Jerome Kagan - Böcker

Behavioural genetics is a fast-growing, multidisciplinary field which attempts to explain the influence of genetic and environmental factors on behaviour through the lifespan. The preferred investigative technique for teasing out the differences between genetics and the environment is the longitudinal twin study. This book is the first complete publication from the MacArthur Longitudinal Twin Study (MALTS) that is by far the most ambitious and comprehensive logitudinal twin study to date. The goal of such an in-depth study was merely not to provide thorough descriptions of developmental change between the ages of one and three years, but to offer an original theoretical framework that explains how change occurs in different domains and how genetics and the environment influence those changes. In fact, this rigorous study will set the agenda for developmental psychology and behavioural genetics for decades to come.

"The Emergence of Morality in Young Children is one of very few scholarly books concerning the development of moral tendencies in the early years. In its pages, a diverse group of eminent social and behavioral scientists address this fascinating topic and struggle with issues of inquiry that have persistently plagued this field."—Nancy Eisenberg, Harvard Educational Review"This is a welcome and immensely provocative book. For those of us who favor ethical theorizing done in close proximity to psychology and anthropology, it provides new and illuminating theory and research relevant to perennial debates about the origins of moral sense, its psychological organization, and the objectivity and unity of the moral."—Owen Flanagan, EthicsThe contributors are Augusto Blasi, Lawrence Blum, Judy Dunn, M. Ann Easterbrooks, Carolyn Pope Edwards, Robert Emde, Carol Gilligan, Charles C. Helwig, William F. Johnson, Jerome Kagan, Melanie Killen, Sharon Lamb, Manamohan Mahapatra, Joan G. Miller, Edward Mueller, Richard A. Shweder, Catherine Snow, Elliot Turiel, and Grant Wiggins.

This relevant and influential book is the analysis of a longitudinal study of eighty-nine individuals who were assessed at birth and again at regular intervals; observational, psychometric, and interview data were collected for each child and his family until the child reached adolescence, and seventy-one of the subjects were reassessed when they became adults. The book emphasizes the relationship between early experiences and adult characteristics, and has remained throughout the years a forceful argument for and illustration of the continuity thesis.

This relevant and influential book is the analysis of a longitudinal study of eighty-nine individuals who were assessed at birth and again at regular intervals; observational, psychometric, and interview data were collected for each child and his family until the child reached adolescence, and seventy-one of the subjects were reassessed when they became adults. The book emphasizes the relationship between early experiences and adult characteristics, and has remained throughout the years a forceful argument for and illustration of the continuity thesis.

In this elegantly written book, Jerome Kagan melds the history of the field of psychology during the past 50 years with the story of his own research efforts of the same period and an analysis of what he terms “the currently rocky romance between psychology and biology.” As Kagan unwinds his own history, he reveals the seminal events that have shaped his career and discusses how his assumptions have changed. With full appreciation for the contributions to psychology of history, philosophy, literature, and neuroscience, he approaches a wide range of fascinating topics, including:·   the abandonment of orthodox forms of behaviorism and psychoanalysis ·   the forces that inspired later-twentieth-century curiosity about young children·   why B. F. Skinner chose to study psychology·   why the study of science less often ignites imaginations today·   our society’s obsession with erotic love·   the resurgence of religious fanaticism and the religious RightEmbedded in Kagan’s discussions is a rejection of the current notion that a mature neuroscience will eventually replace psychology. He argues that a complete understanding of brain is not synonymous with a full explanation of mind, and he concludes with a brief prediction of the next five decades in the field of psychology.

What is an emotion? Can emotion be measured? How can we know if a person is experiencing an emotion?In this sophisticated overview of human emotions, a widely respected psychologist and author addresses the ambiguities and embraces the controversies that surround this intriguing subject. An insightful and lucid thinker, Jerome Kagan examines what exactly we do know about emotions, which popular assumptions about emotions are incorrect, and how scientific study must proceed if we are to uncover the answers to persistent and evasive questions about emotions.Integrating the findings of anthropological, psychological, and biological studies in his wide-ranging discussion, Kagan explores the evidence for great variation in the frequency and intensity of emotion among different cultures. He also discusses variations among individuals within the same culture and the influences of gender, class, ethnicity, and temperament on a person’s emotional patina. In his closing chapter, the author proposes that three sources of evidence—verbal descriptions of feelings, behaviors, and measures of brain states—provide legitimate but different definitions of emotion. Translating data from one of these sources to another may not be possible, Kagan warns, and those who study emotions must accept—at least for now—that their understanding is limited to and by the domain of their information.

A leading psychologist takes a hard look at his profession today and argues for important changes in practices and attitudesThis book is the product of years of thought and a profound concern for the state of contemporary psychology. Jerome Kagan, a theorist and leading researcher, examines popular practices and assumptions held by many psychologists. He uncovers a variety of problems that, troublingly, are largely ignored by investigators and clinicians. Yet solutions are available, Kagan maintains, and his reasoned suggestions point the way to a better understanding of the mind and mental illness.Kagan identifies four problems in contemporary psychology: the indifference to the setting in which observations are gathered, including the age, class, and cultural background of participants and the procedure that provides the evidence (he questions, for example, the assumption that similar verbal reports of well-being reflect similar psychological states); the habit of basing inferences on single measures rather than patterns of measures (even though every action, reply, or biological response can result from more than one set of conditions); the defining of mental illnesses by symptoms independent of their origin; and the treatment of mental disorders with drugs and forms of psychotherapy that are nonspecific to the diagnosed illness. The author's candid discussion will inspire the debate that is needed in a discipline seeking to fulfill its promises.

A revered psychologist invites us to re-examine our thinking about controversial contemporary issues, from the genetic basis for behaviors to the functions of educationIn this thought-provoking book, psychologist Jerome Kagan urges readers to sally forth from their usual comfort zones. He ponders a series of important nodes of debate while challenging us to examine what we know and why we know it. Most critically he presents an elegant argument for functions of mind that cannot be replaced with sentences about brains while acknowledging that mind emerges from brain activity.     Kagan relies on the evidence to argue that thoughts and emotions are distinct from their biological and genetic bases. In separate chapters he deals with the meaning of words, kinds of knowing, the powerful influence of social class, the functions of education, emotion, morality, and other issues. And without fail he sheds light on these ideas while remaining honest to their complexity.    Thoughtful and eloquent, Kagan’s On Being Human places him firmly in the tradition of Renaissance essayist Michel de Montaigne, whose appealing blend of intellectual insight, personal storytelling, and careful judgment has attracted readers for centuries.

Nearly two thousand years ago a physician named Galen of Pergamon suggested that much of the variation in human behavior could be explained by an individual's temperament. Since that time, inborn dispositions have fallen in and out of favor. Based on fifteen years of research, Galen's Prophecy now provides fresh insights into these complex questions, offering startling new evidence to support Galen's ancient classification of melancholic and sanguine adults. Integrating evidence and ideas from biology, philosophy, and psychology, Jerome Kagan examines the implications of the idea of temperament for aggressive behavior, conscience, psychopathology, and the degree to which each of us can be expected to control our deepest emotions.

Sociologists and psychologists examine the most critical elements in adolescent development

Developing Cultures: Essays on Cultural Change is a collection of 21 expert essays on the institutions that transmit cultural values from generation to generation. The essays are an outgrowth of a research project begun by Samuel Huntington and Larry Harrison in their widely discussed book Culture Matters the goal of which is guidelines for cultural change that can accelerate development in the Third World. The essays in this volume cover child rearing, several aspects of education, the world's major religions, the media, political leadership, and development projects.The book is companion volume to Developing Cultures: CaseStudies.(0415952808).

Developing Cultures: Essays on Cultural Change is a collection of 21 expert essays on the institutions that transmit cultural values from generation to generation. The essays are an outgrowth of a research project begun by Samuel Huntington and Larry Harrison in their widely discussed book Culture Matters the goal of which is guidelines for cultural change that can accelerate development in the Third World. The essays in this volume cover child rearing, several aspects of education, the world's major religions, the media, political leadership, and development projects.The book is companion volume to Developing Cultures: CaseStudies.(0415952808).

The world-famous Harvard psychologist challenges many of psychology's most deeply held assumptions about human development,arguing, for example, that early experience does not inexorably shape our lives and that the influence of the family is more subtle than has been supposed.

The scientific study of mental disorder is exciting today because of discoveries in molecular genetics, cognitive processes, neurochemistry and neuroanatomy. The study of mental disorder has evolved from a primarily descriptive discipline into a mature science that encompasses both biological underpinnings and social and developmental work. Psychopathology combines these fields of research to present a comprehensive picture of psychosis. In this important volume, distinguished investigators from these fields present findings from their laboratories, as well as perspectives on areas of rapid growth and change. The editors also provide thoughtful overviews of four major topics in psychopathology research: brain mechanisms, thinking, development and genetics. This book will appeal to graduate students, clinicians and researchers in the fields of psychiatry, cognitive science and neuroscience.

The scientific study of mental disorder is exciting today because of discoveries in molecular genetics, cognitive processes, neurochemistry and neuroanatomy. The study of mental disorder has evolved from a primarily descriptive discipline into a mature science that encompasses both biological underpinnings and social and developmental work. Psychopathology combines these fields of research to present a comprehensive picture of psychosis. In this important volume, distinguished investigators from these fields present findings from their laboratories, as well as perspectives on areas of rapid growth and change. The editors also provide thoughtful overviews of four major topics in psychopathology research: brain mechanisms, thinking, development and genetics. This book will appeal to graduate students, clinicians and researchers in the fields of psychiatry, cognitive science and neuroscience.

In 1959 C. P. Snow delivered his now-famous Rede Lecture, 'The Two Cultures,' a reflection on the academy based on the premise that intellectual life was divided into two cultures: the arts and humanities on one side and science on the other. Since then, a third culture, generally termed 'social science' and comprised of fields such as sociology, political science, economics, and psychology, has emerged. Jerome Kagan's book describes the assumptions, vocabulary, and contributions of each of these cultures and argues that the meanings of many of the concepts used by each culture are unique to it and do not apply to the others because the source of evidence for the term is special. The text summarizes the contributions of the social sciences and humanities to our understanding of human nature and questions the popular belief that biological processes are the main determinant of variation in human behavior.

In 1959 C. P. Snow delivered his now-famous Rede Lecture, 'The Two Cultures,' a reflection on the academy based on the premise that intellectual life was divided into two cultures: the arts and humanities on one side and science on the other. Since then, a third culture, generally termed 'social science' and comprised of fields such as sociology, political science, economics, and psychology, has emerged. Jerome Kagan's book describes the assumptions, vocabulary, and contributions of each of these cultures and argues that the meanings of many of the concepts used by each culture are unique to it and do not apply to the others because the source of evidence for the term is special. The text summarizes the contributions of the social sciences and humanities to our understanding of human nature and questions the popular belief that biological processes are the main determinant of variation in human behavior.

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.

When we are startled by the new, confronted with discrepancies, our knowing gives way to uncertainty—and changes. In the distinctive manner that has made him one of the most influential forces in developmental psychology, Jerome Kagan challenges scientific commonplaces about mental processes, pointing in particular to the significant but undervalued role of surprise and uncertainty in shaping behavior, emotion, and thought.Drawing on research in both animal and human subjects, Kagan presents a strong case for making qualitative distinctions among four different types of mental representation—perceptual schemata, visceral schemata, sensorimotor structures, and semantic networks—and describes how each is susceptible to the experience of discrepancy and the feeling of surprise or uncertainty. The implications of these findings are far-reaching, challenging current ideas about the cognitive understandings of infants and revealing the bankruptcy of contemporary questionnaire-based personality theory. More broadly, Kagan’s daring, thoroughly informed, and keenly reasoned book demonstrates the risks of making generalizations about human behavior, in which culture, context, and past experience play such paramount and unpredictable roles.

We have seen these children—the shy and the sociable, the cautious and the daring—and wondered what makes one avoid new experience and another avidly pursue it. At the crux of the issue surrounding the contribution of nature to development is the study that Jerome Kagan and his colleagues have been conducting for more than two decades. In The Long Shadow of Temperament, Kagan and Nancy Snidman summarize the results of this unique inquiry into human temperaments, one of the best-known longitudinal studies in developmental psychology. These results reveal how deeply certain fundamental temperamental biases can be preserved over development.Identifying two extreme temperamental types—inhibited and uninhibited in childhood, and high-reactive and low-reactive in very young babies—Kagan and his colleagues returned to these children as adolescents. Surprisingly, one of the temperaments revealed in infancy predicted a cautious, fearful personality in early childhood and a dour mood in adolescence. The other bias predicted a bold childhood personality and an exuberant, sanguine mood in adolescence. These personalities were matched by different biological properties. In a masterly summary of their wide-ranging exploration, Kagan and Snidman conclude that these two temperaments are the result of inherited biologies probably rooted in the differential excitability of particular brain structures. Though the authors appreciate that temperamental tendencies can be modified by experience, this compelling work—an empirical and conceptual tour-de-force—shows how long the shadow of temperament is cast over psychological development.

How malleable is human nature? Can an individual really change in meaningful ways? Or, are there immutable limits on the possibilities of human growth set in place by the genes and by the early experiences of childhood? These are questions which touch our deepest political and personal concerns; and they have long been a matter of fierce debate in the behavioral sciences.Constancy and Change in Human Development takes a thorough inventory of the growing body of research which now bears upon these questions. Editors Brim and Kagan have assembled an outstanding group of specialists in human growth and commissioned them to assess questions of change and continuity in physical, mental, and emotional development throughout the life span. Beginning with three general chapters which place the ideas of continuity and discontinuity in historical and philosophical perspective, the book moves across a broad spectrum of developmental issues, ranging from the basic adaptability of the human central nervous system to the effects of social institutions which seek to promote individual change. There are chapters on physical growth, health, cognitive development, personality, social attitudes and beliefs, occupational careers, psychosis, and criminal behavior. Throughout these chapters, the recurring question is whether development can be seen as a continuous process in which early stages reliably predict subsequent events, or whether instead there are sharp discontinuities which render individual development essentially unpredictable. The variety and richness of the answers to this question provide a summary of human development which is unparalleled in any other single volume.

Here is a major new work on human infancy written by one of the country’s leading developmental psychologists and two distinguished colleagues. At its core is the long-awaited report of the authors’ six-year study of infant day care. Important in its own right, this experiment becomes the occasion for a wide-ranging discussion of cognitive and emotional processes in infancy, of the effects of early experience on later growth, and of the deep-seated cultural and historical assumptions that underlie our views of human development.For those concerned with social policy, the book provides the best empirical assessment now available of the effects of group care on the psychological well-being of infants. It also supplies a blueprint for quality daycare that may well stand as a model for future nurseries. For those interested in the course of cognitive and emotional development, the book provides rich information about the major growth functions that characterize human infancy. It also outlines an explanation of these growth functions that links changes in emotional behavior to the maturation of underlying cognitive processes in a new and provocative way. And for everyone interested in human nature, the book of offers a controversial thesis about the discontinuity of psychological growth that challenges some of our most fundamental assumptions about the nature of individual development.For this paperback edition, the statistical summary has been removed from the appendix to shorten the work and make it even more appealing to the general reader.

In his most probing and expansive work to date, Jerome Kagan—one of this country’s leading psychologists—demonstrates that innovative research methods in the behavioral sciences and neurobiology, together with a renewed philosophical commitment to rigorous empiricism, are transforming our understanding of human behavior. Contemporary psychology, according to Kagan, has been preoccupied with three central themes: How malleable is temperament? How predictable are the milestones of cognitive development? How accurate is consciousness as a window onto the self, its motives, beliefs, and emotions?In a review of past approaches to these questions, Kagan argues persuasively that behavioral scientists have reached less-than-satisfactory answers because they have failed to appreciate the biases inherent in their frame of reference and the limitations of their investigative procedures. He calls into question a number of techniques that have been mainstays of psychological investigation: the Ainsworth Strange Situation for assessing the emotional attachment of an infant to its mother, and interviews and questionnaires as indexes of personality, to name only two. Kagan’s own research has used novel laboratory situations to discover a group of children who exhibit a pattern of behavior he calls “temperamentally inhibited”—they are restless and irritable from birth, and by twenty-four months cling to the mother and show biological signs of high anxiety in unfamiliar situations.These findings, coupled with current understanding of the structure and chemistry of the nervous system, lead him to speculate that these children are born with a biological predisposition that favors the development of a shy, fearful personality. Through longitudinal studies of this kind, as well as through his cross-cultural investigations of cognitive development, Kagan has infused new meaning into the nature–nurture debate.

An international cast of the top names in developmental research explore how researchers can use group data to understand individual patterns and pathways over time. Since the dominant statistical models and sampling methods do not accurately reflect and capture the way in which individuals change, but rather statistically treat the individual as an unchanging constant (e.g., as if a 2-year-oldÆs personality is identical to a 30-year-oldÆs). After an introduction to this methodological dilemma, the book shows how empirical procedures can be employed in a stepwise progression to permit a focus on individual children. The next chapter explains how individuals versus variables are not stable over time and how to adjust analysis to reflect this. This is followed by a discussion that outlines some of the key technical details and illustrates the choices that confront researchers in the application of these procedures to longitudinal data sets. Subsequent chapters cover such issues as the value of methodological focus on extreme groups, such as fearful and very exuberant children; ways to analyze personality changes over time, how to combine the strengths of variable-oriented and categorical procedures to achieve a focus on individuals; how to correlate retrospective reports with actual events, and how developmental methods can be brought into line with the study of individual pathways. Each chapter is followed by a commentary and discussion by Marian Radke Yarrow. Methods and Models for Studying the Individual offers readers a guide for evaluating the methodological merits of the different strategies for studying individuals.

A Young Mind in a Growing Brain summarizes some initial conclusions that follow simultaneous examination of the psychological milestones of human development during its first decade and what has been learned about brain growth. This volume proposes that development is the process of experience working on a brain that is undergoing significant biological maturation. Experience counts, but only when the brain has developed to the point of being able to process, encode, and interact with these new environmental experiences. This book's aim is to acquaint developmental biologists and neuroscientists with what has been learned about human psychological development and to acquaint developmental psychologists with the biological evidence. The hope is that each group will gain a richer appreciation of both knowledge corpora. The authors hope to appeal to neuroscientists, psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and their students. The idea for this book was born in 1993 when the authors--a leading developmental psychologist and a pediatrician--met for the first time and recognized the complementarity of their backgrounds and the utility of a collaboration. The reception of their first two papers motivated this attempt to synthesize the available information over a longer developmental era. Learning a great deal over the past decade, the authors hope that their enthusiasm provokes an equally intense curiosity in readers.

A Young Mind in a Growing Brain summarizes some initial conclusions that follow simultaneous examination of the psychological milestones of human development during its first decade and what has been learned about brain growth. This volume proposes that development is the process of experience working on a brain that is undergoing significant biological maturation. Experience counts, but only when the brain has developed to the point of being able to process, encode, and interact with these new environmental experiences. This book's aim is to acquaint developmental biologists and neuroscientists with what has been learned about human psychological development and to acquaint developmental psychologists with the biological evidence. The hope is that each group will gain a richer appreciation of both knowledge corpora. The authors hope to appeal to neuroscientists, psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and their students. The idea for this book was born in 1993 when the authors--a leading developmental psychologist and a pediatrician--met for the first time and recognized the complementarity of their backgrounds and the utility of a collaboration. The reception of their first two papers motivated this attempt to synthesize the available information over a longer developmental era. Learning a great deal over the past decade, the authors hope that their enthusiasm provokes an equally intense curiosity in readers.