James W. Prescott Quotes

33 Sourced Quotes

Societies which inflict pain and discomfort upon their infants tend to neglect them as well.

James W. Prescott
The abnormal social and emotional behaviors that result from parental and social (somatosensory) deprivation are directly related to impaired brain functioning.

James W. Prescott
The percent likelihood of a society being physically violent if it is physically affectionate toward its infants and tolerant of premarital sexual behavior is 2 percent (48/49).

James W. Prescott
We should be breast-feeding children up to 2 or 3 years of age.

James W. Prescott
The brain is highly immature at birth and is dependent upon sensory stimulation for normal growth, development, and function. Sensory stimulation is like a a nutrient—without it the brain does not develop or function normally.

James W. Prescott
Cultural anthropologists have gathered exactly the data required to examine this hypothesis for human societies—and their findings are conveniently arranged in R. B. Textor's A Cross Cultural Summary.

James W. Prescott
When and if we choose to rear our infants and children in an affectional environment of positive reinforcements, then... by the very nature of that environment we will be free and dignified.

James W. Prescott
The competitive ethic, which teaches children that they must advance at the expense of others, should be replaced by values of cooperation and a pursuit of excellence for its own sake.

James W. Prescott
The deprivation of physical sensory pleasure is the principle root cause of violence.

James W. Prescott
The issues of human violence and human pleasure are pivotal to any theory—scientific or religious—of moral behavior. Violence and pleasure are reciprocally related, that is, the presence of one inhibits the other, and certain critical early sensory experiences during the formative periods of development provide the neurobiological substrate and properties for either violence-seeking or pleasure-seeking behaviors.

James W. Prescott
Sensory deprivation during the formative periods of development leads to a high demand and need for stimulation later in life.

James W. Prescott
The pleasure-prone personality has a low capacity and tolerance for violent-aggressive behaviors. Conversely, the violence and aggression prone personality has a low capacity and tolerance for pleasure and for sensuous behaviors. As one goes up, the other goes down.

James W. Prescott
Stimulation of brain pleasure centers can eliminate feelings of rage, fear, and depression.

James W. Prescott
The contributions of Freud to the effects of early experiences upon later behaviors and consequences of repressed sexuality have been well established. Unfortunately time and space do not permit a discussion here of his differences with Wilhelm Reich concerning his Beyond the Pleasure Principle.

James W. Prescott
Punitive-repressive attitudes toward extramarital sex are also linked with physical violence, personal crime, and the practice of slavery.

James W. Prescott
Most of our 'pleasure' activities appear to be substitutes for the natural sensory pleasures of touching.

James W. Prescott
Certain sensory experiences during the formative periods of development will create a neuropsychological predisposition for either violence-seeking or pleasure-seeking behaviors later in life.

James W. Prescott
The controlled laboratory studies of Harry F. and Margaret K. Harlow... separated infant monkeys... in single cages in an animal colony room where they could develop social relationships... through seeing, hearing, and smelling, but not through touching or movement. These and other studies indicate that it is the deprivation of body contact and body movement—not deprivation of the other body senses—that produces the wide variety of abnormal emotional behaviors in these isolation-reared animals.

James W. Prescott
Those societies which give their infants the greatest amount of physical affection were characterized by low theft, low infant physical pain, low religious activity, and negligible or absent killing, mutilating, or torturing of the enemy.

James W. Prescott
The world has only a limited time to change its custom of resolving conflicts violently. It is uncertain... how many future generations it will take to transform out psychobiology of violence into one of peace.

James W. Prescott
Recent research supports the point of view that the deprivation of physical pleasure is a major ingredient in the expression of physical violence.

James W. Prescott
Contrary to Dr. Benjamin Spock, it is harmful for a baby to cry itself to sleep.... we not only teach the child distrust... but also establish patterns of neglect...

James W. Prescott
The causes of violence lie in our basic values and the way in which we bring up our children and youth.

James W. Prescott
Body pleasure is very different from promiscuity, which reflects a basic inability to experience pleasure. If a sexual relationship is not pleasurable, the individual looks for another partner.... Affectionately shared physical pleasure... tends to stabalize a relationship and eliminate the search.

James W. Prescott
An infant or child is not "free" to select the nature of his sensory environment but is dependent upon adults for the quality of his sensory environment and, thus, [for] his neurobiological development and psychobiological predispositions for certain kinds of behavior. From this perspective, it is evident that before a child can reason and before reason can establish principles of moral behavior, the course of an ethical and moral life has already been set.

James W. Prescott