Description

For decades, millions of parents have been told that they are primarily responsible for things gone wrong with their children. Mothers and fathers have internalised this message, producing an unrealistic and damaging sense of guilt, and even betrayal. Parents do affect their children, but how much? Our children are not born as blank slates. They come to us encrypted with their own predilections, biases, strengths, and weaknesses, many of which are as beyond the control of parents as determining their child's gender or eye colour.

Here, for the first time, is a scientifically grounded examination of the controversial idea that nature—in the form of genetic blueprints—may have far more influence on how children develop than a particular style of parenting. Parents reeling from the idea that they don't have much impact on how their children think, feel, and behave, will find both surprise and comfort in psychologist David Cohen's riveting account of the importance, and limits, of inborn traits.

Dr. Cohen weaves together a rich tapestry of research in behavioural genetics to illustrate the degree to which biology, rather than parenting, can impact a child's personality, values, and aptitudes. The truth of the matter is that, if sufficiently strong, inborn potentials can trump parental influence, no matter how positive or negative. Some traits manifest themselves in such unexpected and uncontrollable ways that, for better or for worse, one's child may indeed seem like a perfect stranger.

Stranger in the Nest puts a human face on the age—old nature—nurture debate, providing a gripping, scientifically grounded examination of parental influence on children's development.

About the Author

David B. Cohen, PhD, trained as a psychologist at the University of Michigan. He is currently a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. For over two decades he has researched the impact of biological factors on personality. He is the author of three previous books, including Out of the Blue: Depression and Human Nature.