The Nurture Effect: How the Science of Human Behavior Can Improve Our Lives and Our World

by Anthony Biglan, Steven C. Hayes (Foreword), David Sloan Wilson (Afterword)

A fascinating look at the evolution of behavioral science, the revolutionary way it’s changing the way we live, and how nurturing environments can increase people’s well-being in virtually every aspect of our society, from early childhood education to corporate practices. If you want to know how you can help create a better world, read this book.

What if there were a way to prevent criminal behavior, mental illness, drug abuse, poverty, and violence? Written by behavioral scientist Tony Biglan, and based on his ongoing research at the Oregon Research Institute, The Nurture Effect offers evidence-based interventions that can prevent many of the psychological and behavioral problems that plague our society.

For decades, behavioral scientists have investigated the role our environment plays in shaping who we are, and their research shows that we now have the power within our own hands to reduce violence, improve cognitive development in our children, increase levels of education and income, and even prevent future criminal behaviors. By cultivating a positive environment in all aspects of society—from the home, to the classroom, and beyond—we can ensure that young people arrive at adulthood with the skills, interests, assets, and habits needed to live healthy, happy, and productive lives.

The Nurture Effect details over forty years of research in the behavioral sciences, as well as the author’s own research. Biglan illustrates how his findings lay the framework for a model of societal change that has the potential to reverberate through all environments within society.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Politics, Audiobook, Health, Self Help

272 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2015

About the author

Anthony Biglan, Ph.D. is a Senior Scientist at Oregon Research Institute and the Co-Director of the Promise Neighborhood Research Consortium. He has been conducting research on the development and prevention of child and adolescent problem behavior for the past 30 years. His work has included studies of the risk and protective factors associated with tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use; high-risk sexual behavior; and antisocial behavior. He has conducted numerous experimental evaluations of interventions to prevent tobacco use both through school-based programs and community-wide interventions. And, he has evaluated interventions to prevent high-risk sexual behavior, antisocial behavior, and reading failure.

In recent years, his work has shifted to more comprehensive interventions that have the potential to prevent the entire range of child and adolescent problems. He and colleagues at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences published a book summarizing the epidemiology, cost, etiology, prevention, and treatment of youth with multiple problems (Biglan et al., 2004). He is a former president of the Society for Prevention Research. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Prevention, which recently released its report documenting numerous evidence-based preventive interventions that can prevent multiple problems. As a member of Oregon’s Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission, he has helped to develop a strategic plan for implementing comprehensive evidence-based interventions throughout Oregon.

Reviews

[Serith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate being that skeptical reader (especially with scientific books; it's always good to keep an open mind), but this got me into debate mode.

While I understand the message and can see what the author is trying to achieve, this writing dripped of ego right from the start. “I can solve all mental health problems” is a big promise to make, especially when you assume that people ‘act’ depressed because it’s rewarded.

Yup. This author implied depression is a learned behavior. As if it’s performative.

The example they used was a husband and wife fighting; she cries and he stops yelling because he feels bad. She is a rewarded by his restraint and continues her depression (allegedly).

…But what about the other guy over there who gets annoyed when she cries? What about that girl who is hides her depression with a smile so nobody knows? These people are not being coddled, so where are the rewards? What sparked this episode to begin with? Are you seriously trying to tell me crumbs of sympathy are worth the mental anguish of depression? When it's debilitating there are NO pros, only cons.

While I’m sure some people like this exist, it’s a HUGE generalization to make and it neglects the negativity that comes with the mental health stigmas.

So no. Sorry dude, but I don’t think giving me a cookie for plastering a smile will cure depression. And I don’t appreciate the gaslighting.

It’s been hard to read past this point because he treats this all as hard facts when he’s a cherry-picking cases that suits his theory. There are good nuggets of knowledge in here, but I just can’t trust his limited focus.

[Leo Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas that will work and create an America that is more effective, dynamic and prosperous. Problem is, I'm jaded. I doubt these Enlightenment ideals will ever come to pass in America. Mostly due to the unholy coalition that's been leading the country since the 90's that's decidedly anti-fact, anti-science and overtly hostile and aggressive.

The intolerant, uber-dogmatic Religious Right won't hear of it. The presence of alt-right neo-fascists and racists too pervasive. And the post-Citizens United 1 percenters and their corporate minions will fight any attempt to have taxes raised on them. And take bail-out money, protecting them from the down-sides of their "Free Market" failures. While offloading them on the rest of us. And then buying governments that cut supports that will help working Americans. These officials weaken the Safety Net and unions, creating climates beneficial to the wealthy and harmful to the rest of us.

To quote the most dogmatic and least qualified President America's ever had, and that those forces of Authoritarian intolerance elected, "Sad."

Still, though its a pipe-dream, four-stars. Because the recommendations are good policy. Rational. And very humane. Perhaps the next generation will be better at Democracy than the Boomers and Gen-Xers. This Xer's hoping...

[Hákon Gunnarsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book, but some of it was probably too technical for me as I don’t have that much prior knowledge of behavioral science. As this is not my field of expertise I can’t prove it, but I have a feeling that he may occasionally make too broad a claim about the extend this can be of use. I may be totally off the mark here. It’s just a feeling I had a couple of times during this read.

But for most parts I thought it was a very interesting theory, and I’m sure it can be of very much use in many ways. He does back everything up with, what seems like, credible scientific experiments. In principle, I think this can probably be of much use in many situations. It would at least be worth giving it a chance.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

NURTURE. NURTURE. NURTURE. One of the best books explaining why a nurturing environment is NECESSARY, what trajectory lives can take if an individual's environment is anything but nurturing, why you should care, and what can you do whether at an individual, community, or policy level. Poverty. Inequality. Abuse. Neglect. Neglect. Abuse. Poverty. Inequality. Inequality. Abuse. Neglect. Poverty. How does one break the cycle? What can WE do to stop that cycle? Read this book. There is tons of research on science of behaviour and its application. Lots of references to some really good work happening out there.
Science of behaviour can save the world. But then I am biased. Maybe you should read the book?

[John Mcjohnnyman · Rating 2 out of 5]

It would be challenging to find many who disagree with the book's point: rewarding prosocial, noncoercive behaviors and fostering a nurturing environment yields significant benefits. This knowledge is now deeply ingrained in our culture. It is evident in how people train their pets, how mildly informed adults parent their children, and how schools now attempt to discipline. My frustration lies in how little the book addresses the challenges involved in scaling up study results and how naive he often sounds. Biglan overlooks the possibility that study outcomes may not translate to real-world applications. There is no discussion of alternative perspectives, criticisms, drawbacks, or potential pitfalls!

Fortunately, reading the book a decade after publication allowed me to look up several programs and found that things did not go as planned. One example was his prediction that by implementing the Good Behavior Game in Baltimore schools the rates of harassment, bullying, crime, depression, drug abuse, and academic failure "will decline dramatically."

Welp, the results are in. A 2024 report about Baltimore schools stated, "Behavioral issues and violent incidents have increased dramatically over the last few years." In some cases, this forced schools to revise their discipline strategies to become more punitive. The idea that all this energy devoted to researching, training, funding, planning, and district-wide implementation could focus on this, only to have the problem get worse (WORSE!!??), is beyond discouraging. However, it is not surprising. This is the critical challenge that warrants attention but is ignored by the author. See Common Core for a very similar theory-to-classroom story of failure. One teacher working in the program summed up the concerns of several educators on a thread about their experiences: "It rewards bad kids for doing the bare minimum of what is expected, and not the well-behaved kids."
Nevertheless, the Good Behavior Game website still to this day lists the Baltimore trail, emphasis on trial, as its main success story. Ridiculous.

There are positives about the book that other reviewers have captured, but the pervasive idealism was extremely bothersome to me and hard to ignore unless one has a very unworldly view of life. This culminates in Part 4, where it becomes clear that the author believes the sole obstacle to utopia is funding and political will, as opposed to the intricate web of trade-offs and complexity involved in using bureaucracy to solve difficult problems.

[Morgan Blackledge · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a small but growing group of psyquants and clinicians who are propagating a new and improved version of B. F. Skinners movement towards a mature science of effective behavioral analysis, prediction and yes, control.

Verbal Behavior was Skinners book positing a behavioral theory of language acquisition that Noam Chomsky famously trashed, essentially signaling the end of Skinners iron grip on American experimental psychology and the beginning of the cognitive revolution.

For a decade or so, Verbal Behavior was so maligned by the scientific community that it was pretty much radioactive.

But it appears that a baby or two may have gotten flushed with the radioactive effluvium.

One of the most balls out moves the Neo-Skinariean aka Functional Contextualists made was to revisit the nuclear wasteland that was Skinners work on Verbal Behavior and see what they could salvage.

The outcome of the Post-Skinariean reexamination of language from the behaviorist perspective was what eventually became Relational Frame Theory (RFT).

You literally have to be an autistic savant in order to understand RFT. But suffice it to say, it's powerful stuff and it eventually became the backend engine of Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT).

ACT is one of the mindfulness based psychotherapy modalities (known as the third wave of behaviorism) that, along with Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is revolutionizing psychotherapy.

This book, The Nurture Effect: How the Science of Human Behavior Can Improve Our Lives and Our World by Anthony Biglan appears to be a post-Skinerian redux of Skinners vision of behaviorist principals implemented on a macro scale as initially posited in Skinners utopian Walden II.

Although it appears to be marketed to a general audience, I honestly can't see the book being of high value to a popular audience.

This one is pretty much for behaviorist dorks, therapists, social workers and policy makers only.

I'm pretty sure almost everyone else would find it pretty boring.

Consider yourself warned.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent, readable work on tested behavioral science practices that can reduce negative behaviors and increase positive, affirming ones. The core thesis is that the oft-practiced punitive, coercive methods only reinforce negative behaviors. These methods come from evolutionary needs to protect tribal and family boundaries, but in the long-run work to break down civil society. Instead what we need today are methods that reinforce nurturing and pro-social behaviors.

The book discusses how both negative and positive practices appear in families, in schools, and in adult lives. Various social and economic factors that contribute to both sides are discussed. Numerous suggestions for how we can move forward toward a nurturing world are presented in the final chapter.

(Chapter by chapter summaries provided by clicking on the Review link.)

(This review is based on ARC supplied through NetGalley by the publisher.)

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Free from SelectBooks | Preaching to the choir with me, but still somehow off-putting | This is basically a book about how things I already believe and try to implement in my life are backed up by research, so I'm certainly not going to argue with the contents. That said, I found that I just didn't *like* the author, which made him difficult to read for long. He came across as kind of an insufferable person, and his "imagine what it would be like to live in poverty", as if nobody reading the book could have experienced it, was part and parcel with a general paternal air. I didn't care for his snide comments throughout the section on schools and while I’m not an educator, he was unfair in labeling them as ‘uninterested in empirical research’ when what I’ve seen is that educators are well aware that a technique that helps, say, 79% of students do better in ten years still means a classroom today where nobody can learn, and means letting 21% of students down, and they feel it’s not good enough. Those complaints aside, if you want to know legitimate ways to actively improve all sections of our society, both in function and in expense, this lays it out.
Note that the more that time passes since publication, the more the book feels outdated, even though the basics of how beneficial nurturing behavior is don't change. So many studies quoted 2001, 2007, 2009. Budgets and expenses and cost-benefit ratios from 2004, 2008, 2011. These are 15-20 years old now. The book was published in the Obama administration. It was a different world and feels like it.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh

[Wendy Lu · Rating 2 out of 5]

had some interesting/useful bits, but the author's uncontested use of terms like “prosocial,” “delinquent,” “deviant,” “healthful,” and “virtuous" etc felt super uncomfortable at times. also the fact that this is targeted at middle class white people feels painfully obvious, which i mean - its fine to have a targeted audience, but i'm just not super thrilled about books where the author asks you to "imagine being poor" or says that they "felt a bit like a persecuted minority" for championing less popular beliefs in their field of study.

[Molly Dunbar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, cogent, and very informative. he is my hero a little bit. the spokesperson behaviorism has long needed.

[K.A. Ashcomb · Rating 3 out of 5]

More self-help books and pop-science. Nurture Effect is about how nurturing can affect our family life, environment, how we live and increase the well-being of society. The book is written from a behavioral psychology perspective. How rewarding good behavior is a better way to get the desired outcome. How aggression and spiteful speech transfer into children, causing depression and anger plus all other sorts of bad behavior. I agree rewards are better motivators than punishment. However, I didn't see Biglan mentioning that rewarding say like a drawing activity can take away interest by putting value and pressure for the activity. This might cause children to lose their interest and joy of the act. I gave the example is to point that the book didn't address the criticism this line of thinking has received. This book was a praise for behavioral psychology and to the writer's own nurture hypothesis. That said, I'm not saying that this style of psychology is at the wrong or has no merit. I'm trying to point out that the argumentation was one-sided. It also could have been tighter and coherent. There was too much repetition. And the writer took argumentative leaps on several occasions.

Now that I have gotten my complaints out, I can say Anthony Biglan made several good points about how to handle children, why some societal factors influence families and their behavior thus affecting the society's well-being. We are not individual units floating in the sea of resources. Our well-being ripples through to others and so on goes the waves. I especially liked his argumentation how poverty is bad for society as a whole, but this is due to the fact that this confirms my own beliefs. You should form your own opinion based on fast and diverse research. As I see it, the poverty index is a great indicator of how societies value those less fortunate and what values are generally held important thus affecting the mood, health, and consensus and coherence of the society. Not to mention crime, suicide, and drug abuse rates. The side effects of an ill economy where wealth is distributed unequally.

I usually say any book is worth reading, I'm wavering here. Nurture Effect has flaws, but it has a point (also a clear agenda and if that bothers you, you might want to skip this one.) I don't regret reading it, I'm glad I did. So I would say read a page or two and then decide what to do.

Thank you for reading!

[Dolly]

Social Darwinism...

Notes from his discussion at the National Book Festival at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on 31 August 2019 (quotes are paraphrased and not necessarily verbatim):

Evolutionary theories, even Darwin's, have been twisted and used for self-serving and misanthropic purposes. Indeed, anything that has been developed as a tool can also be used as a weapon.

Selfishness beats altruism on an individual level, but altruistic groups will succeed against groups of selfish individuals.

Darwin's theories have led to the concept that we need to work toward a framework of ethics for the whole world.

So much social and intellectual development is fostered by play and by touch. Today's societies, especially Western cultures are really inhibiting children's opportunities to play and to touch one another.

Any concept that involves the three essential processes of xxx, xxxx, and replication will be affected by evolution. If we're going to have an evolutionary biology incorporating technology, with humans wired on a global scale, we are going to have to have some consensus on how it is to be done.

"We should be spending all of our attention on trying to do well by our own planet."

If we're going to do something for the benefit of everyone, we are also going to have to have certain individuals expending considerable efforts and resources. If we can share the costs and share in the effort, it can benefit us all.

Two things that don't work and one that does:
1. Socialized planning: inefficient and discouraged taking chances and innovation
2. Laissez-faire: results in an unfair distribution, discrimination, and ruthless competition.

Only thing that works: deliberative process that tries different practices in different communities and experiments in a humbling, self-aware way that understands that we don't have all the answers and that one approach, one solution is not going to work for everyone.

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

English: Anthony Biglan's book is an interesting piece of work, showing us how behavioral science can be used to create environments that foster growth and health. Biglan begins showing us how coercive control is at the bottom of many of our noxious ways of relating and how it can lead to a development of a series of problems influencing human beings over the course of their lifespan.

Although I'm skeptical of all the points that Biglan does throughout his work, It's very interesting - not to say, amazing - how one can see that behavioral science is a rich and interesting field, showing a lot of promise in providing an answer to many of our contemporary issues. It's refreshing to see someone proving that behaviorism is still as relevant as ever and that it's not a dull and reductionist field of knowledge like many of us hear in universities.

Portuguese: Este livro de Biglan é bastante interessante e mostra como pode a ciência comportamental contribuir para o desenvolvimento de contextos que fomentem o desenvolvimento, a saúde e o bem estar. Biglan mostra nos como o controlo coercivo está na base de muitas das nossas formas tóxicas de relacionamento interpessoal, explicando como podem levar ao desenvolvimento de problemas ao longo do ciclo vital dos seres humanos.

Embora eu seja céptico relativamente a alguns dos pontos que Biglan defende ao longo do seu trabalho, é muito interessante - se não, fantástico - como é possível ver que a ciência comportamental é um campo do saber bastante rico e fascinante, que revela muito potencial para dar uma resposta adequada à muitos dos problemas da nossa contemporaneidade. É uma lufada de ar fresco ver alguém provar que o behaviorismo é tão relevante agora como antes, e não que é um campo do saber obtuso e reducionista, como se faz passar em muitas universidades.

[Petros · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it was my fault for having different expectations and needs. Maybe the book is just not for me. My problem is I don't get who this book is for, except if it is for funders. This book is addressed to everyone and no-one. It's more of a pitch for behavioural science so it can get more attention and funding than anything else. A lot of dry headlines from research in the field, a lot of the same arguments repeated over and over, a lot of focus on economic impact, and little information on concrete useful steps one can take. Guidance is at a very high level, showing it's coming from an academic. The book wants to convince you to seek out people and programmes to help you being more nurturing, but offers little of help itself. It oversimplifies complicated social and legal decisions and shows little empathy for the people involved (which is ironic as the author advocates empathy in our society but demonstrates little of it). Some suggestions are of the pattern "this is bad so you should just not do it", ignoring how much effort of personal development and transformation is required to achieve such change in behaviour. In another example, the author suggests the idea of legislation against advertising of unhealthy food. However, science on that is still immature and growing. It's not clear who will decide what constitutes "healthy" (smoking used to be considered healthy!), how lobbying will affect these decisions, and how this kind of legislation can be exploited against freedom of speech and to manipulate the market. There are a few gems of good information here and there, particularly in the first part.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was much looking forward to reading this book since it was praised in David Sloan Wilson's book 'This View of Life' which I thoroughly enjoyed. Instead, I was massively disappointed.

It reads as a somewhat weird attempt to include a lot of potentially successful examples under the umbrella of behaviourism. The main examples (e.g. tobacco) have been used in thousands of books before and references are mostly outdated - besides the claim that several hundreds studies have proven the effectiveness of behaviourist strategies.

In fact, it's interesting that Dr Biglan draws on 4-5 occasions on the work of Self-Determination Theory scholars such as Kasser, Sheldon and, of course, Ryan and Deci who first formulated SDT as a critique of Skinner's work. This could be the start of a much wider critique but I have a lot of respect for any author who put in a lot of time and effort so I'll leave it there.

It seems also worth saying that I don't disagree with his underlying aim. Not at all. I very much agree that we need to accelerate our efforts to move towards a more sustainable, inclusive etc society. But while the intention seems to be more than worthwhile, putting a behaviourist label to all of it seems, again, forced and, quite frankly, wrong.

Lastly, and this is more a personal opinion, the book didn't offer a good reading experience. Not only the writing style per se but also how the often very short subchapters were organised didn't help to get into a flow.

I hope others might have a better reading experience and find it more useful.

[lyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author describes the ways in which we can improve our world by creating nurturing environments, ones in which prosocial behavior is promoted using behavioral techniques. He provides many data-based examples of how this can be achieved within families, schools, therapeutic settings, political discourse, and the capitalist economic system, in need of reform. Throughout the book there is a sense of caring and compassion that is too often absent when academics write books for either an academic or a popular audience. The author, Dr. Anthony Biglan, supplies several compelling examples from his own life, which also humanizes the content.

The book often reads like one of Ralph Nader's books, but from a behavioral rather than Nader's largely legal outlook. At one point the author suggests that what we need is an umbrella organization to protect consumers from corporate excesses, but perhaps this already exists in the form of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization that Nader originally founded.

[Raleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important and well constructed vision for a new progressivism. This urges a political agenda organized around the empirically demonstrated benefits of a nurturing environment and the costs of its absence. Social harms you wish to mitigate can be understood in terms of their creating aversion and conflict. Programs you wish to see implemented can be evaluated in terms of their projected and actual perpetuation of nurturing. This book, along with Locked In by John Pfaff, has been added to my annual-reread list, as a nonprofit professional who wants to keep his eyes always on the proper target.

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book that summarizes the research around creating nurturing environments which can impact people. I was in the middle of reading this book when the Parkland shooting happened. It gave me hope that there are concrete things that we can do as a society to prevent this type of tragedy from happening in the future. Each chapter focuses on different spheres of life: individual, family, communities, schools and finishes by providing action steps that people can take within each sphere. Great book that I will read again.

[Kelsey Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have to admit I did not finish this book, but had it long enough from the library to read it 10 times. The author has difficulty coming to the point, and his points are mostly valid, but it is a wave-top summary of research done on nurturing along side anecdotes from his perfect family and random one-line opinions that he does not back up. He's also a typical liberal socialist, so while I agree with a lot of the premise, a lot of his solutions seem far-fetched to me.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on decades of research, the author shares how young people do best in a nurturing family. "Thanks to research on family interventions over the last thirty years, we can help families replace coercive interactions with warm, patient, and much more effective means of helping children develop the prosocial values, capacity for emotion regulation, and motor, verbal and socials skills they need to thrive."
This is a fascinating book, that I highly recommend to anyone.

[Vjera · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concepts are important, but the writing was a bit dry. I was surprised at how often the author referred to his own perspective; usually there’s less “I think” statements in a book like this. The writing felt circular at times, with repeated loops through the same concept. That said, he did convince me that the world would be a better place if everyone learned how to be better nurturers. He also included action step ideas, but most felt too big for normal humans.

[TommyLovesEli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. B.F. Skiner was a great scientist looking studying humans. This book is great at looking for the alternative to Dr. B.F. Skinner's stupid ideas in regards to philosophy in later life. I am impressed by the books scope of thought, but doubt behaviorists can stop the wheel of Islam from leading the story. I doubt behaviorists can lead capitalistic societies to any nirvana even, but still a good read for what if.

[Robert Crow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to features of the science of behavior, followed by descriptions of programs the author sees as sound with regard to behavioral principles. He offers stimulating and promising ideas about improving our lives, cultures, and the world we all live in. An important book for everyone to read.

[Glory Dey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the evolution of behavioral science, the revolutionary way it's changing the way we live, and how nurturing environments can increase people's well-being in virtually every aspect of our society, from early childhood education to corporate practices. If you want to know how you can help create a better world, read this book!

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author presents the economic hardships and the cascading effect family well-being impacts rather well - cited and grounded in current literature but an enjoyable read without being convoluted in jargon
Recommended

[Nikita (Nik) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I struggled to make sense of the world, when a friend and colleague recommended reading The Nurture Effect by Anthony Biglan. It helped me make sense of what seemed like a lost war and gave me clarity of direction.

[Kevin Yuen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book outlines the use of the behavior sciences and how its application can be broadly applied to all of society. It is a great read and really inspirational. I might have started looking at applying for a graduate program under Anthony Biglan and other authors mentioned in this book.

[Unna · Rating 3 out of 5]

TBR

[Jessica Maguire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring

Lots of practical ideas to help make the world a better place for all. I highly recommend everyone to read this book.