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Books > Social sciences > Psychology > The self, ego, identity, personality
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Unstable Ideas - Temperament, Cognition, and Self (Paperback, Revised)
Loot Price: R1,022
Discovery Miles 10 220
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Unstable Ideas - Temperament, Cognition, and Self (Paperback, Revised)
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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)
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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