologists
and parents agree on this point
Hence punishment should be administered
without anger, II that is possible At any rate.
the parent should make an effort to preserve
the self-control she or he is trying to inspire
in the child.
punishment is true aid or incentive to learning.
One theory Of how learning takes place has
had a great effect on education in this country,
and has tended to emphasize the value of re-
ward and punishment in teaching. This is the
theory developed by DR.. Edward L. Thorndike
Of Columbia University, published many years
ago. It Is known to scientists as the law of
effect
Learning Dr. Thorndike holds takes place
because Of the reward achieved by it-forget-
ting because Of some dissatisfaction or punish
ment.
Many learning experiments have made use
of rats. The rats are placed in a box contain
ing several passages. If the rat takes the right
path he reaches the food which is his reward.
II he takes the other path he meets instead
2 disagreeable but harmless electric shock.
At first mere chance decides which path the
rat will take. But after awhile the wrong
turns are gradually eliminated and the rat
finds his way directly to the cheese. What
has happened? DR.. Thorndike says that the
reward stamps in" the memory of the act
to which it is attached.
In much the same manner. the child viii
learn the right answers in school, or the ap-
proved behavior in company, or the best way
to play q game.
The emphasis, however, should be placed
ON the reward for correct actions rather on
the punishment for wrong doing, he warns.
For reward Is much more powerful than
punishment.