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The Effect of Praise, Positive Nonverbal Response, Reprimand, and Negative Nonverbal Response on Child Compliance: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

Lack of compliance has both short- and long-term costs and is a leading reason why parents seek mental health services for children. What parents do to help children comply with directives or rules is an important part of child socialization. The current review examines the relationship between a variety of parenting discipline behaviors (i.e., praise, positive nonverbal response, reprimand, negative nonverbal response) and child compliance. Forty-one studies of children ranging in age from 1½ to 11 years were reviewed. Reprimand and negative nonverbal responses consistently resulted in greater compliance. Praise and positive nonverbal responses resulted in mixed child outcomes. The findings are discussed based on theory and populations studied. The authors propose a mechanism that may increase children’s sensitivity to both positive and negative behavioral contingencies.

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Notes

  1. Furthermore, a debate about the use of physical punishment in promoting child compliance has raged on in conjunction with the dispute over the relative effectiveness of rewards and punishments. Larzelere has published two major reviews of the literature on physical versus non-physical punishment (Larzelere 2000; Larzelere and Kuhn 2005). This review specifically excludes physical punishment; however, Larzelere’s position that negative consequences, and not positive consequences, are necessary to immediately decrease noncompliance is clearly relevant to the current review.

  2. Much research has been done on the effects of praise and reward on self-directed (intrinsically motivated) behavior. A few meta-analyses of the research (see Deci et al. 1999) have found that tangible rewards had an undermining effect on intrinsic motivation and that praise had a positive effect on interest in a task, but not on free choice behavior for children. Intrinsic motivation differs from compliance in that (a) intrinsic motivation is self-directed (based on an internal set of rules or desires), whereas compliance is other-directed (based on external stimuli); (b) intrinsic motivation focuses on what the child chooses to do; whereas compliance focuses on what others try to get the child to do; and (c) intrinsic motivation has been studied with the independent variables of tangible rewards and verbal rewards, whereas compliance has been studied (in this review) with the independent variables of tangible and intangible rewards combined into one category and verbal rewards. Thus, the outcomes of meta-analyses of the effects of praise and rewards on intrinsic motivation do not necessarily relate directly to the effects of praise and reward on compliance.

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Author notes

  1. Daniela J. Owen

    Present address: San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy, 5435 College Ave., Suite 104, Oakland, CA, 94618, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Daniela J. Owen, Amy M. S. Slep & Richard E. Heyman

  2. New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Amy M. S. Slep & Richard E. Heyman

Authors
  1. Daniela J. Owen
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  2. Amy M. S. Slep
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  3. Richard E. Heyman
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Correspondence to Daniela J. Owen.

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Owen, D.J., Slep, A.M.S. & Heyman, R.E. The Effect of Praise, Positive Nonverbal Response, Reprimand, and Negative Nonverbal Response on Child Compliance: A Systematic Review. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 15, 364–385 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-012-0120-0

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