Three Seductive Ideas.

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. Noting that a reluctance to question some assumptions of social and behavior sciences is one reason for the halting progress in these fields, this book examines three potentially misleading ideas and reasons for their continued popularity. Chapter 1 critiques the idea that all behavior is influenced by one's psychological construction of the immediate situation, in turn influenced by objects and people in the perceptual field and by memories of the past. An indifference to the local influences on behavior has led some social scientists to write about psychological processes such as fear, consciousness, intelligence, and temperament as if they generalize broadly. Chapter 2 questions current faith in infant determinism, which holds that some experiences during the first 2 years of life are preserved indefinitely. Many early ideas or habits either vanish or undergo such serious transformation that they cannot be retrieved later. Impermanence of first structures is as likely as preservation, whether in evolution, psychological growth, or language. Reasons noted for the belief in infant determinism are that it has the illusion of being mechanistic, thereby making it easier to state a cause-effect sequence, renders a parent's first actions useful, is in accord with egalitarianism, and is sustained by the ambiguity of the phenomena studied by developmentalists. Chapter 3 addresses the assumption that most human action is motivated by a desire for sensory pleasure. Social scientists have awarded too much power to the desire to maximize self-interest and attain sensory pleasure, and not enough to the universal need to be kind, loyal, and loving. Most humans tend to be risk averse, and suppressing behaviors that might bring on guilt and shame serves a motive for virtue that is the basis of human morality. The book concludes by asserting that many psychological processes do not generalize broadly, that most adaptive adult characteristics are not determined by experiences in the first 2 years, and that the majority of daily decisions are issued in the service of gaining or maintaining a feeling of virtue. (Each chapter contains references.) (KB)

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.

The New York Times Book Review - Carol Tavris

[The book's] greatest contribution...is its spirited and eloquent defense of psychology in a world of biological determinism....[T]he essays remind us of what we gain when we resist the oversimplified stories of human behavior so popular in our culture and take the less traveled road to complexity.

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. Passion For Abstraction -- Allure Of Infant Determinism -- Pleasure Principle. Jerome Kagan. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [203]-217) And Index. "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."--BOOK JACKET Do the first two years of life really determine a child’s future development? Are human beings motivated only by pleasure? Do people have stable traits, like intelligence, fear, anxiety, and temperament? This book, by one of the founders of developmental psychology, takes on the powerful assumptions behind these questions—and proves them mistaken.