Word: behaviorism
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...exasperated and hit more," Straus says, although he notes that a recent Duke University study of low-income families found that toddlers' low mental ability did not predict an increase in spanking. (The study did find, however, that kids who were spanked at age 1 displayed more aggressive behavior by age 2 and scored lower on cognitive development tests by age 3.) "I believe the relationship [between corporal punishment and IQ] is probably bidirectional," says Straus. "There has to be something the kid is doing that's wrong that leads to corporal punishment. The problem is, when the parent does...
...problem with Straus' data is that some of the parents who tended to spank may also have been engaging in actual physical abuse of their children. Researchers define corporal punishment as physical force intended to cause pain - but not injury - for the purpose of correcting a child's behavior, not simply hurting him. Studies have shown that very few parents who use corporal punishment also beat their kids, but Straus can't rule out the possibility that his data are confounded by the presence of child abuse, which past research has shown to affect victims' development...
...give it away? In biology, we usually make a sharp distinction between why things evolved and why animals do things. For example, sex evolved for reproduction. But if you ask people why they have sex, reproduction is not always mentioned. So there's a separation between why the behavior evolved and why the actors actually engage in it. The same is true for altruistic tendencies. You share food with your kin. You share food with individuals who may repay the favor. So the sharing behavior evolved for self-interested reasons. But that doesn't mean that the individual actor...
...pleased with the Administration's move. But Michael Macleod-Ball, acting director of the American Civil Liberties Unions Washington legislative office, was more cautious, saying that President Obama had essentially mirrored President Bush's policy until Holder's announcement. "We're hopeful that this will change their behavior in court," he said, "but in and of itself, the declaration of this new policy doesnt change anything." (Read about Thomas Jefferson's Patriot...
...Iranian negotiators to discuss Iran's nuclear program, Sarkozy has played attack dog in chief, snarling impatiently that Tehran must be given deadlines to cooperate with international demands or else face tough consequences. Speaking at the U.N. on Thursday, Sarkozy noted there's been no change in Tehran's behavior despite dialogue with Iran and sanctions imposed since 2005. "Since then, there's only uranium enrichment, more centrifuges and - last but not least - a call by the leader of Iran to wipe a U.N. member nation [Israel] off the map," he said. "What are we going to do about...