Human Nature Review  2003 Volume 3: 196-209 ( 21 March )
URL of this document http://human-nature.com/nibbs/03/paris.html

Essay Review

Behold the Paradigm Shift!
By
Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair, Chief Psychologist, Nordfjord Psychiatric Centre,
N-6770 Nordfjordeid, Norway

A review of Myths of Childhood by Joel Paris.
New York: Brunner-Routledge, 2000.

Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri
(I am not bound to believe in the word of any master)
-- Horace (First Century BC)

These words set the stage for Joel Paris' book Myths of Childhood, dedicated in
part to his teachers, who he claims to have spent a lifetime trying to prove
wrong. In science that would not be so bad - in science that is the name of the
game. Within the authoritarian, almost totalitarian, field of psychiatry this
is most irregular. There are even theories that may describe this as
pathological. These theories are, of course, based on misunderstanding or
misreading, not on science (Scalise Sugiyama, 2001).

In my recent review of La Cerra and Bingham's (2002) Origin of Minds (see
Kennair, 2003), the major obstacle to finding their theory both new and
convincing was not that they were critical of mainstream Evolutionary
Psychology. Rather it was the fundamental lack of novelty and too obvious
foundation on old, mythical psychology - the old paradigm of psychology. This
old paradigm has only recently become visible. The new empirical research, with
at least a part of its base in biological disciplines - such as behavioural
genetics and evolutionary psychology, but also other disciplines such as
cognitive neuroscience and psychopharmacology - is revolutionising our
understanding of human nature, brain-mind processes and mental disorder.

Steven Pinker (2002; see Kennair, 2002b for a review) provides the synthesis of
the old paradigm by showing how powerful the traditional ideas of romanticism,
empiricism and dualism are within psychology and all areas of research that
attempt to describe or understand human nature. This view is paralleled in
Paris' Myths of Childhood and in Kennair et al. (2002) within psychiatry and
clinical psychology. The old truths of human nature - like the claim that the
normal development of normal personality usually is dependent on what normal
parents do (Psst! It isn't, you know.) - are coming under serious attacks from
sciences like behavioural genetics, evolutionary psychology, cognitive
neuroscience and psychopharmacology.

I teach the behavioural genetics of normal personality at the Norwegian
University of Science and Technology. When I get to address the students they
have already waded through the typical approaches - theories based on
psychodynamics, humanistic psychology and learning psychology. All of these
have a major focus on parents, not peers nor adults outside the family.
Consequently, what I come along and claim is that all they have been taught to
believe in the previous lectures is wrong, and contrary to the other theories
"claiming" to be true and being easy to believe (as they are congruent with the
current cultural myths of mind), behavioural genetics is based on empirical
research. And - most importantly empirical research that tests both the genetic
and environmental influence! But, it is not easy to believe.

Full text
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Myths of Childhood by Joel Paris
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Myths of Childhood
by Joel Paris
Hardcover: 272 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.70 x 9.24 x 6.17
Publisher: Brunner-Routledge; 1st edition (May 17, 2000) ISBN: 087630966X
AMAZON - US
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/087630966X/darwinanddarwini
AMAZON - UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/087630966X/humannaturecom

Editorial Reviews
From Book News, Inc.
Drawing on empirically based research, Paris (psychiatry, McGill U., Montreal)
examines critically the primacy of early childhood and the related assumption
that experiences at that age are more significant in psychological development
than those that occur in later childhood. He concludes that genetic factors and
non-familial environmental factors are more important influences on
personality, and that cures depend more on the relationship between the patient
and therapist than on the link between the past and present.Book News, Inc.®,
Portland, OR

Book Info
(Brunner/Mazel) McGill Univ., Montreal, Canada. Calls into question the degree
to which early childhood affects the psychological development. Author uses
research to critically examine the basic assumption that childhood experiences
compose the crucial factor in psychological development. Favors genetic factors
and non-familial environmental factors.