Reward or Punishment as an Ubringing Metod in the Opinion of Parents of Children at the Preschool Age

For centuries the process of upbringing has been based on two basic methods which are: reward and punishment. Most often in dealing with children we are guided by intuition, using rewards and punishments used by our parents.... [ view full abstract ]

For centuries the process of upbringing has been based on two basic methods which are: reward and punishment. Most often in dealing with children we are guided by intuition, using rewards and punishments used by our parents. They are used mainly to induce changes in child’s behaviour. Nowadays, experts on upbringing emphasize that praising and rewarding is much more important than punishing. There are also voices saying that punishment and reward are actually two sides of the same coin, and indeed - from the point of view of psychology punishment and reward work by the same mechanism. At present, some papers can also be read that do not allow the use of corporal punishment eg. beating or slapping.

Nowadays, should rewards and punishments be used by parents in the upbringing of their own children? This question was asked to respondents who are parents of children in preschool age, people between the ages of 20-40 years old. The study was conducted in Poland in the years 2016 and 2017. Place of research is Pomorskie Voivodship.

     Key words: reward, punishment