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BOOK: Marian Perkins Book: The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do BMJ 2000; 320: 1347 [Full text]

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Nurture assumptions

Judith Rich Harris   (24 May 2000)

Nurture assumptions 24 May 2000
Judith Rich Harris Send response to journal: Re: Nurture assumptions	To the editor: If Dr. Perkins had read my book The Nurture Assumption and decided she didn't like it, I would gnash my teeth a bit but wouldn't complain. However, it is my impression that Dr. Perkins made up her mind without having read the book and then decided she needn't bother reading it. Dr. Perkins quoted me as follows: "[Harris] postulates that the role of parental upbringing has no influence on a child's personality or, in her words, `how the children ultimately turn out.'" The trouble is that these are not my words; they appear nowhere in the book. According to Dr. Perkins, my assertions are based largely on "situations and anecdotes from [my] own childhood and experiences as a mother." Not true. I used personal anecdotes only occasionally and only to illustrate or add human interest, never to prove. "There is disappointingly little rigorous scientific justification for her assertions," Dr. Perkins claimed. Good grief. The Nurture Assumption has 717 endnotes and a bibliography of 691 references. I have gathered together a great variety of scientific evidence to support my theory of child development. Given her profession and her investment in the status quo, I was not surprised that Dr. Perkins was unwilling to be convinced by my reasoning and my evidence. I was more surprised by her statement that she found my writing style "irritating at times." Tastes differ, but reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic have felt otherwise. Here's the Journal of the American Medical Association: "[Harris] presents her argument in a style that is engaging and fun to read." Here's The Economist: "She writes with unusual clarity and irreverent wit." Judith Rich Harris Author, The Nurture Assumption (Bloomsbury, 1998) Middletown, NJ 07748, USA References: Bernet, W. Children [Review of The Nurture Assumption]. JAMA, Feb. 24, 1999, vol. 281, pp. 763-764. [Anonymous reviewer.] Explaining behaviour: Nature, nurture, or kids next door? The Economist, 17 October, 1998, pp. 5-6.