When kids are caught misbehaving why does the first reaction tend to be to think they need to be hit more?

With the recent viral video of a bus monitor being bullied mercilessly by middle school students, a dialogue has began again about “kids these days.” The inevitable conclusion of many, if not most, people seems to be that kids just really need to be beaten more and they will be better behaved. It seems counter-intuitive to me to try to teach kids not to bully people by bullying them. So why is it that the knee jerk reaction to these things always seems to be to want to hit kids more? Is there any proof from reputable source to show that hitting kids really makes them better behaved?