Here Comes Granddad Again: Notes and Refs

NOTES:

1. Originally given in a talk to the SpringFord Rotary, 6/7/95. Many of the following observations are beyond the controls of formal scientific method. Fortunately for all of us, science has different rules for the context of discovery than it does for the context of justification. Many of my personal family examples involve male characters; a similar paper could have been written giving more attention to the women's contributions.

2. I wish to acknowledge encouragement and editorial assistance from Diane Alex-Brody and Amy Sheller Broidrick with earlier drafts of this essay.

3. A copy of this paper in a different format is available from jfbrody@compuserve.com.

4. I apologize for the self disclosure that follows; however, it allows me to share detail with fewer risks to client confidentiality. I apologize also for my lack of circumspection. My interpretations are conjectural and the observations highly selected. Unfortunately, there is a danger of my discrediting the ideas because of my zeal or lack of caution.

5. Darwin is said to have been so concerned about clerical and public reactions to his challenges to special creation that he gathered data for two decades before he was spurred to present his theory alongside Wallace (Eiseley, 1979). I do not have their time or gifts.

6. "Mendel, who developed the rules for genetic traits passing from one generation to another, made it very clear that while those traits reassort, they don't change over time. A white flower mated to a red flower has pink offspring, and if that pink flower is crossed with another pink flower the offspring that result are just as red or just as white or just as pink as the original parent or grandparent. Species of organisms, Mendel insisted, don't change through time. The mixture or blending that produced the pink is superficial. The genes are simply shuffled around to come out in different combinations, but those same combinations generate the same types." (Margulis, 1995)

7. Chromosomes change through the mechanism of crossover; Dawkins (1989) reserves "gene" for bits of material that are transmitted unchanged across generations.

8. Numerous others have also noted these phenomena. Eiseley (1975) remarked about seeing his father's hand coming from his own sleeve. I've attempted to locate the group that sang "Things Handed Down," a song played on WIOQ, Philadelphia, Mothers' Day, 1996, but with no success. There are other popular songs that refer to family traits, especially in country and western titles.

9. My father had another feature which he shared with at least one of his 4 brothers and which I carry with some embarrassment. My uncle Ray was an automobile mechanic in a small town outside of Kansas City. He liked, after work, to stop at the cafe and tease the waitresses. (He even shot them in the fanny with a water pistol as they passed his table.) Pop did not permit himself these antics; however, his scowl always softened when an attentive lady poured his coffee or offered him pie. There's something about a woman's personal attention that soothes us even after the most hectic demands. I get the same sense of acceptance, rest, and security from a good waitress, nurse, or female dentist. Like my father, I rarely permit such expressions to occur openly. I doubt that we're alone in these traits; there are a lot of cafes and diners in this country and an engaging waitress probably draws more customers than either reasonable prices or good food. The hygeinist certainly has many values in building a dental practice. I must wonder about the genetic significance of my trait and whether it is a residual of earlier, still powerful habits, ones that had survival value for men and for women in darker times.

10. Some children get a powerful social tool from such mixed traits. They can "act like dad" when they wish to annoy mom and the reverse when they opt to annoy dad. This weapon is perhaps keenest when the parents are divorced. and just after the child returns from visiting the estranged spouse.

11. All names have been changed except those of family members.

12. 48 hrs into recovery and I'm pursuing my obsession with inherited behavior!

13. I can reproduce the "brick" phenomenon of family behavior patterns in every client I interview. I once asked Aaron Beck, M.D., during a conference break whether he had noticed highly similar or even identical behaviors in several generations of the same family. He admitted that he had but didn't "know what to make of it" (12/9/92). Similarly, I cannot explain my observations but stand by them. See the essay, "Adaptive Systems: A Foundation for 'Here Comes Grand Dad Again'?" for some possible explanations.

14. I remember my mother's mother alive; I was in the 3rd grade when I saw her last. She raised 3 children by 2 fathers and had a 3rd husband when I knew her. I remember most clearly a heavy set lady with a easy laugh and graveled voice. She smoked constantly and drank a lot of beer on the weekends. My father's mother remarried shortly after Craig Brody's death. Rumor has it that she chose an alcoholic who squandered the estate and then abandoned her. She had no job skills and surrendered her 5 children to the State of Missouri to support with foster placements. Dad was a year old at the time.

15. One problem with a genetic, evolutionary preoccupation is that I think less about a woman's beautiful face, legs, or posterior. Instead, I'm more likely to think, "What a great set of eggs!"

16 Her mother's argumentive qualities have made her a star debater and could help her convince other lawyers and groups of people to follow her lead to solve our desperate problems of population excess and our competing drives for survival and dominance over other creatures.

17. Mash & Barkley (1996) refers to familial and possible genetic contributions for nearly a dozen emotional difficulties seen in children.

18. For example, Gazzaniga (1992) argues that there is lesser significant contribution from learning in human development. He argues that most behaviors are preprogrammed and that environmental factors draw them out. Abilities that are present at birth but not exercised are lost.

19. John Tooby (1992) and Leda Cosmides laborously contrt refer to family traits, especially in country and western titles.

9. My father had another feature which he shared with at least one of his 4 brothers and which I carry with some embarrassment. My uncle Ray was an automobile mechanic in a small town outside of Kansas City. He liked, after work, to stop at the cafe and tease the waitresses. (He even shot them in the fanny with a water pistol as they passed his table.) Pop did not permit himself these antics; however, his scowl always softened when an attentive lady poured his coffee or offered him pie. There's something about a woman's personal attention that soothes us even after the most hectic demands. I get the same sense of acceptance, rest, and security fr.

21. I have my father's name but not his gracious manner with people. I introduced myself at his funeral as "Jim Brody" to others who were grieving Jim Brody's passing. My intentions were sincere and, to an extent, literal; however, I may have been seen as clumsy or arrogant.

22. Some may think of Free Will in its oppositional form, the one synonymous with American tradition, the one that says, "Don't tell me what to do." I prefer one outlined by Barkley (1996) wherein Free Will involves anticipating future situations, comparing them to past situations, checking for rules, choosing between behavior options, and then implementing that choice at a future time.

23. See Jacoby, R., & Glauberman, N. Eds., (1995)

24. "A lot of organisms that survive are in no sense superior to those that have gone extinct. It's not a question of being 'better than'; it's simply a matter of finding a place where you can be yourself. That's what evolution is all about." Goodwin, Brian. (1995)

REFERENCES

Barkley, R. (1996) Taking charge of ADHD. New York: Guilford.

Tooby, J., (1992) The psychological foundations of culture. In Barkow, J., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1992) The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. New York: Oxford.

Buss, A. (1988)Personality: Evolutionary heritage and human distinctiveness. Hillsdale, NJ.: Erlbaum.

Dawkins (1995) A survival machine. In In J. Brockman (Ed.) The third culture. New York: Simon & Schuster, pp 74-95.

Dawkins (1989) The selfish gene. New York: Oxford.

Eiseley, L. (1995) All the strange hours: Excavations of a life. New York: Scribners.

Eiseley, L. (1970) Darwin and the mysterious mr. x: New light on the evolutionists. New York: Harcourt Brace.

Gazzaniga, M. (1992) Nature's mind. New York: Basic Books.

Goodwin, Brian. (1995) Biology is just a dance. In J. Brockman (Ed.) The third culture. New York: Simon & Schuster, p.103.

Jacoby, R., & Glauberman, N. Eds., (1995) The bell curve debate. New York: Random House.

Margulis, L. (1995) Gaia is a tough bitch. In J. Brockman (Ed.), The third culture. New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 131.

Mash, E. & Barkley, R. (Eds) (1996) Child Psychopathology. New York: Guilford.

Sarason, S., & Doris, J. (1969) Psychological problems in mental deficiency. Harper & Row: NY.

• Granddad and LIFE by James Brody, 3/18/98