Perspectives of Author Judith Rich Harris's
In author Judith Rich Harris's latest book, "The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do; Parents Matter Less Than You Think and Peers Matter More", Harris is igniting a flare of controversy in her essential argument. Harris states the belief "that what influences children's development ... is the way their parents bring them up ... is wrong". If this statement is true then why have parents at all? Parents in my opinion are the most influential people in your life. College professors from Cornell, Temple, and Harvard University discuss within this dissertation also critique Harris's statement. Although the opinions vary, Harris seems very confident and supplies personal experiences supporting her thesis throughout this paper. Within the first page of the Newsweek article Harris gives personal examples of her two daughters, and the difference in their behavior. Harris discusses how she became ill and was forced to remain in bed for a long period of time. In her ill state she started realizing the difference in behaviors between her two daughters. Nomi was her natural born child and was very well behaved. During her bad health Harris was immobile and began seeing Nomi stand out as more of an angel as opposed to
Begley, Sharon. "Nurture vs. Nature" Time 7 Sept. 1998. pg 53 Another lengthy Internet on keirsey.com depicts how brilliant Harris is for presenting such a controversial topic, with apt examples. Dr. Keirsey claims it is likely to be a turning point in social psychology, which could be just as influential on the behavior of psychologists. A few typed pages on this website, back this bold statement sufficiently. I found it strange how all the online sources I came across seemed to hold Harris in such high regard. The same was not apparent in the Newsweek article. This predicament led Harris to believe that "All of these studies show an influence of parents on children - don't prove what the purport to," This statement led to Harris's introduction of this idea in the scientific journal Psychological Review in 1995. Shortly after this introduction to the public, Harris published her book The Nurture Assumption creating a backlash of positives and negatives. The book covered this example and others discussing why parents matter less and peers matter more. Her other daughter, Elaine age six was adopted at two months old and became gradually defiant by age eleven. At age fifteen Harris grounded Elaine, Elaine became enraged and by no means returned home that night. Elaine proceeded heading on a do
Some common words found in the essay are:
Wendy Williams, Harvard University, Nurture Assumption, Cornell University, Elaine Elaine, Elaine Harris, Matter Harris, Dr Keirsey, Robert Lightner, Jerome Kagan, nurture assumption, newsweek article, parents matter, peers matter, matter peers matter, parents matter peers, matter peers, assumption children parents, positives negatives, parent influence, life refer, own life, own life refer, daughter elaine, nurture assumption children,
Approximate Word count = 880
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
