The Parent Trap

A Reaction to Sharon Begley 's The Parent Trap

Sharon Begley starts her article The Parent Trap ' by naming several common nurture assumptions ' that most educated people have come to take for granted , such as reading and talking to children fosters a love of reading ' and physical abuse makes them aggressive ' She then introduces Judith Rich Harris in a quick overview of her life and work , and points out that Harris ' personal experiences support Harris idea that the nurture assumption is wrong . It is clear that Begley does not agree with Harris

, but instead of directly dismissing Harris ' work Begley 's main message is to keep an open mind , which effectively warns readers against the faults in Harris ' work

Like the theory of evolution , for which there is a very large body of evidence but no outright proof ' the nurture assumption is an assumption ' founded on strong evidence and backed by many studies There is simply too much evidence to dismiss the nurture assumption as Harris does . This is what Begley successfully reveals in her article

Early in her article , Begley is able to quickly destroy Harris credibility by simply pointing out that Harris has no academic affiliation and no Ph .D ' and that she was thrown out of Harvard because her professors believed she showed no ability to do important original research ' Begley then points to Harris ' argument that parents play absolutely no part in how a child turns out (meaning they don 't "leave a lasting effect " on what kind of an adult someone becomes Although Harris recognizes that the way parents rear their children does have an effect on how children behave at home or how parent-child relationships develop , she believes that this isn 't enough to affect the child 's behavior in the long term and into adulthood . While some of Harris 's arguments provide food for thought , her selectivity regarding which studies to take into account makes the objectivity of her study suspect . There are studies from many of leading scholars that run contrary to Harris 's thesis . These studies also shatter Harris 's assumption that behavior is determined (for the most part ) by genes However , as Begley points out , Harris largely ignored these studies

The scrutiny surrounding Harris 's methodology does hold weight . The very backbone of Harris ' study refers to very small sampling sizes and the results of questionnaires (which , Begley rightly points out , are notoriously unreliable in reflecting reality . If the nurture assumption is an assumption , then Harris ' thesis is a super assumption , in the sense that it is an extreme position backed by much less evidence . I agree with Begley 's implication that Harris 's study is one that was tailor-made to support an already pre-conceived conclusion . Any scientist or researcher who is overzealous or who is motivated to get certain results is at a danger of consciously or subconsciously distorting the facts or designing a study to conform to their expectations

In her conclusion , Begley cleverly uses Harris ' own contention...