Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Parents Matter Differently Than We Think

Parents Matter Differently Than We Think EDITORIAL Few books by psychologists have generated as much controversy as Judith Rich Harris’s The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do. Parents Matter Less Than You Think and Peers Matter More. A popular rendering of her award-winning academic article, The Nurture Assumption is written with ‘‘attitude.’’ Harris is the wiseguy student in the back row of the classroom poking at the ribs of sacred cows, and thoroughly enjoying herself. What Harris calls ‘‘The Nurture Assumption’’ is the idea that, beyond our genetic endowment, it is our parents’ rearing methods that determine who we become as adults. Harris builds a case against that assumption, using re- search, speculation, and personal observations. At times her arguments are well-grounded and convincing, at other times they are weak. She seems to feel the need to exaggerate in order to make her point, which so strongly contradicts conventional thinking. This is her point: On the whole, what you do to your child will not affect the kind of person he becomes (although it will affect the relationship you have with him, and his opinion of you). Harris’s work should come as a relief to parents struggling under the burden of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Adoption Quarterly Taylor & Francis

Parents Matter Differently Than We Think

Garfinkel, Renee
Adoption Quarterly , Volume 2 (4): 3 – Aug 16, 1999
Download PDF

Parents Matter Differently Than We Think

Abstract

EDITORIAL Few books by psychologists have generated as much controversy as Judith Rich Harris’s The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do. Parents Matter Less Than You Think and Peers Matter More. A popular rendering of her award-winning academic article, The Nurture Assumption is written with ‘‘attitude.’’ Harris is the wiseguy student in the back row of the classroom poking at the ribs of sacred cows, and thoroughly enjoying herself. What...
Loading next page...
 
/lp/taylor-francis/parents-matter-differently-than-we-think-5ehjWfXKgz
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN
1544-452X
eISSN
1092-6755
DOI
10.1300/J145v02n04_01
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

EDITORIAL Few books by psychologists have generated as much controversy as Judith Rich Harris’s The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do. Parents Matter Less Than You Think and Peers Matter More. A popular rendering of her award-winning academic article, The Nurture Assumption is written with ‘‘attitude.’’ Harris is the wiseguy student in the back row of the classroom poking at the ribs of sacred cows, and thoroughly enjoying herself. What Harris calls ‘‘The Nurture Assumption’’ is the idea that, beyond our genetic endowment, it is our parents’ rearing methods that determine who we become as adults. Harris builds a case against that assumption, using re- search, speculation, and personal observations. At times her arguments are well-grounded and convincing, at other times they are weak. She seems to feel the need to exaggerate in order to make her point, which so strongly contradicts conventional thinking. This is her point: On the whole, what you do to your child will not affect the kind of person he becomes (although it will affect the relationship you have with him, and his opinion of you). Harris’s work should come as a relief to parents struggling under the burden of

Journal

Adoption Quarterly – Taylor & Francis

Published: Aug 16, 1999

There are no references for this article.