Scientists are the real mythbusters. For not only do they extend what we know about the universe, they provide correction when we’ve gotten it wrong. And that correction applies to science itself! Thus the phrase, “science is self-correcting.”
Oops, we got it wrong. Here’s how we went wrong…here’s a more accurate understanding….
Over the past few decades the science of psychology has been doing quite a bit myth-busting. No, cold/distant mothers don’t cause boys to develop a homosexual orientation. No, sugar does not cause kids to become hyper. Etc. There is still a long way to go, however.
One popular myth that is only slowly waning, at least as is reflected in culture-at-large, is that the child is fully shaped in its first few years of life. SO DON’T SCREW IT UP, PARENTS!
Nope. First, children aren’t blank slates. They come into the world with their own unique disposition that blossoms over time. And though early experiences are likely influential — for some attributes/abilities, very, for others, not so much and/or not so permanently, they aren’t the only variables involved.
Case in point: Only children. For a long time it was assumed that children without siblings would suffer due to a lack of social interaction with peers (non-parents). And, indeed, early research showed that only children entering the school years had less-developed social skills. But newer research has corrected that view.
Such as this item: Growing up without sibs doesn’t hurt social skills
The findings -
A study of more than 13,000 middle and high school students across the country found that “only children” were selected as friends by their schoolmates just as often as were peers who grew up with brothers and sisters….
“Kids interact in school, they’re participating in extracurricular activities, and they’re socializing in and out of school,” she said [Donna Bobbitt-Zeher, co-author of the study].
“Anyone who didn’t have that peer interaction at home with siblings gets a lot of opportunities to develop social skills as they go through school.”
Humans are, in many regards, quite plastic. It seems there isn’t a narrow window for learning how to get along with and be liked by peers.
At least, that’s a more current understanding. Just don’t chisel it in stone.
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Tags: behavior, critical thinking
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