Human behavior reflects nature, nurture, and culture. By nature I mean general traits that we inherit as a species and individual traits that are present at birth. By nurture, I mean the efforts of parents and educators to shape our behavior. By culture, I mean the knowledge, tastes, customs, norms, and tools that we absorb by interacting with others directly or indirectly.
In chronological order, here are five relevant books…
1- The Nurture Assumption, by Judith Rich Harris. She provides a wide range of evidence that shows that the effects of nurture are much weaker than most people would like to believe. Her findings and analysis produced surprise–and some dismay–in many quarters.
2- The Blank Slate, by Steven Pinker. Subtitled “The Modern Denial of Human Nature,” this book argues that nature is more important than what many people would like to believe. On p. 73:
The book is notable for the range of opposing viewpoints–philosophical and scientific–with which he wrestles.
3- The Secret of Our Success, by Joseph Henrich. He argues that our individual first-hand knowledge pales in comparison with our cultural learning. As I wrote in an essay,
4- Darwin’s Unfinished Symphony, by Kevin N. Laland. I came away from this book impressed by the significance for humans of our capabilities, strategies, and technologies for copying one another. As with Henrich, the book tends to enhance one’s estimates of the importance of culture. I reviewed Laland’s book here at Econlib.
5- Innate: How the Wiring of our Brains Shapes Who We Are, by Kevin Mitchell. Using twin studies and similar research, we can attribute some fraction of the differences in behavioral traits across individuals to genetics. The remainder we often casually attribute to the environment, by which we typically mean nurture and culture. But Mitchell points out that a lot of differentiation takes place in the womb, as the process of gestation creates variation in fetal brain development. So my reading of his book is that the environment, including nurture, plays less of a role than people would assume. This may help account for Harris’ findings.
READER COMMENTS
TMC
Dec 3 2019 at 4:42pm
Is Arnold back? Awesome.
Phil H
Dec 3 2019 at 7:20pm
Without reading the books, I can’t engage with their arguments. But I will not one interesting contradiction that this list throws up: the reliance on both arguments about genetic nature and about culture.
When progressives (including me) suggest or talk about progressive policies, conservative responses often include two strands: arguments that some problem (e.g. inequality) can’t be solved by policy, because it’s a product of immutable genetics; or arguments that some problem can’t be solved by policy because it’s the result of culture. These two responses are to a large extent mutually exclusive.
Now, it’s definitely not fair to demand that conservatives solve the nature/nurture question before they engage in policy debate! But I think it’s fair to ask that they reflect quite hard on whether they are using these two mutually exclusive arguments in a consistent and intellectually honest way.
Roger Sweeny
Dec 6 2019 at 3:27pm
Interesting thought. I can think of two possible replies that would be intellectually honest.
1) Kling’s very first sentence is, “Human behavior reflects nature, nurture, and culture.” Some times the problem is caused by “immutable genetics”. Some times it is caused by culture. If you try to solve a genetic problem by culture, you’re going to fail. On the other hand, if you’re trying to solve a cultural problem by changing culture, you have a chance of succeeding.
So, if you think you can assure that all high school students will succeed in a rigorous academic program (No Child will be Left Behind, Every Student will Succeed) by improving school, you will continually be frustrated. Lots and lots of people just aren’t smart enough, and never will be.
2) Even if the problem is cultural, you may have a very limited ability to change the culture. Overthrowing Saddam Hussein did not turn Iraqis into Danes.
Steve
Dec 7 2019 at 8:39am
Really liked the first four on the list. Haven’t read “Innate” but if it belongs in the same category then I’m reserving it at my local library!
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