effect on the child's behavior. Such children tend to become withdrawn and indifferent. Feelings of rejection by the parent are projected onto social relationships. The child may even internalize the belief that authoritarian control measures "work," and thus use this type of behavior with their peers.
According to William Glasser, author of Choice Theory, authoritarian parenting would be classified as "external control psychology" External control psychology encourages relationships in which people with power destroy the personal freedom of the powerless. Those in power, and this ranges from government officials to spouses to parents, operate on the theory that they know what is right and it is their moral obligation to coerce others to conform. External control psychology "is the psychology of our ancestors, our parents, and grandparents, of our teachers and leaders, of almost all the people we know or know about" (Glasser, 1998, p. 6).
When those in power are dissatisfied with someone, they try to "stimulate" that person to change. And they waste a great deal of time and energy trying to do this. When they discover how hard it is to change another person they begin to blame the other person for the failure. From blaming, it is a very short step to punishing. A whole range of coercive behaviors is developed, aimed at punishing the other person for being so obstinate: "In an external control world, the system is naturally coercive. When it fails, as it is failing in marriages, families, schools, and workplaces, we use more coercion and focus on fixing the people" (Glasser, 1998, p. 12). In contrast, choice theory empowers human beings by maximizing personal freedom. Parents who use choice theory teach their children that life is not fair and that they sometimes must compromise their wants to establish strong relationships. The person who uses choice theory continually asks himself or herself whether their acti...