Product Description

The author of the controversial "The Nurture Assumption" tackles the biggest mystery of psychology: What makes people differ so much in personality and behaviour? The search leads Judith Rich Harris into fascinating byways of science - from classic experiments in social psychology to cutting-edge research in neuroscience, from studies of twins to studies of ants. And Harris' solution is startlingly original: the first completely new theory of personality since Freud's. This is the story of a scientific quest, but it is also the story of a courageous woman who refused to be satisfied with "what everyone knows is true".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #150682 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
"Once again, [Harris] looks likely to generate a lot of heat with her ideas about how we become not like our parents, or our peers, or even our identical twin, but like, well, ourselves." Liz Else, New Scientist"

About the Author
JUDITH RICH HARRIS is an independent investigator and a former writer of textbooks on child development.

Customer Reviews

From shibboleths to systems
For someone nearly housebound and bereft of academic qualifications, Harris is an imposing figure in the world of social behaviour. Her earlier book having raised a storm of controversy among academics, this one will extend the arena to family relations. There is probably no greater shibboleth than the notion that parents are wholly responsible for how their children develop. In this book, Harris demolishes that idea. She applies the mode of a "detective story" to line up evidence and possible perpetrators. Although much of the focus in this book relies on the study of twins, she also raises the issue of birth order and how each of us interacts at home, school and social contact. With an easy, conversational style and use of much evidence, Harris has once again built a cogent and convincing argument.

As with every "detective novel", the investigator must eliminate possible perpetrators. Harris defines a number of "red herrings" that she must dispense with prior to presenting her own thesis of what drives our relationships with others. Among the outdated or mistaken ideas she tackles are those of Freud and the "blank slate" aficionados. This latter has come to dominate both academic and family thinking about raising offspring. Whatever the shifting fashions of psychology have favoured, the one element long overlooked has been the evolutionary basis of family development. The growing field of evolutionary psychology is helping to fill that gap. Harris draws on many scholars of the past generation in support of her desire to call attention to our genetic roots. Steven Pinker, John Tooby and Leda Cosmides loom large in her narrative. Skirting the term "sociobiology" as likely too inflammatory, she still pays homage to Edward O. Wilson's efforts to equate the social species of our world.

One of the major targets of her updating of social thinking is the "correlation". It's possible to measure a child's behaviour and that of its family. The flaw in the research has been to assign cause through correlation. Harris contends there's no evidence to support the link. While most families regard themselves as at least guiding their offspring's behaviour, she shows that it's equally likely the child is driving theirs. With nearly half a child's conduct due to genetic drive, attributing traits to parental influence alone has little basis. Moreover, many home behaviours are shed when the child departs the home for school. An entire new set of rules for interaction arise in the classroom and playground. There, the issues of acceptance in various groups become the dominant concern. Classroom performance influences how one is viewed by peers, as is physique, deportment and understanding rank. These are complex issues, strongly interacting. Even sibling rivalry seems simple by comparison. There, the dealings are with only a few in a relatively fixed environment. Outside the home, the situation becomes almost infinitely complex. Yet, the child must learn to adapt to it.

Harris thinks our brains have mechanisms to deal with that complexity. After all, she reminds us, we've had several million years to develop the ability to make those adjustments. The mechanisms she proposes are a trio of "systems". The "Relationship System" begins at home with parents and siblings. It must be greatly enhanced as the child moves from home to school and beyond. Obviously, it must be highly flexible, allowing for rapid change in varying environments. The second, the "Socialisation System" has a foundation in home life, but must be drastically reconfigured when moving from home to school, then in later life. Finally, but hardly least, is the "Status System". "Status" in home life has been dealt with in the "birth order" scenarios put forward by Frank Sulloway. Harris, who challenged Sulloway in her earlier book, completes the task here.

In conclusion, Harris notes that her "Systems" are theoretical. If they lack "hard" evidence to sustain, that is the nature of a new concept. She implores academic and other researchers to take up these questions and pursue them more fully. Not only are the ideas complex and deal with difficult interactions, there are ethical issues to contend with. How do you perform "experiments" in family, school or social structures. Those who have already attempted it, have caused irreparable damage to some subjects. Along with dispensing with "red herrings" then, Harris has constructed a solid base for further investigation. It's a tempting scenario for young readers to consider entering. It's to be hoped they will take up the challenge. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

A truly excellent book!
Rich Harris shows yet again that coming at an old topic armed with an evolutionary perspective and an unorthodox and very perceptive mind, vast improvements in our understanding can be achieved. A must read for anyone seriously interested in moving personality psychology out of fantasy land and into the realm of natural science.

Scientific detective
This new book by Judith Rich Harris is again thought provoking. In the book, which is written like a scientific detective, she tries to solve the mystery of individual differences between people. According to the current scientific knowledge, roughly 45% of these differences can be attributed to genes. But this leaves 55% of unexplained variance. How can this be explained?

The book is roughly divided in two parts. The first chapters are used to eliminate some possible causal factors. Individual differences are not caused by differences in environment and not by a combination of genes and upbringing. Interactions between genes and environment can also be ruled out just like environmental differences within families and correlations between genes and environment. In the second part of the book Rich Harris presents a new theory. Briefly summarized the author proposes that individual differences are caused by a cooperation between two brain systems, the relationship system and the status system.

I like this book. It is challenging, thoughful and thought-provoking. The most convincing part of the book, according to me, is the first part, in which she debunks some broadly held convictions among laymen and scientists.