Physical punishment is a commonly used parenting method in the United States—over 70% of parents utilize this technique for directing the behavior of children. It is so common and believed to be so necessary that parents who do not strike their children are sometimes chastised (the old adage is “spare the rod and spoil the child”).

Corporal punishment (as it is sometimes called) of children is likely something relatively new in our evolutionary history given observations of modern hunter-gatherers found it to be extremely rare (and these observations are suggestive that our Paleolithic ancestors may not have used this method).  It is very often the case that new social behaviors are harmful to the humans that experience them, especially later in life when the accumulations of various traumas impact health.  And even though there is evidence that physical punishment harms the developmental progress of children that are subjected to it, it is still widely used and widely supported by parents.