Parental discipline as affected by the sex of the parent, the sex of the child, and the child's apparent responsiveness to discipline.

40 parents (mean age 31 yrs) were made to believe they were teaching their children (mean age 55.7 mo) a task by selecting rewarding and punishing consequences for the children's successes and errors. The children actually had been separated from their parents, and their "responding" was electromechanically controlled. Initially, responses were 50% successful on the trials, independent of their parents' disciplinary strategies. Next, successes were manipulated to be contingent on parents' selection of high, and later low, levels of punishment following errors. Finally, no successful responses were given regardless of parents' administration of discipline. The children's simulated responding was found to exert functional control over the intensities of punishments that their parents administered. Furthermore, parents' and children's gender and the children's apparent responsiveness to the parents' disciplinary strategies combined to determine the manner in which punishers and rewards were given by the parents. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)