This is a refreshing review of motherhood within the framework (mainly) of personality-types, attachment-theory and it's neuroscientific explanation. Indeed, I consider it a rare blessing on women to experience motherhood which brings forth their fundamental humanity - which tends to be deeply buried by conditioning in modern culture - and thus gives women, in general, a greater potential for playing a positive role in society - even influencing culture BACK (from pervasive dehumanization) in the right direction.
Noneteheless, I question whether many assumptions adopted from personality-types and attachment-theory are adequate and propose an alternate framework based on my lifelong observatons (also of my three very different daughters) in various cultural settings - and knowing quite a few psychological/psychotherapueric schools of thinking as well trends in neuroscience. I posit that human nature has certain builtin mechanisms, e.g. for bonding (in general), compassion vs. dominance/assertion, extra vs. introversion - that may respectively be genetically more or less pronounced within "temperament" (= "innate character") and constitute development potentials within further personality-development - throughout life, so also for parents - and beyond. All these potentials need to be activated and so are modulated by cultural conditioning in various ways to the extent to which they are present. The activation (conditioning) IMO is mainly by resonance (simplistic synonym: mimicry) to one's care-takers and, more generally, significant relationships after that - and by roles we play in life. Motherhood is such a role, requiring and so expressing a bundle of character-traits, that may have been partially activated within normal conditioning - but get supercharged by bearing a child. In this framework, mothehood explains itself as an opportunity for development that the father has to lesser degree - but he is quite capable of the same character traits - in fact, may be biased by temperament (the potential traits) MORE toward them than the mother.
P.S. The reference to child narcissim opens up a "can of worms" - inasmuch as this BUILT-IN trait remains present for the time-being, even though mainly needed in infancy - and may even amplify by conditioning to the pathological form in adults - but actually, IMO, there is "by design of evolution" a distinct process of personality-development toward maturity that overcomes JUST THIS "child-trait" (and also makes us capable of GIVING love, BTW) - and this natural process overlaps with the overall process of personality-development (mainly by resonance or new roles) under the influence of culture and life-circumstances - and may in fact be "short-circuited", I posit that this is the "new normal".
>after childbirth, a father’s oxytocin elevates ... neural attunement through affectionate involvement (play). ... surge in vasopressin
so good mother provides the 24/7 basic care and good fathering encourages especially the boy to more assertiveness through play.
It is of course very variable but as an overall general picture, yes.
Fascinating - thank you!
This is a refreshing review of motherhood within the framework (mainly) of personality-types, attachment-theory and it's neuroscientific explanation. Indeed, I consider it a rare blessing on women to experience motherhood which brings forth their fundamental humanity - which tends to be deeply buried by conditioning in modern culture - and thus gives women, in general, a greater potential for playing a positive role in society - even influencing culture BACK (from pervasive dehumanization) in the right direction.
Noneteheless, I question whether many assumptions adopted from personality-types and attachment-theory are adequate and propose an alternate framework based on my lifelong observatons (also of my three very different daughters) in various cultural settings - and knowing quite a few psychological/psychotherapueric schools of thinking as well trends in neuroscience. I posit that human nature has certain builtin mechanisms, e.g. for bonding (in general), compassion vs. dominance/assertion, extra vs. introversion - that may respectively be genetically more or less pronounced within "temperament" (= "innate character") and constitute development potentials within further personality-development - throughout life, so also for parents - and beyond. All these potentials need to be activated and so are modulated by cultural conditioning in various ways to the extent to which they are present. The activation (conditioning) IMO is mainly by resonance (simplistic synonym: mimicry) to one's care-takers and, more generally, significant relationships after that - and by roles we play in life. Motherhood is such a role, requiring and so expressing a bundle of character-traits, that may have been partially activated within normal conditioning - but get supercharged by bearing a child. In this framework, mothehood explains itself as an opportunity for development that the father has to lesser degree - but he is quite capable of the same character traits - in fact, may be biased by temperament (the potential traits) MORE toward them than the mother.
P.S. The reference to child narcissim opens up a "can of worms" - inasmuch as this BUILT-IN trait remains present for the time-being, even though mainly needed in infancy - and may even amplify by conditioning to the pathological form in adults - but actually, IMO, there is "by design of evolution" a distinct process of personality-development toward maturity that overcomes JUST THIS "child-trait" (and also makes us capable of GIVING love, BTW) - and this natural process overlaps with the overall process of personality-development (mainly by resonance or new roles) under the influence of culture and life-circumstances - and may in fact be "short-circuited", I posit that this is the "new normal".