Judith Rich Harris
Encyclopedia
Judith Rich Harris is a psychology
researcher and the author of The Nurture Assumption
, a book criticizing the belief that parents are the most important factor in child development, and presenting evidence which contradicts that belief.
Harris has been a resident of Middletown Township, New Jersey
.
. The dry climate suited her father, who suffered from ankylosing spondylitis
, an autoimmune disease
.
Harris graduated from Tucson High School and attended the University of Arizona
and Brandeis University
, from where she graduated magna cum laude in 1959. In 1961 she received a master's degree in psychology
from Harvard University
.
Since 1977, Harris has suffered from a chronic autoimmune disorder, diagnosed as a combination of lupus
and systemic sclerosis.
which formed the basis for two articles in the journal Perception and Psychophysics (1979, 1984).
After 1981 she focused on textbooks about developmental psychology
. With Robert Liebert, she co-authored The Child (Prentice-Hall, 1984) and Infant and Child (1992).
In 1994 she formulated a new theory of child development
, focusing on the peer group
rather than the family. This formed the basis for a 1995 article in the Psychological Review for which she received the American Psychological Association
's George A. Miller Award for an Outstanding Recent Article in General Psychology. Ironically, it was George A. Miller, then chair of the Department of Psychology that formally dismissed Harris from the PhD program at Harvard in 1960, on the grounds that her 'originality and independence' did not live up to Harvard's standards.
In this book, she challenges the idea that the personality of adults is determined chiefly by the way they were raised by their parents. She looks at studies which claim to show the influence of the parental environment and claims that most fail to control for genetic influences. For example, if aggressive parents are more likely to have aggressive children, this is not necessarily evidence of parental example; it may also be that aggressiveness has been passed down through the genes. Harris also argues against the effects of birth order
. The book looks outside the family and points at the peer group
as an important shaper of the child's psyche. Harris argues that children identify with their classmates and playmates rather than their parents, modify their behavior to fit with the peer group, and this ultimately helps to form the character of the individual.
, was published in February 2006. Harris attempts to explain why people are so different in personality, even identical twins who grow up in the same home.
She proposes that three distinct systems shape personality:
No Two Alike expands on some of the ideas from The Nurture Assumption and attempts to answer some of the criticisms leveled at the former book.
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
researcher and the author of The Nurture Assumption
The Nurture Assumption
The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do is a book written by Judith Rich Harris, with a foreword by Steven Pinker, originally published 1998 by the Free Press, which published a revised edition in 2009. It has been published in at least 20 languages...
, a book criticizing the belief that parents are the most important factor in child development, and presenting evidence which contradicts that belief.
Harris has been a resident of Middletown Township, New Jersey
Middletown Township, New Jersey
Middletown Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 66,522...
.
Early life and education
Harris spent her early childhood moving around the USA until her parents eventually settled in Tucson, ArizonaArizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. The dry climate suited her father, who suffered from ankylosing spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis , previously known as Bekhterev's disease, Bekhterev syndrome, and Marie-Strümpell disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the axial skeleton with variable involvement of peripheral joints and nonarticular structures...
, an autoimmune disease
Autoimmune disease
Autoimmune diseases arise from an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the body actually attacks its own cells. The immune system mistakes some part of the body as a pathogen and attacks it. This may be restricted to...
.
Harris graduated from Tucson High School and attended the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
and Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
, from where she graduated magna cum laude in 1959. In 1961 she received a master's degree in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Marriage and illness
She married Charles S. Harris in 1961; they have two daughters (one adopted) and four grandchildren.Since 1977, Harris has suffered from a chronic autoimmune disorder, diagnosed as a combination of lupus
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Systemic lupus erythematosus , often abbreviated to SLE or lupus, is a systemic autoimmune disease that can affect any part of the body. As occurs in other autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the body's cells and tissue, resulting in inflammation and tissue damage...
and systemic sclerosis.
Research: 1977-1995
In the late 1970s, Harris developed a mathematical model of visual information processingInformation processing
Information processing is the change of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such, it is a process which describes everything which happens in the universe, from the falling of a rock to the printing of a text file from a digital computer system...
which formed the basis for two articles in the journal Perception and Psychophysics (1979, 1984).
After 1981 she focused on textbooks about developmental psychology
Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...
. With Robert Liebert, she co-authored The Child (Prentice-Hall, 1984) and Infant and Child (1992).
In 1994 she formulated a new theory of child development
Child development
Child development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development. Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts and in some cases asserted as nativist theories....
, focusing on the peer group
Peer group
A peer group is a social group consisting of humans. Peer groups are an informal primary group of people who share a similar or equal status and who are usually of roughly the same age, tended to travel around and interact within the social aggregate Members of a particular peer group often have...
rather than the family. This formed the basis for a 1995 article in the Psychological Review for which she received the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
's George A. Miller Award for an Outstanding Recent Article in General Psychology. Ironically, it was George A. Miller, then chair of the Department of Psychology that formally dismissed Harris from the PhD program at Harvard in 1960, on the grounds that her 'originality and independence' did not live up to Harvard's standards.
The Nurture Assumption
Harris's most famous work, The Nurture Assumption, was first published in 1998, with a revised version published in 2009.In this book, she challenges the idea that the personality of adults is determined chiefly by the way they were raised by their parents. She looks at studies which claim to show the influence of the parental environment and claims that most fail to control for genetic influences. For example, if aggressive parents are more likely to have aggressive children, this is not necessarily evidence of parental example; it may also be that aggressiveness has been passed down through the genes. Harris also argues against the effects of birth order
Birth order
Birth order is defined as a person's rank by age among his or her siblings. Birth order is often believed to have a profound and lasting effect on psychological development...
. The book looks outside the family and points at the peer group
Peer group
A peer group is a social group consisting of humans. Peer groups are an informal primary group of people who share a similar or equal status and who are usually of roughly the same age, tended to travel around and interact within the social aggregate Members of a particular peer group often have...
as an important shaper of the child's psyche. Harris argues that children identify with their classmates and playmates rather than their parents, modify their behavior to fit with the peer group, and this ultimately helps to form the character of the individual.
No Two Alike
No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human IndividualityNo Two Alike: Human Nature and Human Individuality
No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human Individuality is a book by psychology researcher Judith Rich Harris. It was published in February 2006. Harris attempts to explain why people are so different in personality, even identical twins who grow up in the same home....
, was published in February 2006. Harris attempts to explain why people are so different in personality, even identical twins who grow up in the same home.
She proposes that three distinct systems shape personality:
- A relationship system allows us to distinguish family from strangers and tell individuals apart.
- A socialization system helps us to become members of a group and absorb the group's culture.
- A status system enables us to acquire self-knowledge by measuring ourselves against others.
No Two Alike expands on some of the ideas from The Nurture Assumption and attempts to answer some of the criticisms leveled at the former book.
Selected publications
- Harris, J. R., & Liebert, R. M. (1984, 1987, 1991). The Child: Development from Birth through Adolescence. Prentice Hall, ISBN 978-0-131-31046-9
- Harris, J. R., Shaw, M. L., & Altom, M. J. (1985). Serial position curves for reaction time and accuracy in visual search: Tests of a model of overlapping processing. Perception & Psychophysics, 38, 178-187.
- Harris, J. R. (1995). Where is the child's environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review, 102, 458-489.
- Harris, J. R. (1998). The nurture assumption: Why children turn out the way they do. Free Press, ISBN 978-068-484409-1.
- Harris, J. R. (2000). Socialization, personality development, and the child's environments. Developmental Psychology, 36, 699-710.
- Harris, J. R. (2000). Context-specific learning, personality, and birth order. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 174-177.
- Harris, J. R. (2002, January 17). Why do people believe that birth order has important effects on personality? The Nurture Assumption Web Site. Retrieved 2007-08-27
- Harris, J. R. (2006). Parental selection: A third selection process in the evolution of human hairlessness and skin color. Medical Hypotheses, 66, 1053-1059.
- Harris, J. R. (2006). No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human Individuality. W.W. Norton, ISBN 978-0-393-05948-9
External links
- Judith Rich Harris's Web Site
- Blame your peers, not your parents, author says, APA Monitor 29(10), October 1998, p. 9
- The Parent Trap, Newsweek September 7, 1998, pp. 52-59.
- Peer Pressure, New York Times Book Review September 13, 1998, pp. 14-15