I can relate with your post and it reminds me of how my mom always starts this heart to heart conversation after punishing me. We would talk at length and it was very effective.
What worked for our parents definitely might not work for us and I like the idea that parents these days are doing everything possible to make their kids very confident. Beating won't solve every problem or teach discipline so we must be careful with teaching discipline.
Yeah... it varies from child to child, and how it's handled will definitely have a major bearing on the kind of adult they grow up to be.