Lo sforzo educativo ridimensionato
THE CASE AGAINST GUILT: A PARENT’S GUIDE TO BEHAVIORAL GENETICS – Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think – Bryan Caplan
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Punti chiave: La paura di essere giudicati come genitori pigri – Quanto conta il nostro sforzo educativo? Poco, meno di quel che pensiamo – La natura vince… alla lunga – Genetica comportamentale: studi su gemelli e adottati – La natura umana è flessibile – Natura, famiglia, ambiente non condiviso (libertà fortuna) – Salute, intelligenza, successo, voti, reddito, carattere, Felicità, autostima, valori, riconoscimento ai genitori, sesso, amore, divorzio, orientamento sessuale – Il test di Segan
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KIDS BORN TODAY REQUIRE FOOD AND SHELTER, JUST AS THEY DID a hundred thousand years ago. Meeting these basic needs is far easier than it once was
Note:CIBO E VESTITI
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Moms’ and dads’ central objection is that if they cut corners, they risk their children’s future…Their heads fill with images of lazy parents…
Note:PERCHÈ NON PRENDERSELA COMODA
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Nature wins, especially in the long run.
Note:LA NATURA VINCE
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This may sound discouraging. No parent wants to hear that his sacrifices have been in vain.
Note:IL LATO SPIACEVOLE DELLA FACCENDA
HOW TO TELL NATURE FROM NURTURE
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In contrast, we tend to see their psychological and behavioral similarity as proof of the power of parenting.
Note:FISICO E PSICOLOGIA
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the typical family seamlessly blends biology and upbringing.
Note:INUTILE STUDIARE LA FAMIGLIA TIPO
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two kinds of families are special: Families that adopt, and families with twins.
Note:CIÒ CHE SERVE
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there are two kinds of twins: identical and fraternal. Identical twins share all of their genes…Fraternal twins share only half of their genes…
Note:DUE TIPI DI GEMELLI
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if identical twins resemble each other more than fraternal twins, the reason is probably nature.
Note:LA PROVA DEL NOVE
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twins who were separated and raised by different families.
Note:L’ESPERIMENTO PERFETTO
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If identical twins raised apart are more similar than fraternal twins raised apart, the reason almost has to be nature. If twins raised together are more similar than twins raised apart, the reason almost has to be nurture.
Note:CONDIZIONE
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The result is a new discipline—behavioral genetics
Note:È NATA UNA NUOVA DISCIPLINA
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Identical twins are much more similar than fraternal twins—even when separated at birth—and their similarity often increases as they age.
Note:ESITO
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By the time adoptees reach adulthood, however, this resemblance largely fades away.
Note:NATURA FLESSIBILE
EXPLAINING VARIATION
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If you raise a child in a closet and make sure he never hears a word, he won’t learn how to speak.
Note:SCARTIAMO I CASI ESTREMI
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Most twin and adoption studies focus on people raised in advanced Western countries in modern times…If a mix-up sent a Haitian baby to food-rich America, and an American baby to hungry Haiti, the effect on height could be massive…
Note:IL CONTESTO
NURTURE AND ENVIRONMENT ARE NOT THE SAME
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No two people have exactly the same environment. Two children who live under one roof have different teachers and friends.
Note:L’AMBIENTE È UNICO
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researchers equate “nurtured in the same way” with “were raised by the same people.”
Note:CONVENZIONE
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Any feature of children’s environment that varies despite the fact that they were raised by the same people. Researchers call such features “unique environment” or “nonshared environment,”
Note:AMBIENTE ORIGINALE O NON CONDIVISO
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Anything from peers, germs, and television to parental favoritism, dumb luck, and free will could qualify as unique environment.
Note:LIBERTÀ
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Instead of picturing a two-way race between nature and nurture, picture a three-way race
Note:TRE FATTORI… NON DUE
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The fact that genes don’t explain everything does not imply that family environment explains the rest.
Note:SPIEGAZIONI RESIDUALI
NATURE AND NURTURE: DIRECT VERSUS INDIRECT EFFECTS
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If researchers report that genes affect income, for example, the reason might be that genes matter for intelligence, and intelligence matters for income.
EFFETTI DIRETTI E INDIRETTI…. PROBLEMA IRRILEVANTE?
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Since researchers bundle together direct and indirect effects, their results are a lot stronger than they look. Suppose an adoption study finds that nurture doesn’t influence smoking. A parent could not reasonably object, “Right, but since peers influence smoking, and parents influence peers, I still matter.” The flaw in this argument is that a normal adoption study includes any and all indirect effects.
Note:ROBUSTEZZA DEI RISULTATI
MEASURING NATURE AND NURTURE EFFECTS
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The clearest measures come from a thought experiment I call “Switched at Birth”
Note:ESPERIMENTO IDEALE PER LE PROBABILITÀ
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if your counterpart in the thought experiment is in the 51st through 55th percentiles, I’ll call that a “small” effect. If he’s in the 56th through 65th percentiles, I’ll call that a “moderate” effect. Anything more I’ll call “large.”
Note:CONVENZIONE
THE PARENTAL WISH LIST: CAN PARENTS MAKE THEIR DREAMS COME TRUE?
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you’d still prefer your kids to become healthy, smart, happy, successful, virtuous adults who share your values and appreciate..The underlying assumption is that parents have the power to grant their own wishes…
Note:LA LISTA
WISH #1: HEALTH
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Parents pressure their kids to eat right, get fresh air and exercise, brush their teeth, and stay away from tobacco and drugs…The main rationale for health-related nagging is to instill healthy habits…
Note:MANGIAR SANO ECC…..
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Parents don’t affect life expectancy. Major twin studies find no influence of family environment on life span.
Note:SPERANZA DI VITA
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Parents have little or no effect on overall health. There’s more to health than staying alive.
Note:SALUTE GENERICA
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Parents don’t affect height, weight, or teeth. We all want our kids to grow up to be tall and fit, with sparkling white teeth.
Note:PESO ALTEZZA DENTI
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Parents might have a small effect on smoking, drinking, and drug problems.
Note:FUMARE BERE DROGARSI
WISH #2: INTELLIGENCE
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One misreported study about “the Mozart effect” led moms to play the classics for babies and fetuses alike.
Note:MOZART EFFECT
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parents have little or no long-run effect on their children’s intelligence.
Note:INTELLIGENZA
WISH #3: HAPPINESS
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Good parents want to make their children happy. In the short run, they often succeed.
Note:FELICITÀ NEL BREVE
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The most striking evidence on nature, nurture, and happiness comes from the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart. Twins raised apart were more alike in happiness than twins raised together.
Note:PARADOSSO
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The same goes for self-esteem.
Note:STIMA
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Unhappy adults like to blame their problems on their parents’ lack of love and support. According to the best evidence, however, both groups are wrong.
Note:GENITORI COME FONTE DI INFELICITÀ
WISH #4: SUCCESS
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Strangers often advise you to follow your dreams, but parents are more likely to tell you to get your head out of the clouds…Being a successful lawyer is more fun than being a failed actor….
Note:IL CLASSICO CONSIGLIO
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success roughly equals high income and a fancy degree.
Note:SUCCESSO
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Successful parents may give their kids a small edge, but heredity is much more important. Kids literally inherit educational and financial success from their parents.
Note:IL SUCCESSO EREDITATO
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Parents have little effect on how much school their kids get.
Note:SCUOLA SCELTA
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twin researchers conclude that children’s families have no long-run effect on educational success.
Note:POCA INFLUENZA
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Parents have no effect on grades.
Note:VOTI
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Parents have little or no effect on how much money their kids make when they grow up.
Note:REDDITO
WISH #5: CHARACTER
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We want our children to grow up to be men and women of substance—of character.
Note:IL DESIDERIO DI UN GENITORE
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“Maybe I can’t affect his IQ or his income, but I can control whether he grows up to be a decent person.”
Note:L’ULTIMO BALUARDO DEI GENITORI
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Parents have little or no effect on conscientiousness or agreeableness.
Note:EMPATIA E SELF CONTROL
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Parents have little or no effect on criminal behavior.
Note:COMPORTAMENTO CRIMINALE
WISH #6: VALUES
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When your side does it, it’s “education”; when other sides do it, it’s “brainwashing.”
Note:EDUCAZIONE E LAVAGGIO DEL CERVELLO
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Parents have a big effect on religious labels, but little on religious attitudes and behavior.
Note:RELIGIONE
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Parents have a big effect on political labels, but little on political attitudes and behavior.
Note:POLITICA
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Parents have little effect on traditionalism and modernism.
Note:IDEOLOGIA
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Like other personality traits, openness is largely unresponsive to upbringing.
Note:CURIOSITÀ
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Parents have moderate influence over when their daughters start having sex, but little over their sons.
Note:SESSO E AMORE
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Parents have little or no effect on teen pregnancy.
ote:GRAVIDANZE
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Parents have little or no effect on adult sexual behavior.
Note:ANCORA SESSO
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Parents may have a small effect on sexual orientation.
ote:ORIENTAMENTO SESSUALE
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genes are far from the whole story—if you’re gay, your identical twin is usually still straight.
Note:NON SOLO GENI
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Parents have little or no effect on marriage, marital satisfaction, or divorce.
Note:DIVORZIO
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Parents have little or no effect on childbearing.
Note:GRAVIDANZE
WISH #7: APPRECIATION
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To me, it’s more important to deserve my children’s appreciation than to get it.
Note:L’AMORE DEI FIGLI PER I GENITORI
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Out of all the wishes on the Parental Wish List, “good memories” are one of the few that clearly depend upon how you raise your child.
Note:L’AMBIENTE QUI È DECISIVO
BEYOND THE EXTRAORDINARY
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“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” But behavioral genetics comfortably passes Sagan’s test.
SEGAN TEST
