Judith Rich Harris

“I predict it will come to be seen as a turning point in the history of psychology.”

“Poor old Mum and Dad: publicly accused by their son, the poet, and never given a chance to reply to his charges. They shall have one now, if I may take the liberty of speaking for them. {{pbr}} How sharper than a serpent's tooth To hear your child make such a fuss. It isn't fair—it's not the truth— He's fucked up, yes, but not by us.”

“The use of "nurture" as a synonym for "environment" is based on the assumption that what influences children's development, apart from their genes, is the way their parents bring them up. I call this the nurture assumption. Only after rearing two children of my own and coauthoring three editions of a college textbook on child development did I begin to question this assumption. Only recently did I come to the conclusion that it is wrong.”