How Praise and Scolding Affect Children: An empirical study in Japan (Japanese)

A diverse range of publications and many papers concerned with childrearing focus on the ways in which parents talk to and respond to their children. They attach particular importance to the manner in which parents admonish children in response to problem behavior, and how they encourage them for exhibiting preferred behavior. In this paper, the authors focused on methods of reproach and praise understood to be applied by many Japanese parents in Japan. A survey targeting Japanese adults inquired into the influence of methods of reproach and praise experienced during childhood on level of self-determination and sense of security as adults. Additionally, the survey examined effects on the practice of thinking about matters from a long-term perspective and on ethical conduct. In behavioral economics, the practice of thinking about matters from a long-term perspective is related to the degree of hyperbolic discounting. If reward and punishment raise the degree of hyperbolic discounting, representing stronger awareness of gains in the near future over gains in the far future, then effects are also considered likely to appear in ethical conduct.