The Effect of Self-Relevance on Judgments of Moderate and Severe Disciplinary Encounters

This study investigated the effects of discipline experienced as a child on the adult's perceptions of the severity, deservedness, and appropriateness of disciplinary actions. Clinical observation suggests that individuals abused as children are more likely to label severe physical discipline as deserved, appropriate, and perhaps even beneficial. To test this hypothesis, participants read descriptions of a child's behavior and the parent's response. Those who had experienced similar parental treatment judged the discipline less harshly and held the child more accountable than those without similar experiences. The results generalized to moderate emotional and physical discipline and to severe physical techniques. The implications of these results for the cyclical hypothesis of child abuse are discussed.