A perceptive look at changing ideas about temperament, plus some
strong opinions about the implications of current concepts. A
research-oriented psychologist, Kagan (Harvard; Unstable Ideas,
1989) begins with the view of Galen, a second-century physician,
that temperament is linked to an excess of one of the four bodily
humors - black bile, blood, yellow bile, and phlegm. That
temperament had a biological basis was a popular concept until the
end of the 19th century, when it came into conflict with the
egalitarian notion that all human beings are equipped with
essentially similar psychological qualities. In the second half of
the 20th century, research with young children led to new ideas
about the influence of biology on temperament. Kagan looks at some
of this research and questions its reliance on parents' responses
to questions about their children's emotions and behaviors. He
describes in considerable detail his own 15 years of research into
the physiology of inhibited and uninhibited children: In studying
hundreds of children, he found that two-thirds of infants who at
four months were highly reactive to various auditory, visual, and
olfactory stimuli developed into shy, timid toddlers, and
two-thirds of minimally reactive infants became sociable and
outgoing. In his final chapters, Kagan ponders the implications of
his findings, arguing strongly that the existence of inborn
temperamental biases does not excuse asocial behavior. Free will,
he insists, is not undermined by temperament, and though we may not
be able to control our emotions, we can control our actions.
Written for the general, but not the casual, reader, this work's
extensive chapter notes on Kagan's methodology make it especially
valuable to psychologists and psychiatrists. (Kirkus Reviews)
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.
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