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Do the first two years of life really determine a child's future development? Are human beings, like other primates, only motivated by pleasure? And do people actually have stable traits, like intelligence, fear, anxiety, and temperament? This book, the product of a lifetime of research by one of the founders of developmental psychology, takes on the powerful assumptions behind these questions--and proves them mistaken. Ranging with impressive ease from cultural history to philosophy to psychological research literature, Jerome Kagan weaves an argument that will rock the social sciences and the foundations of public policy.
Scientists, as well as lay people, tend to think of abstract processes--like intelligence or fear--as measurable entities, of which someone might have more or less. This approach, in Kagan's analysis, shows a blindness to the power of context and to the great variability within any individual subject to different emotions and circumstances. "Infant determinism" is another widespread and dearly held conviction that Kagan contests. This theory--with its claim that early relationships determine lifelong patterns--underestimates human resiliency and adaptiveness, both emotional and cognitive (and, of course, fails to account for the happy products of miserable childhoods and vice versa). The last of Kagan's targets is the vastly overrated pleasure principle, which, he argues, can hardly make sense of unselfish behavior impelled by the desire for virtue and self-respect--the wish to do the right thing.
Written in a lively style that uses fables and fairy tales, history and science to make philosophical points, this book challenges some of our most cherished notions about human nature.
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Jerome Kagan
84 books85 followersJerome Kagan was an American psychologist, who was the Daniel and Amy Starch Research Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, as well as, co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute. He was one of the key pioneers of developmental psychology.
Kagan has shown that an infant's "temperament" is quite stable over time, in that certain behaviors in infancy are predictive of certain other behavior patterns in adolescence. He did extensive work on temperament and gave insight on emotion.
In 2001, he was listed in the Review of General Psychology among the one hundred most eminent psychologists of the twentieth century. After being evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively, Kagan was twenty-second on the list, just above Carl Jung.
Kagan has shown that an infant's "temperament" is quite stable over time, in that certain behaviors in infancy are predictive of certain other behavior patterns in adolescence. He did extensive work on temperament and gave insight on emotion.
In 2001, he was listed in the Review of General Psychology among the one hundred most eminent psychologists of the twentieth century. After being evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively, Kagan was twenty-second on the list, just above Carl Jung.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 26, 2016
Overall good message, but rather long-winded and while some examples and anecdotes are interesting others feel out of place. And it really lacked graphs/pictures which could display the results of the mentioned experiments!
September 28, 2019
من أصعب كتابات عالم النفس الارتقاءي الأمريكي المخضرم "جيروم كاجان"، وأكثرها عمقاً؛ حيث يتعرض خلاله بالتفنيد والنقد لثلاثٍ من أكثر الأفكار الفلسفية التي تستند إليها مناحي علم النفس النظرية وما يتمخض عنها من بحوثٍ إمبريقية، وهي: فكرة التجريد، وفكرة الحتمية، ومبدأ اللذة. الترجمة العربية جاءت مُعلمة ممتعة بحق، ولن نستغرب ذلك فالمترجم هو عالم النفس الأصيل استاذنا الجليل ا.د. شاكر عبدالحميد. كتابٌ أنصح بمطالعتهِ بشدة، للتعلم والبهجة.
December 24, 2014
What I found interesting:
Three Seductive Ideas
Attribution Error - asymmetric logic, in which we assign broad stable traits to others but explain our own behavior as due to local conditions. 2
Object Permanence - implies that the human mind is prepared to believe that things do not just vanish unless some agent or force intervenes. 3
It was far less obvious that animals can become anxious, for they do not seem capable of worrying about the distant future. Thus, fear was naturalized, but anxiety was not. 18
If life's assignment is to control hedonistic desired, as in Saint Augustine's century, fear is an ally and not an alien force. But if the day's assignment is to gain friends, seduce a lover, and take risks for status and material gain, fear is the enemy. 18
We must ask why contemporary psychologists and psychiatrists regard anxiety, but not anger, as a potential sign of mental illness. Social anxiety seems to be a greater burden than anger in modern society. 19
One important function of a collection of neurons in the brain stem called the superior colliculus is to initiate eye movements that track a moving object. 29
When molecular biologists discovered that genes were not always active in all cells at the same time but we're selectively turned on and off in a dynamic temporal pattern, it became clear that genes contributed to both evolution and development. 34
Hans Dreisch raised the hopes of the holists by showing that if one cut the two-cell stage of a fertilized sea urchin egg to produce two discrete cells, each half grew into a whole organism. A machine could never do that. 42
Hypertension is only actualized if the infant rat is nursed by its biological mother. If it is nursed by a surrogate who does not have the gene for hypertension, the symptom does not develop. 42-43
No language can capture every aspect of the events in nature. There is a permanent gap between the perceptual phenomenon and the sentences intended to describe it, even when we restrict the experience to a single sensory module. If we add information from hearing and smell to the scene of the Seine, the impotence of language becomes more apparent. 45
Book: Hereditary Genius by Francis Galton 1869
51 - 2nd paragraph re: intelligence
Phylogeny - evolution of a particular group of organisms. 52
Monozygotic - "identical" twins
Dizygotic - "fraternal" twins 53
94 - last paragraph re: Age of Anxiety, child death rate muted by a child's psychological vitality
Early experience influenced the future in a measurable way. 107
Artificial conditions can create artificial facts. 107
Infant determinism 108-109
Immunologists, for example, are now considering the possibility that the quality of being a foreign molecule in the body is not inherent in the molecule's chemical structure but in the body's reaction to the molecule. 126
131 - Birth Order, Identification, and Historical Era
Defenders of capitalism in the 17th and 18th centuries claimed that a passionate involvement in making money would not only replace aggression, gluttony, and whoring, but would also constrain the arbitrary despotism of rulers and bring civility to society. 154
Our government's attempt to bring small business to ghettos in order to reduce crime by providing work opportunities for welfare recipients is a modern example of Adam Smith's argument argument that work makes people better citizens. 154
Darwin wrote: "I fully subscribe to the judgement of those writers who maintain that of all the differences between man and the lower animals, the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important." 155
Most moralists writing at the end of the twentieth century urge only tolerance, which is an easier stance to adopt because it does not require empathy or compassion. 157
Many white citizens born in the rural American South after 1950 lived their first dozen years with affectionate parents who held racist beliefs. In the 1960s and 1970s, when they became adolescents, a majority risked the uncomfortable feeling that follows parental criticism when they rejected their parents' prejudice and adopted more tolerant beliefs. These adolescents were sensitive to the larger cultures definition of the attitudes that brought a sense of virtue. 158
To 'locomote' 160
There can be no mouse model for human pride, shame, or guilt. 161
The appearance of empathy in all children by the end of the second year implies that two-year-olds are prepared by their biology to regard hurting others as bad - that is, a moral violation. 173
The majority of modern Europeans and North Americans believe that their status, accomplishments, and wealth are mainly a function of their personal efforts. As a result, failure to attain the social position, talent, or material prosperity they had set as life goals renders them vulnerable to shame or guilt. 175-176
If an individual does not act responsibly when he has the choice, then, as Plato argued, he is morally flawed. 177
The concept of self-esteem was invented as a way to explain a person's confidence, or lack of it, in approaching and coping with each day's challenges. 178
...regardless of a person's past, we should never close down the possibility of a better future. They point to Lincoln's poverty, Roosevelt's polio, and Helen Keller's sensory impairments. If these individuals could overcome the burdens of their past, anyone can. 179
The belief that genes control the development of the embryo was also speculative in 1900. Biologists had to wait almost eighty years for the invention of methods that would affirm the validity of that idea. 181
The single-minded seeking of power, prestige, wealth, and sexual delight, which earlier centuries had criticized as moral flaws, has become for many a modern ethical code that enjoys the privilege of being treated as "good." 186
188 last paragraph re: animal behavior
The concern with right and wrong, the control of guilt, and the desire to feel virtuous are, like the appearance of milk in mammalian mothers, a unique event that was discontinuous with what was prior. 190
Every time a judge excuses a violent act of aggression by a sane adolescent of average intelligence because the child grew up under harsh conditions, the court, speaking for all of us, declares that no person subject to extreme cruelty or deprivation should be required to use the universal knowledge that maliciousness is wrong. 191
When we limit ourselves to one source of information, we pay the price of limited understanding. 197
...tell parents how to behave with their children but rather the realization that it is not any specific parental action but the child's interpretation that shapes the child's development. Whether spanking a child for seizing a sibling's dessert has benevolent or malevolent consequences will depend on whether he child interprets the punishment as fair or unjust. 199
Three Seductive Ideas
Attribution Error - asymmetric logic, in which we assign broad stable traits to others but explain our own behavior as due to local conditions. 2
Object Permanence - implies that the human mind is prepared to believe that things do not just vanish unless some agent or force intervenes. 3
It was far less obvious that animals can become anxious, for they do not seem capable of worrying about the distant future. Thus, fear was naturalized, but anxiety was not. 18
If life's assignment is to control hedonistic desired, as in Saint Augustine's century, fear is an ally and not an alien force. But if the day's assignment is to gain friends, seduce a lover, and take risks for status and material gain, fear is the enemy. 18
We must ask why contemporary psychologists and psychiatrists regard anxiety, but not anger, as a potential sign of mental illness. Social anxiety seems to be a greater burden than anger in modern society. 19
One important function of a collection of neurons in the brain stem called the superior colliculus is to initiate eye movements that track a moving object. 29
When molecular biologists discovered that genes were not always active in all cells at the same time but we're selectively turned on and off in a dynamic temporal pattern, it became clear that genes contributed to both evolution and development. 34
Hans Dreisch raised the hopes of the holists by showing that if one cut the two-cell stage of a fertilized sea urchin egg to produce two discrete cells, each half grew into a whole organism. A machine could never do that. 42
Hypertension is only actualized if the infant rat is nursed by its biological mother. If it is nursed by a surrogate who does not have the gene for hypertension, the symptom does not develop. 42-43
No language can capture every aspect of the events in nature. There is a permanent gap between the perceptual phenomenon and the sentences intended to describe it, even when we restrict the experience to a single sensory module. If we add information from hearing and smell to the scene of the Seine, the impotence of language becomes more apparent. 45
Book: Hereditary Genius by Francis Galton 1869
51 - 2nd paragraph re: intelligence
Phylogeny - evolution of a particular group of organisms. 52
Monozygotic - "identical" twins
Dizygotic - "fraternal" twins 53
94 - last paragraph re: Age of Anxiety, child death rate muted by a child's psychological vitality
Early experience influenced the future in a measurable way. 107
Artificial conditions can create artificial facts. 107
Infant determinism 108-109
Immunologists, for example, are now considering the possibility that the quality of being a foreign molecule in the body is not inherent in the molecule's chemical structure but in the body's reaction to the molecule. 126
131 - Birth Order, Identification, and Historical Era
Defenders of capitalism in the 17th and 18th centuries claimed that a passionate involvement in making money would not only replace aggression, gluttony, and whoring, but would also constrain the arbitrary despotism of rulers and bring civility to society. 154
Our government's attempt to bring small business to ghettos in order to reduce crime by providing work opportunities for welfare recipients is a modern example of Adam Smith's argument argument that work makes people better citizens. 154
Darwin wrote: "I fully subscribe to the judgement of those writers who maintain that of all the differences between man and the lower animals, the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important." 155
Most moralists writing at the end of the twentieth century urge only tolerance, which is an easier stance to adopt because it does not require empathy or compassion. 157
Many white citizens born in the rural American South after 1950 lived their first dozen years with affectionate parents who held racist beliefs. In the 1960s and 1970s, when they became adolescents, a majority risked the uncomfortable feeling that follows parental criticism when they rejected their parents' prejudice and adopted more tolerant beliefs. These adolescents were sensitive to the larger cultures definition of the attitudes that brought a sense of virtue. 158
To 'locomote' 160
There can be no mouse model for human pride, shame, or guilt. 161
The appearance of empathy in all children by the end of the second year implies that two-year-olds are prepared by their biology to regard hurting others as bad - that is, a moral violation. 173
The majority of modern Europeans and North Americans believe that their status, accomplishments, and wealth are mainly a function of their personal efforts. As a result, failure to attain the social position, talent, or material prosperity they had set as life goals renders them vulnerable to shame or guilt. 175-176
If an individual does not act responsibly when he has the choice, then, as Plato argued, he is morally flawed. 177
The concept of self-esteem was invented as a way to explain a person's confidence, or lack of it, in approaching and coping with each day's challenges. 178
...regardless of a person's past, we should never close down the possibility of a better future. They point to Lincoln's poverty, Roosevelt's polio, and Helen Keller's sensory impairments. If these individuals could overcome the burdens of their past, anyone can. 179
The belief that genes control the development of the embryo was also speculative in 1900. Biologists had to wait almost eighty years for the invention of methods that would affirm the validity of that idea. 181
The single-minded seeking of power, prestige, wealth, and sexual delight, which earlier centuries had criticized as moral flaws, has become for many a modern ethical code that enjoys the privilege of being treated as "good." 186
188 last paragraph re: animal behavior
The concern with right and wrong, the control of guilt, and the desire to feel virtuous are, like the appearance of milk in mammalian mothers, a unique event that was discontinuous with what was prior. 190
Every time a judge excuses a violent act of aggression by a sane adolescent of average intelligence because the child grew up under harsh conditions, the court, speaking for all of us, declares that no person subject to extreme cruelty or deprivation should be required to use the universal knowledge that maliciousness is wrong. 191
When we limit ourselves to one source of information, we pay the price of limited understanding. 197
...tell parents how to behave with their children but rather the realization that it is not any specific parental action but the child's interpretation that shapes the child's development. Whether spanking a child for seizing a sibling's dessert has benevolent or malevolent consequences will depend on whether he child interprets the punishment as fair or unjust. 199
September 6, 2023
A lot of interesting information and good arguments but could be much more concise and focused without so many tangents and analogies, and, in the third chapter, misunderstandings/misrepresentations of evolutionary psychology.
March 5, 2020
The three ideas discussed by Kagan are indeed seductive as any denizen of social media will be able to testify: they are: the flawed belief that most psychological processes generalise more broadly, infant determinism, and the idea that most human action is motivated by a desire for sensory pleasure. These ideas are so seductive that most of us, most of the time, don't even recognise them as hypotheses lacking substantial empirical support.
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January 7, 2019I have the german and the english edition.
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