| Revision as of 18:18, 16 January 2004 editJrincayc (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers1,372 editsm typos← Previous edit | Revision as of 00:05, 12 February 2004 edit undoXerxes314 (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users1,514 edits major revision for NPOVNext edit → | ||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| '''James W. Prescott''' |
'''James W. Prescott''' is a developmental psychologist, whose research focused on the origins of violence, particularly as it relates to a lack of mother-child bonding. | ||
| Prescott was a health scientist administrator at the ] (NICHD), one of the Institutes of the US ] (NIH) from 1966 to 1980. He created and directed the Developmental Behavioral Biology Program at the NICHD where he initiated NICHD-supported research programs to study the relationship between mother-child bonding and the development of social abilities in adult life. Inspired by ]'s famous experiments on rhesus monkeys, which established a link between neurotic behavior and isolation from a care-giving mother, Prescott further proposed that a key component to development comes from the somesthetic processes (body touch) and vestibular-cerebellar processes (body movement) induced by mother-child interactions, and that deprivation of this stimulation causes brain abnormalities. By analogy to the neurotic behavior in monkeys, he suggests that these developmental abnormalities are a major cause of adult violence amongst humans. | |||
| It is generally known (back to medieval or ancient times) that deprivation of sensory stimuli like voice and vision in the early phases of human life will cause irreversible mental retardation in the child. Also the prevention of child play will cause intellectual deficits in the adult. But eyes, ears and the nose are not the only human sensory systems. | |||
| ⚫ | Prescott followed up on this study of ] effects through ] surveys of primitive cultures including the effects of ] of human sexual pleasure and affection during ], which he wrote up in the paper ]. In this paper, he attempts to show that societies open to sexuality suffer from less violence than intoleratnt societies. | ||
| Additionally there are the two body sensor systems, the '''"somatosensors"'''. One is the vestibular sensor for maintaining orientation and upright walk. The other one is the skin, for sensing touch. | |||
| Prescott also served as assistant head of the Psychology Branch of the Office of Naval Research (1963 to 1966) and as president of the Maryland Psychological Association (1970 to 1971). | |||
| == Mother Bonding is Essensial for Peace == | |||
| Through the work of James W. Prescott, Ph.D. and various others until the mid 1970s it was established that these previously neglected senses are of overwhelming importance for the development of social abilities for adult life. Their deprivation in childhood is a major cause for adult violence. | |||
| James W. Prescott, Ph.D., was a health scientist administrator at the ] (NICHD), one of the Institutes of the US ] (NIH) from 1966 to 1980. He created and directed the Developmental Behavioral Biology Program at the NICHD where he initiated NICHD supported research programs that documented how the failure of "Mother Love" in infant monkeys adversely affected the biological development of their brains. These astonishing abnormal brain changes underlie the behaviors of depression, impulse dyscontrol and violence that result from mother-infant separations. | |||
| == Cultures that Punish Infants or Repress Sexuality are Violent == | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| The continuation of this research was obstructed and eventually cancelled by the NICHD. Even the existence and results of these NICHD supported research programs was consciously omitted in a recent NIH publication. | |||
| == External Links == | == External Links == | ||
Revision as of 00:05, 12 February 2004
James W. Prescott is a developmental psychologist, whose research focused on the origins of violence, particularly as it relates to a lack of mother-child bonding.
Prescott was a health scientist administrator at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of the Institutes of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 1966 to 1980. He created and directed the Developmental Behavioral Biology Program at the NICHD where he initiated NICHD-supported research programs to study the relationship between mother-child bonding and the development of social abilities in adult life. Inspired by Harry Harlow's famous experiments on rhesus monkeys, which established a link between neurotic behavior and isolation from a care-giving mother, Prescott further proposed that a key component to development comes from the somesthetic processes (body touch) and vestibular-cerebellar processes (body movement) induced by mother-child interactions, and that deprivation of this stimulation causes brain abnormalities. By analogy to the neurotic behavior in monkeys, he suggests that these developmental abnormalities are a major cause of adult violence amongst humans.
Prescott followed up on this study of behavioral effects through anthropological surveys of primitive cultures including the effects of sensory deprivation of human sexual pleasure and affection during adolescence, which he wrote up in the paper Body Pleasure and the Origins of Violence. In this paper, he attempts to show that societies open to sexuality suffer from less violence than intoleratnt societies.
Prescott also served as assistant head of the Psychology Branch of the Office of Naval Research (1963 to 1966) and as president of the Maryland Psychological Association (1970 to 1971).
External Links
- http://www.violence.de/ has the essentials of Prescott's work
- Body Pleasure and the Origins of Violence
- K5 discussion on the validity of Body Pleasure and the Origins of Violence