8 Comments

I'm not sure if I agree with Dr. Kling's comment—

"The main reason that I find it intuitively plausible that parenting style matters little for the child’s personality is that I observe a given set of parents with children who have very different personalities. I presume that the parents use essentially the same style with each child, which means that the personality difference must be either innate or due to some environmental factor outside of the home."

First, I'd question the assumption that the parents use essentially the same style with each child. I'd expect the style practiced with the firstborn to be modified with each subsequent child, both because of the parents' experience with the earlier-born, and because the parents grow older, more tired, and more willing to compromise with the later-borns.

Second, why does the environmental factor that produces the personality difference have to come from outside the home? Even if the parents are trying to practice the same style with all their offspring, every child comes into a very different environment, because of the presence or absence of older siblings. It seems as though each subsequent child would have to develop different strategies for obtaining attention and other resources from the parents, since if they try to employ the same strategies as those used by their older siblings, the older siblings will handily out-compete them.

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I agree with the "assertive" approach except when it comes to my puppy to whom i am ridiculously permissive. I am actually more critical of the "aggressive" critics of the permissive social justice warriors, since those critics, in their aggression, are generally racist. I find that worse than the "snowflakes" they rail against.

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I basically agree with the general points here. But regarding Hanania's work, "liberal" does not necessarily equal "social justice-y crybaby". And the latter was certainly on a sharp rise pre-Trump. Did Trump accelerate it? Did he cause a ride in liberal activism of both "woke" and non-woke varieties?

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