I've read this thread, I and I tried thinking back to my on childhood. I can honestly say I can't remember my parents ever hitting me. I can remember my Dad raising his hand, but not hitting me. I also remember being upset about it, but more from the fact that I had done something that had angered my father, rather than the threat of pain, and that what I done wrong had let him down, which is probably more powerful than any smack.
I don't have kids of my own (although I do have nephew and niece, who mean more to me than anything), but what I have seen of other parents and their children, it seems to me that most children prone to bad temper tantrums, and generally being naughty are the ones that don't get enough attention from their parents. All children want attention, and for some children the only way to get it is to do something naughty.
There was a survey the other year that looked at the relationship between children and their parents, and the way that they grew up. It found that children who would often 'playfight' (rather tickle fight, blowing raspberries on bellys etc :D ) with their parents, where also the children who where least likely to be violent in later life. They grow up knowing they are loved, and don't need to do anything to get attention, they're secure in themselves and feel no need to lash out.