Implications of the use and misuse of physical punishment in the socialization and training of children is the subject of this discussion. This discussion deals primarily with the implications of the use by parents of physical pain as a child-rearing technique by which they attempt to implement their goals for their children, whether it be the acquisition of positive behaviors or the extinction of unacceptable or negative behaviors. An unfavorable view is taken of parental resort to physical punishment, based on a personal position and empirical psychological research. The personal reasons include: (1) the issue of the unfairness of an adult physically striking a child, (2) the issue of language, i.e. the reliance of humans on verbal means in the training of their young, and (3) the issue of intentionality, the deliberate infliction of physical pain. On the scientific level, three principal sources of empirical literature are drawn upon to support the position of opposition of physical punishment. The first relates to studies on the consequences of punishment in the context of child-rearing practices; the second relevant data sources are the experimental studies of the effects of punishment; and the third pertinent set of investigations are those studies relating inhibitory traits to other personality attributes, particularly aggression. (CK)