Whenever someone refers to “settled science”, I can be almost certain I’m talking with someone who doesn’t understand how science works.
Whenever I talk with someone who tries to apply the concept to psychology, I know that, beyond a profound lack of understanding of the discipline, I’m dealing with someone who has never had the faintest twitch of curiosity about the history of the field.
I pondered that last night as I listened to this piece, about how sixty years ago, the elite of contemporary psychology believed that showing inordinate affection and love to ones’ children would damage them profoundly.
Sad to say, I’m afraid vestiges of this live on in many parenting books that encourage parents to let their children “cry it out” instead of cuddling them. I’m thinking specifically of “Growing Kids God’s Way” and “Babywise” by Gary Ezzo–or, as I tend to call them, “Shrinking kids Satan’s Way” and “Babyfoolish.” The latter has actually been called out by a lactation consultants’ organization and pediatricians for being strongly linked to “failure to thrive” among infants.