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The Nurture Assumption
Book

The Nurture Assumption

Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do

Free Press, 2009
First Edition: 1998 more...

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

This book is a refreshing break from the usual coverage of psychology, group behavior, parenting and the like. Judith Rich Harris exposes the flaws, presumptions and misguided assumptions in much "scientific" research about the psychological and behavioral impact parents have upon their children. Learning how poorly constructed some of the most influential studies and experiments have been is quite remarkable. getAbstract finds that the author does a masterful job of debunking what she calls "the nurture assumption" - that parents are powerful in shaping their children - and replacing it with a developmental theory that exalts the peer group. The author avoids jargon, and writes with a clear, witty, engaging style that should make her ideas accessible - although perhaps not necessarily agreeable - to most readers.

Summary

Nature and Nurture

For a long time, experts have considered heredity and environment, or nature and nurture, to be the two factors most responsible for how children develop. However, while heredity is indeed important, nurture is very overrated. No credible scientific evidence supports the notion that how parents treat their children matters more than tangentially in how the children develop.

Researchers use the word "socialization" to describe how children become members of the society in which they live. Although babies are not exactly blank slates - they do, after all, have a certain genetic endowment - they must learn a great deal to become socially adept. For example, they must learn a language; that means learning to speak as a native, without a "foreign" accent. Children must learn how to talk, walk, sit, stand, how to behave and how to dress - all of which differ from culture to culture and group to group. The nurture assumption says that parents teach their children these lessons and many others that determine whether the children become well socialized. However, little evidence supports this assumption, and a lot of evidence indicates that children's socialization...

About the Author

Judith Rich Harris also wrote No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human Individuality, and co-wrote The Child: Development from Birth Through Adolescence and Infant and Child: Development from Birth Through Middle Childhood.


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