Overview

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.

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Reviews

Jerome Kagan...sets forth an elegantly reasoned and well-written argument for events, functions, and dynamisms rather than things as explanatory notions in psychology. What he calls for is a more complex understanding of the interaction between personality and environment--and the master concept through which he explores such interaction is the notion of 'temperament.' -- Richard M. Restak New York Times Book Review Kagan weaves philosophy, physics, and psychology into a persuasive...form. His book should be required reading for anyone concerned with our children, or who they become. -- Patricia L. Linn Antioch Review The author marshals vast erudition and scholarship...The domain [Kagan] surveys in this series of essays is vast. It includes trends in developmental psychology across the twentieth century; it takes in the cognition, temperament, and self of his subtitle, and touches as well on issues of epistemology, methodology, morality and ethics, and creativity in science...This is a book of varied, sometimes far-flung, themes developed in an integrated and unified manner. It is an ambitious undertaking, but the author realizes his intentions admirable, even spectacularly. -- Alexander Thomas Readings: A Journal of Reviews and Commentary in Mental Health

A far-reaching discussion of human psychology and traditional methods of investigation. The author, a professor of psychology at Harvard, is known for his research on child development (The Growth of the Child, 1978; The Second Year, 1981). These studies are reflected in this book, for instance in a discussion of inhibited and uninhibited children, but the main concern here is with such profound problems as the meaning of human consciousness and the relation between our sense (or illusion) of having free will, and the forces of a biological determinism of which we are largely unaware. Inevitably involved with this dilemma of will and destiny, argues Kagan, is the question of method. If human consciousness gives an inherently incomplete picture of reality, then conscious methods of scientific investigation are limited to precisely the same extent. The discussion is carried on with masterful control of a vast past and present scientific and philosophical literature, together with its moral and political contexts and implications. One of the most arresting chapters here deals with Creativity in Science, where Kagan tries to understand how it is that people like Einstein, Mendel, and Pavlov came to make their miraculous discoveries. In conclusion, two fictional characters, Simpliciter and Reflectiva, engage in a witty dialogue about the concept of self-consciousness. Highly stimulating and rewarding work for readers willing to grapple with hard concepts, detailed discussions, and a sweeping range of allusions. (Kirkus Reviews)

The author marshals vast erudition and scholarship...The domain [Kagan] surveys in this series of essays is vast. It includes trends in developmental psychology across the twentieth century; it takes in the cognition, temperament, and self of his subtitle, and touches as well on issues of epistemology, methodology, morality and ethics, and creativity in science...This is a book of varied, sometimes far-flung, themes developed in an integrated and unified manner. It is an ambitious undertaking, but the author realizes his intentions admirable, even spectacularly. -- Alexander Thomas Readings: A Journal of Reviews and Commentary in Mental Health

Author Information

Jerome Kagan was Daniel and Amy Starch Research Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Harvard University.

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