Some Issues in Human Development

VICTOR C. VAUGHAN, Ill * Department of Pediatrics, Temple University School of Medicine and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19133

It is a great pleasure and priv­ missing this as mental retardation ilege to address you in memory in goslings, studied the matter in and honor of Dr. Lee Sutton, who detail. He determined not only that was for many years a friend of the this behavior is characteristic of Vaughan family, and, as you know, newly hatched geese, but that ducks a devoted, able and thoughtful and a variety of birds behave in a physician who gave much to the similar manner. care of Virginia's children as Pro­ In further study of this behavior, fessor and Chairman of the Depart­ it has been determined that newly ment of Pediatrics and as Dean of hatched ducklings will follow any the Medical College of Virginia. moving object, with maximal drive In discussing certain issues in or urgency at about 11 to 14 hours human development, I would like of age. The moving object can be to touch on three phenomena. On a mother duck, another animal, or two of them we have information even a little block of wood on chiefly from animal studies; the wheels pulled by a piece of string. third is a more immediate part of If the object emits sound, the our lives and the Jives of our chil­ duckling will follow a little more dren. effectively. Depending upon the du­ The first phenomenon is imprint­ ration or intensity of his following ing, which was described about 30 reaction, later in life in a situ­ years ago by Konrad Lorenz, who ation where he is exposed to the first observed it in geese. Lorenz imprinting object, to his own has summarized some of his stud­ mother, and to an anxiety provok­ ies in a remarkable little book en­ ing stimulus, the duckling will run titled King Solomon's Ring. In it to the imprinting object for refuge. he describes the experience of During the initial following reac­ hatching goose eggs in an incu­ tion, an electrified grille may be bator, watching these little crea­ put in front of the duckling, so tures for a day or two, and then that as he follows, he gets shocked. shooing them out into the yard Any normal adult duck would stop to join their mother. Thereafter, following. During the imprinting whenever Lorenz appeared in the period, however, the duckling fol­ yard, the little geese who had lived lows even more urgently, and the in his presence for the first two or intensity of the imprinting is made three days ran to him instead of more powerful by the painful stim­ their natural parent. As a thought­ ulus. ful biologist, Lorenz, instead of dis- This misidentification of one's natural refuge or parent turns out * Sutton Memorial Lecturer, Third not to be limited to birds. Most Annual Pediatrics Day, December 8, of us first heard of imprinting 1967, Medical College of Virginia, with the story of Mary's little Richmond. lamb, plainly imprinted to Mary.

MCV QUARTERLY 4(4): 173-1 81 , 1968 173 SOME ISSUES IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Other studies of this phenomenon much earlier than a dog in order -both of which have a bottle indicate that dogs, too, have a criti­ to make a house pet out of it. It attached and an electric light bulb cal period in which they will be­ is said that if one brings a wolf into inside, so that they give both nutri­ come accustomed to human hand­ human company before its eyes are tion and warmth-the infant will ling. If you mean to make a puppy open, as Elsa came to the Adam­ attach himself to the terry cloth­ a lap dog, a house dog, a close sons, it is relatively easy to raise covered mother. There is something friend of the family, you will best him as a domestic animal. This is in the feel of the available parent bring him into the house at five to done with increasing difficulty after that profoundly conditions the be­ seven weeks. If you put this off un­ the wolf has lived for even a short havior of infant monkeys in the til 12 to 14 weeks, you wil1 not ulti­ period in the company of his nat­ area of socialization. mately have the same kind of dog; ural parents. It ultimately becomes Now what do monkeys have to for the dog that has lived in a virtually impossible to make a do with people? We don't really kennel for that period of time has house pet out of a wolf. know. There are likely to be dif­ a different social orientation. He Further observations add to the ferences between monkeys and doesn't become a big, friendly pup mystery and wonder of imprinting people, just as there are between like our family's current watch­ and related phenomena. In goats birds. Here it might be of interest dog, who came to us at seven a relationship is established be­ to examine the difference between weeks, and who might kill a tween mother and infant in the a precocial and an altricial bird. stranger-by licking him to death. first day of life which is quite When precocial birds are hatched, An earlier dog came to our house essential to the nutrition of the in­ they are able to feed themselves, at about 14 weeks. We tried for fant goat. When the kid is taken follow their mothers, and so on, nearly two years to make a friend away from the mother for a period within minutes of the time of de­ out of her, but she truly earned the of 40 minutes during the first day, livery. The altricial bird, on the name "Bitch" in the way she used the bond between the two may be other hand, is fed in a nest for a to greet not only strangers but the irrevocably fractured. After this considerable period. The ring­ rest of the family. She was snap­ separation, the mother receives the necked dove, for example, is fed pish, irritable, unpredictable, and kid with butts, pushing it away and in the nest for 14 days, then downright mean. Her pups, on the refusing to nurse it. In contrast, the mounts to the side of the nest, and other hand, born in the house and normal nanny goat, immediately af­ in 21 days flies away. If a human raised by hand by our own chil­ ter delivery, will accept any small handler is to come into the life of dren, were domesticated in just the goat as her own (Hersher Moore a ring-necked dove with an opti­ way one would expect house pets and Richmond, 1958). mum chance of creating conditions to be domesticated. They had none Something very important, then, under which this dove will accept of their mother's evil temper. is going on in the first day of life human company as belonging to its One of the most remarkable ex­ in goats, geese, and ducks-some­ natural state of living, the human amples of imprinting is given in the thing which is very important for handler has to come in at nine book Born Free. You will re­ the socialization of the animal with days. Increasingly, prior to nine member that Elsa, the lioness, was other members of its own species. days and after nine days, up to found with two siblings in a cave, Have these phenomena anything the time when the dove leaves the before her eyes were opened and to do with the human condition? nest, one loses the capacity to so­ shortly after her mother was shot. We really don't know. But studies cialize the dove to the human ex­ She was brought into human com­ undertaken at Wisconsin and else­ perience. pany and grew to adult lionhood where are beginning to tell us The human infant is probably absolutely free-living in a human something about early socialization much less precocial and much more family. Her foster parents put a in other primates. The studies of altricial than the rhesus monkey. rope around her neck when they Harry Harlow have become famous. A monkey is able to fend for him­ went to town, but Elsa was ap­ He has raised small monkeys with self pretty well in a few days; the parently quite able to generalize chicken-wire mothers, some of human infant not for many months her identification of the human them covered with terry cloth and or years. If imprinting as a kind species, and in her short life, al­ some of them not. The infant asso­ of socialization has any counterpart though she roamed quite free in ciates with these inanimate mothers in the human animal, it probably human society, she never made an without much in the way of feed­ goes through stages somewhat as attack upon a human being. back from his own input to the follows. The human infant begins Within various families of ani­ mother. Harlow has shown that if to smile, as a rule, sometime be­ mals there are variations in im­ he gives the infant a choice be­ tween three and five weeks of age. printing. It is apparently necessary tween a bare chicken-wire mother If he hasn't begun to smile by to domesticate a wolf, for example, and one covered with terry cloth eight weeks, we begin to be

174 V. C. VAUGHAN, Ill troubled. If he hasn't smiled by is afraid of a stranger. Infants may were in the care of two to three three months, we know there is show this in a variety of ways, people in the daytime and of, per­ trouble; we don't necessarily know but we can be sure that there is haps, one person at night, who the kind of trouble, but we can anxiety both on the introduction spent the night changing them and be sure it is there. When the human of a stranger and on separation feeding them with propped bottles infant first smiles, his mother, if from the parent and that this because there was relatively little she is a healthy person, is likely to anxiety represents a phenomenon time to do anything else. smile back at the infant; and im­ in socialization. Some curious things were ob­ mediately a bond of feeling which Interference with man's sociali­ served when Provence and Lipton is the forerunner of socialization is zation has not been studied in a began to watch these infants. As set up between the mother and the systematic or controlled way. None early as two months of age it was infant. Even before this there have of us is going to purposely in­ quite evident that they had less been arrangements made between terfere with normal socialization of vocalization than the normal in­ mother and infant for nutrition and the infant, although we may ask fant. The growth of two groups the like. These are being very ac­ what it does to the relationship of these infants was further stud­ tively studied in many places now, between mother and infant when, ied, as measured on the Gesell but we don't quite know yet what in the neonatal period, we anes­ scale. Both groups fell into a it is that these arrangements con­ thetize the mother, remove both reasonably normal pattern of dis­ tribute to socialization. the mother and the baby from the tribution with respect to develop­ At three to four months the experience of giving birth and be­ mental quotients at three to four youngster begins to make some ing born, take the baby immedi­ months of age. Children in the adjustments of his body anticipa­ ately to a nursery remote from the first group were put into adoptive tory to being picked up. As his mother, bring him out to her for or foster home placement prior to mother reaches down for him, he short periods at long intervals with­ four months, and at the end of becomes active; his muscle tone out relationship to his physiologic a year they were restudied. Again, improves; he is ready to be picked need for the mother or hers for they had a normal distribution of up; and he may show his pleasure him, and then, at the end of five developmental quotient. The sec­ at the social contact. At this point days, send these strangers home to­ ond group of infants remained his response is not very differenti­ gether to build a social unit. This in the institution a year or more ated. Anyone who comes close to kind of experience has not been for reasons that are not at all an infant at this time can elicit a given the name of experimentation; clear, though it appears that ran­ smile. But by six months the child but its impact is something we dom selection determined which responds to his mother differently must begin to study. youngsters were going to stay in than to any other living person. Another kind of early experience this institution for that period of This can be shown in a number of of unplanned impact has been de­ time. Testing at the end of a year ways. For example, the child cries scribed by Sally Provence and Rose in this second group showed these when his mother leaves the room Lipton in a little volume called youngsters to be defective. Without but not when other people do. Infants in Institutions. Here we exception they scored below the It seems quite likely that the learn what may happen when the infants who had been placed in period of primary socialization to opportunities of the human infant adoptive or foster home care. The the human species or to the parent for socialization are denied.The au­ best of them scored below the least has had a number of important thors describe an institution in an adequately functioning child in the steps taking place within the first East Coast city which operated as other group. Other observations six months. Between six months a foundling home, in which most indicated they had been slower to and a year the infant goes through develop use of gross muscular ac­ infants who were admitted came another interesting phase, which is tivity. They were able to stand, but for adoptive placement, born out a reaction of fear to the approach they didn't have much to stand for; of wedlock. They were from pre­ of strange people. I entered pedi­ so they were likely to lie in their dominantly lower middle class or atrics with the naive notion that if cribs and show relatively little in­ I made friends with four-, five-, upper lower class strata of society, terest in their surroundings except and six-month-old infants as I gave but possessed relatively little that to look at them. As a result they them shots and various treatments, would differentiate one from the became very visually oriented. our friendship could continue, so other. The institution had a number Some of the second group of that we would never enter a period of nurseries for these children, each youngsters were placed in adoptive where the child was afraid of the containing as many as 20 to 30 in­ homes during the second or third physician. This was nonsense. At fants. Cribs were generally set year of life, and, interestingly eight to ten months every child around the wall, and the infants enough, were able to make up most

175 SOME ISSUES IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

of the measured deficiency by very powerful effects. How power­ or intergroup relations that will Gesell standards. By three years ful and how durable the effects are exist in a society of animals so­ the children in the two groups were for man we don't know. How dur­ cialized to each other. not far apart in gross intellectual able they are for some birds we do One of the remarkable experi­ function. know. There is a story told of the ments dealing with territoriality is At six years it was still difficult jackdaw, which, having been raised that which was carried out off the to find intellectual differences be­ by Konrad Lorenz in his backyard, coast of Puerto Rico some 30 years tween the two groups, but differ­ fell in love with Lorenz. The court­ ago by C. R. Carpenter. Several ences now emerged in the area of ing behavior of the male jackdaw hundred rhesus monkeys in a state behavior which are quite striking. in mating season is to feed his of total social disorganization­ The children who spent the early ladylove mealworms. He lights on they didn't know each other, came period of life in the institution now the branch next to her and stuffs from all parts of India and Africa seemed to be relatively impulsive mealworms into her mouth, while -were put on the island. Carpenter in their behavior, have a short at­ she accepts all this with carefree made sure they had enough food tention span, have difficulty in disdain. Lorenz became aware of and patiently watched the way in forming really warm human rela­ the affection of this jackdaw when which the island became organized tionships with others, and, in these it lit on his shoulder and began as a home for monkeys. It took the and other respects, resembled the stuffing mealworms into his mouth. monkeys about a year to get the so-called brain-damaged child .. We Needless to say, he was anything situation under control. At the end don't really know what the brain­ but happy about this, but he loved of that time they had an island damaged child is, but we do know the bird in return in his own way which they had divided into various that there are homes in which the and didn't want to do the animal territories; each had a home tree quality of care the child gets much violence. In his gentle way he tried where its monkey colony tended more resembles the institutional to persuade the bird that something to rest at night; each territory quality of care than the quality of was wrong, and we are told that had borders; and each had its own care given by loving foster, adop­ on at least one occasion, when activity. The supreme activity on tive or natural parents. Lorenz got a mouthful of meal­ the island was the defense of ter­ These observations raise many worms and jackdaw saliva, the ritorial borders by the various questions. We are reminded that whole episode came close to com­ groups of monkeys. Each group the monkeys raised by Harlow with ing to an end. But the bird survived was organized under a male leader, those surrogate chicken-wire moth­ and got the message. With the dis­ with a pecking order among sub­ ers presented possibly counterpart covery that something was wrong, ordinates similar to that which disabilities in socialization. When the jackdaw desisted from trying to exists among barnyard chickens. such animals are raised to adult put mealworms in Lorenz' mouth, The wives had a somewhat similar life, they appear totally unable to but, for the reminder of this court­ pecking order, corresponding in make places for themselves in mon­ ing season, lit on his shoulder and some measure to that of their hus­ key society and Jive both sexually tried to stuff them into his ear. bands. and socially incapacitated. Interest­ Imprinting, then, is a very pow­ When a monkey from one group ingly enough, in monkeys, and pos­ erful and very persuasive phenome­ came close to the border of another sibly in man, too, some contact non in the socialization of animals. group's territory, monkeys in the with siblings or other animals of We need to know very soon and in other group would run over and the same species and same age can very great detail what its counter­ scream to him to go home. Indeed, sometimes substitute to a remark­ part is in man, because we have monkeys gathered at the border able degree for mothering. no reason to feel that we are so sometimes in such masses that the The concept of primary sociali ­ different that there isn't somewhere border was pushed in a little bit, zation, then, determines what kind whereupon all the monkeys in an a phenomenon that has like mean­ of moving objects an animal is go­ "invaded" group would stop what­ ing for us. ing to relate to as members of its ever they were doing and defend A second powerful phenomenon own species. We may ask whether territory. We do mean whatever in socialization has been given the the relationship that schizophrenic they were doing. The call to de­ children have to objects which they name "territoriality." It has been fense of territory took precedence have set into motion may somehow celebrated in recent literature by over feeding, over sexual activity, reflect experiences in this early pe­ Robert Ardrey's book Territorial over grooming, over anything else riod which we don't fully under­ Imperative: A Personal Inquiry that was going on in the monkey stand as yet. into the Animal Origins of Prop­ colony except the care of infants. So much for imprinting or pri­ erty and Nations. Territoriality Everybody would run out and push mary socialization. It has some shapes the interpersonal relations the border back to where it was or

176 V. C. VAUGHAN, Ill a little farther. These borders, then, territory of the other group. You if he goes directly to second base were somewhat fluctuant. know that the object moves rela­ (the kitchen). If he enters the front The one thing that did not oc­ tively easily in midfield, but that door with any other intent, there is cur, generally, was that a moving when defenders get their backs to panic. At second base he can disap­ border overran a home tree; as in­ the goalposts, they often draw on pear, and no one will care. If he re­ vaders came close to the home tree, reserves of strength, courage, or enters from the kitchen, he can the defenders became invincible. whatever that throw back the in­ only be safe if he goes out the We don't really know what would vaders. There are 102,000 other door (the third base line) , the two happen if you threw a bunch of primates gathered around vicari­ doors being topologically equiva­ human beings onto a medium-sized ously, enjoying this struggle. The lent. planet in a state of social disorgan­ name of the game has to be "Ter­ It helps me, and I think it would ization; but the planet might look ritoriality." help us all, to understand the deep a bit like this one, and if history The game can be played in an­ biologic meaning of the anxieties hasn't taught us that the defense of other way which makes the territor­ and anger that take place in settings home and territory is an extremely ial nature of the game a little like this, to know what they symbo­ powerful biologic organizer of so­ more obscure. Here the territory lize and how they serve to trigger cial action in primates, including has a corner, and in the corner feelings and actions. Such an under­ man, then we haven't yet learned there is a little plastic device having standing is our best hope of finding our lesson. I, for one, think the a symbolic meaning which will be­ controls or acceptable vicarious out­ lesson we are learning in Viet Nam come clear. The symbolic object is lets for feelings of anxiety that lead is that when one invades peoples' thrown by a primate from a point to hostility, aggression, defensive territory from the air or by any known as "the mound" past another responses, mounting violence, and other route, they become fantastic­ primate who stands holding a stick. so on-feelings which constitute ally courageous and angry. To find If the second primate is able to hit the greatest threat to the world at peace in this kind of setting is ex­ the symbolic object as it goes past this time. traordinarily difficult. I am sure in such a way as to have it land in There is another noteworthy as­ that we are reaping the failure to the territory being defended, then pect to territoriality, and that is the anticipate this kind of biologic he has the privilege of entering the personal dimension of territory. All lesson in our difficulties there. territory along one margin, where of us walk along surrounded by a There are many, many examples he comes to occupy a symbolic certain space which we don't like of this kind of thing that we might spot, a small rectangular canvas bag. people to invade. If somebody is touch on. Let us examine one that According to certain rules which I too close to us or touches us under is closer to home. We now have won't go into now, he may further the wrong circumstances, we tend children growing up in a state of invade the territory to occupy an­ to back off. Styles in personal space relative or massive social disor­ other safe spot and possibly even tend to vary in various parts of the ganization in many of our big come to a third point. Then, if he world . We don't use the embrace cities.. What happens when this is a winner, he goes-where? It between men that is so common in occurs? "West Side Story" is our cannot be an accident that we call it Latin countries. We react to it un­ most graphic description. The ter­ "home" plate. He has made an in­ easily and think it funny, for ex­ ritory is known as "turf"; the bor­ vasion of enemy territory, and he ample, that Frenchmen embrace ders of the territory are certain has come home. each other. The Latin American streets or avenues; and the defense This game is played in another transacts business several inches of the borders of the territory takes setting and is in this form dis­ closer than we do. When we find precedence over other activities. appearing, for which we can be him that close, we back off and get The real tragedy is that this game is everlastingly grateful. The territory a reputation for being cold, for not played out with switchblade knives in this case is a restaurant in a liking people, for being difficult to and zip guns rather than with the nameless Southern town, defended get along with. howls and screams of monkeys. by white diners and proprietors People who transact business We have symbolic representa­ against the anxieties created in them even more closely are the Middle tions of this, too. I offer you a by black people who want to use Easterners. In Kahlil Gibran's game. It is played on a rectangle the facilities. Black people have, in poem, "The Prophet," you may re­ with a symbolic object which is put fact, used the facilities for a good call that the prophet says, in taking into play in the center of the rectan­ long while, according to the rules leave of the people among whom he gle. There are 11 primates opposing of the game. The rules permit one has lived, that he has felt their 11 other primates, the object of the of this group to enter the restaurant breath upon his face. In the Mid­ game being for one group to move along the first base line (the front east, there is no conversation among the symbolic object into the home door), but he can remain safe only friends really unless they feel each

177 SOME ISSUES IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT other's breath upon their faces. It We can see territoriality operat­ given point. If he imagines that has been suggested that the distance ing in another area. This could be something has been built or hangs at which various societies transact in a streetcar, a subway car or a six inches over his property, a business around the world is in­ bus, but, for our purposes, take an situation develops which, lawyers versely proportional to the amount empty subway car. There are only tell us, makes for most unpleas­ of garlic consumed in the society. two people involved. One man gets ant feelings and violent quarrels Whether garlic permits a closer re­ in at one station and sits a few feet between neighbors. Territoriality, lationship because everybody eats from the door. At the next station, then, is something we need to be it, or is simply a defense against the second person gets on. If he more aware of; we need to see not such a relationship, I don't know. goes to the other end of the car to sit, only how it affects children but The personal dimension of space no new problem is created. But the adults as well. is very important, and it is felt by second man has an old problem. He There is a third phenomenon I animals other than man. If you has had a bad day. A number of would like to comment on as an stride along the boardwalk at At­ things have not gone well; he is issue in human development which lantic City through a group of sick and unhappy, or something of flows rather naturally from the first pigeons, a circle will open up that sort. Normally he would sit on two. We have indicated that aggres­ around you that accurately meas­ the side opposite the first man, not sion-as impulsive action in reac­ ures the distance within which a directly across from him, though, tion to anxiety or as an expression striding man can approach a pigeon people having an uneasy feeling of hostility-has biologic roots in before the animal takes evasive about things directly opposite them. socialization, important elements of action. As another example, visua­ His comfortable location would in­ which are imprinting and terri­ lize a heron sitting on a nest of dicate, "I notice you here; we're toriality. Aggression takes a pe­ eggs. You can move to a distance friends, but we are not going to culiar form in man. Man is the of about 27 inches before the have much to do with each other." only animal that routinely destroys heron will leave the nest. At a If, on the other hand, the second other members of his own species. distance of 28 inches you can stay person gets on the car and sits In most other species of animals, there and look at the bird all day. immediately beside the first man, destruction of other members oc­ Lion tamers know about this bringing about the possibility of curs only in response to population setting of distance. When the lion bodily contact between them, the pressures. In rats, destruction oc­ tamer enters the cage, if he is second man's need to situate him­ curs with the introduction of new bright, he will enter when the lion self thusly, has, in turn, created a members into an already ordered is far from the door. Then he will problem for the first man. group. If a group of rats is rea­ move toward the lion. The lion will It has been fun watching an audi­ sonably well established on a plot generally move away until, as the torium like this fill up. As it fills up of ground and a few new rats are tamer follows him, the tamer gets with people who don't know each introduced, those on home territory close enough to transgress the lion's other, you will find that the density will destroy the outlanders. Popu­ definition of the critical distance. At with which people sort themselves lation pressures of other sorts have this point, the lion will turn and out is a measure of their personal been shown to be responsible for start stalking the trainer. Now the space, and not necessarily of their fatal warfare within species. How­ trainer maneuvers in such a way desire to be close to the speaker. As ever, among the various species, that the pedestal on which he wants a matter of fact, most people, if I aggression and violence tend mostly the lion to stand is between him am to judge the empty front row to disperse the species, rather than and the lion. The tamer stays just correctly, prefer not to be conspic­ destroy the individual members. within the critical distance. The uously close, but to be in the sec­ Violence, like territoriality, has lion sees no obstacle to seizing the ond, third, or fourth row, for ex­ two dimensions-the personal and man and moves straight toward ample. Late-comers sit in the back. the social. Our experiences as in­ him, climbing over the pedestal. The way in which people move dividuals breed tendencies to act As the lion reaches the top of the themselves and locate themselves out impulsive behavior. These are a pedestal, the tamer immediately in space, reflecting a personal di­ result of hostilities engendered by steps back outside the critical dis­ mension in territoriality, has its our unique personal lives as we tance, and the lion remains fixed counterpart in feelings of families grow up in our homes or neighbor­ there on the pedestal, looking rather about territory. This, too, is some­ hoods. While speaking of neigh­ silly. The gun, the chair, the whip­ thing that we need to study in the borhoods, I cannot help but reflect these are all props. The lion tamer human condition. Some of the most upon how difficult it is for children is using the lion's critical distance violent altercations people have are in a crowded slum to develop to evoke behavior in him. I would those which involve property lines. loving and gentle attitudes toward not, myself, give up the props. Let a man's property come to a others or toward life in general.

178 V. C. VAUGHAN, Ill

The personal dimension of violence in fact, see him as anything but With these dramatic words, is unique for the individual, but a dirty dog himself, who deserved Jessamyn West gives us a slightly there is a social dimension, too. all he got and more. Excite and different picture of our television In our own society we may ask, enthrall the customers with vio­ screens and of what we are offering "Is this really an issue? How much lence, but don't upset them. Let's our children. The picture is not not make it tragic. Lots of death violence is there?" I was struck by, unique; but I think it describes and disaster, but for fun .... and would like to share with you, By dehumanizing the action (real phenomena in our lives and the the words of Jessamyn West on persons don't die, only the "bad lives of our children which are part violence. She has indicated, rather men"), by never giving the proper of our scene, and which we recog­ more plainly and better than many name to what we see, are we nize. Jessamyn West is not alone in writers, what aspects of our pres­ blinded to reality? Is a generation calling attention to them. H. Rap ent society we need to consider as of Americans being prepared for Brown says that violence is as we plan a future for our children. the routine and casual killings of American as apple pie. I don't concentration camps and gas cham­ know whether he is talking about Miss West says: bers, of death marches and satura­ the Ku Klux Klan or riots in the tion bombings, of mass evacuations Never in the history of man has ghettoes, but the impact of all this any generation been as free of pain and 100-megaton explosions? Vio­ lence is a big word with sonorous on the individual is just now begin­ as ours. We lose teeth, have babies ning to be assessed .. In the assess­ and undergo five-hour operations, syllables. Do we never see behind ment of it, I don't care whether it all without pain. We are not only it the small boy with his face blown is violence of the right or of the pain-free, we are comfortable. The away? The child without hands? air is conditioned, in home and The men with dreams and prom­ left. There are a great number of cars; the bed preheated when we ises oozing from their broken people in the middle who are get into it; and the rocking chair, skulls, along with the gray mat­ moved more or less by this with­ if we like, wired to oscillate with­ ter that gave rise to dreams and out taking action. I suggest that out any effort of ours. And never promises? Are these facts forgot­ perhaps those of us who are con­ ten? has any generation, without knowl­ cerned with the growth and devel­ There are many intelligent, edge of pain or experience of dis­ opment of children ought by now comfort, spent so much time watch­ thoughtful people who believe that there is too much violence on our to be moved to action which we ing others experience pain and suf­ haven't taken in the past. fer discomfort. Never has any gen­ movie and television screens and I am reminded here of the cover eration tried harder to hide from that it is particularly bad for chil­ itself the fact of death-and at dren to see it. But what is really of the December 9, 1967 Saturday the same time been so absorbed wrong is that the children do not Review on which appears the fol­ in watching others die. see it. They see only the pleasure lowing quotation by Abdul Rahman We do not call what we see on of landing the blow without ever Pazhwak, past president of the imagining the pain of receiving it, the movie and television screens U.N. General Assembly: "If fools without even imagining that the one "death." We call it "violence"­ and folly rule the world, the end of and the way in which we use the who receives the blow is capable of suffering pain. man in our time may come as a word "violence" today is new in rude shock, but it will no longer the world. We all know what is The TV screen whereon only bad men die, and then neatly and with come as a complete surprise." hidden beneath its parlor-proper syl­ dispatch, dulls and kills the imag­ That's a pretty pessimistic view of lables; but by using it we let into ination-and whatever destroys the things. But for all that I may sound our parlors and our family rooms imagination limits and ultimately pessimistic, I am in fact optimistic what, rightly named, we would not destroys man. "When there is no care to be seen inviting in, let about what we can do and what vision, the people perish." It is alone feasting on, evening after we are going to have help in doing. doubtless sad that children must evening. For example, in closing I would learn of pain, suffering, and death. again like to refer you to the But it is tragic for them to believe Saturday Review. Its October 7, Death on the screen is so easy that bullets and blows do not cause a matter. The fast draw, the quick suffering and death. The child who 1967 issue contains an article by collapse. We are never permitted is conditioned by screen and par­ Urie Bronfenbrenner of Cornell to see very much of the man who ent to identify only with the one entitled "The Split-Level American is going to die. We must not learn who lands the blow, never with the Family." He points out some of the to care for him, to feel that his victim, loses the humanizing power difficulties that we are up against death matters; otherwise our en­ of compassion.* joyment of his violent end will be and discusses some of the studies weakened. We must never see him being made of which we should be as a fellow who planted radishes, * Reprinted with permission. Copy­ aware. He points out that there has made kites for his kids or patted right © 1963 by McCall Corpora­ been movement from the agrarian a dog on the head. We must not, tion. to the urban society and that it

179 SOME ISSUES IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

causes enormous constnc!ion in And what of our children? Do they is effect? Is it because they are the the lives of children. The separation learn courage, compassion, affec­ most aggressive children that they between the lives of children and tion, empathy, love, from identifi­ watch the most violence? The the lives of adults is greater than cation with the "goodie"? Healthy answer has to be no, because ag­ it has ever been. Our neighbor­ kids with other socializing experi­ gression can be turned on and off. hoods have become homogenized; ences may have a chance. But the The Robbers' Cave Experiment the suburbs are residential, and the image of the bad man is as vivid as conducted by Sherif at the Univer­ things that people do to live there that of the good, and for many sity of Oklahoma reaffirms this. are lost upon children growing up children it is a good deal more Two groups of children, known where there are only homes, lawns, exciting. Many youngsters with as the Eagles and the Rattlers, were and people who are quite similar. low self-esteem, susceptibility to set up in a summer camp experi­ As far as the children are con­ group pressure, inability to defer ence near Robbers' Cave, Okla­ cerned, their mothers and fathers gratification, low motivation for homa, and, under the control of the tend to be less familiar and less achievement, and delinquent ten­ counselors, deliberately exposed to available to them than was once the dencies have learned from western conditions designed to create ani­ case. or crime shows how to behave like mosity between the two groups. We now have a society in which the "baddies" they feel they are. With relatively simple techniques one-third of the mothers work. The Well, what does all this do? It emphasizing competition between father's absence has already been worries us, and has done so for a the two groups, these youngsters shown-especially in boys- to cor­ long time. Numerous studies have were at each other's throats at the relate with low motivation for appeared, such as those of Albert end of two or three weeks of camp, achievement, inability to defer Bandura, Richard Walters, Leonard hating each other, calling each gratification, low self-esteem, sus­ D. Eron and Muzafer Sherif dis­ other names, and seizing on every ceptibility to group pressures, and cussed by Bronfenbrenner in the opportunity for an imagined slight juvenile delinquency .. In the absence Saturday Review .. Bandura of Stan­ to emphasize the difference in the of parents, and in the homogenized ford exposed a group of children­ two groups-"we" were the "good­ neighborhood, whether in a suburb as they entered a playroom-to the ies"; "they" were the "baddies." or in the urban core, children turn sight of someone in the corner Now when this gut hate was well to devices as substitutes for parents. batting around a doll called Bobo. established, the counselors tried to One is the peer group; the other is All of us know Bobos; one pushes undo it. They found that they the television set. Some parents or smashes them down, and they could, with procedures whose ef­ consciously foster the child's choice bounce up to be hit again. The fectiveness was predicted by them. of the TV set as a babysitter. children were uncommitted to any What they did was exemplified Studies almost ten years old indi­ particular activity in the playroom, by two crises which they created cate that children five years of age which had all kinds of opportunities and which involved the whole spend two hours a day watching for creative activity. If someone camp-not one group or the other. TV. Jessamyn West has told us was engaged in violent activity as A leak in the water line that what they see on it. By 12 years these children entered the room, brought water to the camp was of age, the average child spends they engaged in significantly more fabricated somewhere in the mile three hours a day watching TV. He violent activity than a control and one-half that this line ran, and sees, again, the "Great American group. When the TV people heard the camp was organized to go out Story" that combines noble ele­ about it, they objected that the and find the leak and repair it. The ments of territoriality and personal situation was unnatural. But Ban­ truck that was going to get the food space. Typically, the story is played dura has shown that films work as developed a lesion and wouldn't by two men, one known as Good well, that even cartoons will set move. The whole camp went out and the other known as Bad, who the tone of children's activity, and and took turns pushing the truck to face each other at noon on a dusty that a ten-minute experience of this where it could get help. With these street. As they approach each other, sort has an impact that can be and other cooperative activities, with guns at their hips, the rules measured for at least six months. the tensions between these two of play are such that the critical dis­ It has been shown by Walters at groups began to diminish. They tance is always a little longer for Waterloo University in Canada that ended up being the very best of the bad man than for the good, so exactly the same things are true for friends through what was finally that the bad man draws first and adults. The evidence mounts. Eron, termed joint activity in superordi­ the good man kills him-in self at Iowa, showed in a study of 600 nate goals. defense. This is the Great Amer­ children that the most aggressive There are many superordinate ican Story, the legend of our time. children watched the most violence goals in our society to which we The bad man dies; he doesn't suffer. on TV. Which is cause, and which could address the attention of

180 V. C. VA UGHAN, Ill adults and children alike. There are and be ready to fight vigorously needs in health, education, and not only for the formulation of other areas which afford enormous public education programs but the opportunities for greater involve­ implementation of public policy, to ment of adults in the lives of chil­ the end that all children have the dren and greater opportunities for best possible opportunity for fulfill­ involvement of children in the ment-fulfillment through behavior problems and tasks of adults and of which manifests the altruistic qual­ a larger society. I think that such ities of sharing, caring, giving, lov­ programs as Head Start, the Peace ing, and, if need be, of sacrificing. Corps, VISTA, and VISA are only the beginning and are not just for References the poor. Jn summary, then, there are ADAMSON, J. Born Free: A Lioness of deeply rooted biological forces Two Worlds. New York: Pantheon, upon which we draw unwittingly 1960. for attitudes and behavior. There ARDREY, R. Territorial Imperative: A are pressing problems before us, Personal Inquiry into the Animal Origins of Property and Nations. ranging from war and slum riots New York: Atheneum, 1966. to the misery and hopelessness of hundreds of thousands of infants BRONFENBRENNER, u. The split-level family. Saturday Review 50: 60-66, and children leading empty and des­ 1967. perate lives in an unproductive way HARLOW, H. F. AND M. K. HARLOW. without society ever noticing that The effect of rearing conditions on something preventable and irrevo­ behavior. Bull. Menninger Clin. 26: cable is happening. All of us, as 213- 224, 1962. citizens devoted to the healthiest HERSHER, L., A. U. MOORE AND J. B. kind of childhood and adulthood RICHMOND. Effect of post partum for our children, know that this separation of mother and kid on represents an appalling tragedy for maternal care in the domestic goat. the individual. Multiplied by the Science 128: 1342- 1343, 1958. hundreds of millions, it may rep­ LORENZ, K. Z. King Solomon's Ring. resent a castastrophe for man­ New York: Crowell, 1952. kind. As physicians, we and other PROVENCE, s. AND R. LIPTON. Infants students of human behavior have in Institutions. New York: Inter­ unique opportunities and responsi­ national Universities Press, 1963. bilities in these matters. We must WEST, J. Violence. Redhook 120: 35, make our concerns widely known 104-105, 1963.

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