The authors used preservice teachers' (N = 172) reports of their childhood experiences involving reward and punishment within their families to identify ideal perceptions of direct or indirect teaching style. The most consistent relationship of childhood experience with reward and punishment and perceived teaching style was between the reward inventory and indirect scores. High reward scores were associated with indirect style. High punishment scores tended to relate to direct style; however, these correlations were not significant. Also, other variables that may relate to punishment, reward, and teaching style were examined; that is, age, gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. Relationships among teaching-style categories with several variables were significant. Gender (males) and low reward contributed to perceptions of a direct teaching style. Highly rewarded students, older students, and gender (females) contributed to perceptions of indirect teaching style. Family income, age, and ethnicity were associated with reward. The author explored implications of these findings for preservice teacher training.Key words: direct or indirect teaching style, preservice teacher training, reward and punishment