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The Roots of the Self: Unraveling the Mystery of Who We Are
An exploration of why individuals are the way they are illuminates the complex forces that shape humans from womb to grave, arming readers with facts about genetics, environment, psychology, creativity, and higher consciousness. $25,000 ad/promo.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
About the author
Robert Ornstein
28 books100 followersPsychologist Robert Ornstein's wide-ranging and multidisciplinary work has won him awards from more than a dozen organizations, including the American Psychological Association and UNESCO. His pioneering research on the bilateral specialization of the brain has done much to advance our understanding of how we think.
He received his bachelor's degree in psychology from City University of New York in 1964 and his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1968. His doctoral thesis won the American Institutes for Research Creative Talent Award and was published immediately as a book, On the Experience of Time.
Since then he has written or co-written more than twenty other books on the nature of the human mind and brain and their relationship to thought, health and individual and social consciousness, which have sold over six million copies and been translated into a dozen other languages. His textbooks have been used in more than 20,000 university classes.
Dr. Ornstein has taught at the University of California Medical Center and Stanford University, and he has lectured at more than 200 colleges and universities in the U.S. and overseas. He is the president and founder of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), an educational nonprofit dedicated to bringing important discoveries concerning human nature to the general public.
Among his many honors and awards are the UNESCO award for Best Contribution to Psychology and the American Psychological Foundation Media Award "for increasing the public understanding of psychology."
He received his bachelor's degree in psychology from City University of New York in 1964 and his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1968. His doctoral thesis won the American Institutes for Research Creative Talent Award and was published immediately as a book, On the Experience of Time.
Since then he has written or co-written more than twenty other books on the nature of the human mind and brain and their relationship to thought, health and individual and social consciousness, which have sold over six million copies and been translated into a dozen other languages. His textbooks have been used in more than 20,000 university classes.
Dr. Ornstein has taught at the University of California Medical Center and Stanford University, and he has lectured at more than 200 colleges and universities in the U.S. and overseas. He is the president and founder of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), an educational nonprofit dedicated to bringing important discoveries concerning human nature to the general public.
Among his many honors and awards are the UNESCO award for Best Contribution to Psychology and the American Psychological Foundation Media Award "for increasing the public understanding of psychology."
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 24, 2013
This book fits my philosophy of life and education to a tee. For several years now I have been tired of terms like "normal," "dysfunctional," and "at-risk." What good are labels with no options available to correct problems?
A second reaction to these terms, which this book reinforces strongly, is that each of us is so complex, that a simple term like "normal" can't begin to address who or what we are. Normal is really just that middle 2/3 of the bell curve. We each may be normal in one category, low in another, high in a third, etc. I remember when I went to my ob/gyn as I was going through menopause; she began almost a memorized spiel about hormone replacement. I told her I am not a statistic in the middle of that bell curve. I am an individual and don't want to necessarily do what Western medicine considers "normal." She looked at me like I was truly not "normal."
As a teacher of special education students, I constantly see the "not-so-normal" and feel that our education system is broken because it buys the concept of "normal." One of the statements Dr. Ornstein makes in the book is the following: " School exams, for example, may be set up in a way that suits one individual's temperament better than another's, but everyone has to take them in the same way." I was reading this just weeks after suffering through administering standardized tests to students who cannot perform on them. One student ended up in tears and refused to try on a writing section. Another banged his head so hard on his desk that I became frightened he would have a concussion. A third wrote, "I don't understand so I won't write anything." It was, to say the least, miserable.
Dr. Ornstein gives a great discussion of the role the Reticular Activating System plays in our baseline level of arousal and how we react to that level. Those who have a sensitive system do not need additional stimulation-he calls them high gain. Those with low gain do not have such a sensitivity and seek outside stimulation. Boy, do these ever explain some of the difference we see in a special education classroom.
Thank you, Dr. Ornstein, for delineating in an easy to understand way why the terms "normal" is far too simplistic to give us tools to educate ourselves or deal with life.
A second reaction to these terms, which this book reinforces strongly, is that each of us is so complex, that a simple term like "normal" can't begin to address who or what we are. Normal is really just that middle 2/3 of the bell curve. We each may be normal in one category, low in another, high in a third, etc. I remember when I went to my ob/gyn as I was going through menopause; she began almost a memorized spiel about hormone replacement. I told her I am not a statistic in the middle of that bell curve. I am an individual and don't want to necessarily do what Western medicine considers "normal." She looked at me like I was truly not "normal."
As a teacher of special education students, I constantly see the "not-so-normal" and feel that our education system is broken because it buys the concept of "normal." One of the statements Dr. Ornstein makes in the book is the following: " School exams, for example, may be set up in a way that suits one individual's temperament better than another's, but everyone has to take them in the same way." I was reading this just weeks after suffering through administering standardized tests to students who cannot perform on them. One student ended up in tears and refused to try on a writing section. Another banged his head so hard on his desk that I became frightened he would have a concussion. A third wrote, "I don't understand so I won't write anything." It was, to say the least, miserable.
Dr. Ornstein gives a great discussion of the role the Reticular Activating System plays in our baseline level of arousal and how we react to that level. Those who have a sensitive system do not need additional stimulation-he calls them high gain. Those with low gain do not have such a sensitivity and seek outside stimulation. Boy, do these ever explain some of the difference we see in a special education classroom.
Thank you, Dr. Ornstein, for delineating in an easy to understand way why the terms "normal" is far too simplistic to give us tools to educate ourselves or deal with life.
March 21, 2013
This book was one of the favorite "eye-openers" for my students when I used it as one of the texts in a college course. Grounded in sound science and research, it demonstrates how much of our personality is hard-wired in the biology we are born with. I found this information extremely helpful in my psychotherapy practice. It increased my understanding and compassion for the differences we meet in others. I also think every parent and teacher should be aware of this information. Did you know that being "neat" or more "disorganized" is an inborn tendency? Did you know that 20% of people are born with a more "awake" or sensitive nervous system and that this has implications for how they respond to drugs and anesthesia? Being extroverted or introverted is explained as not so much a "psychological" trait as a difference in how much stimulation is comfortable for someone. If you know someone who is left handed, the explanation on how their brains are different is interesting!
November 13, 2011
1993 - its a little outdated now - but was an interesting read. My favorite quote out of the whole book was" (page 180 hardback):
"I've tried to show that we need to analyze the human personality and know oursleves in a new way, one based on our physiology rather than our ideology. Knowing about how our physiology disposes us toward life may provide us with a way to enact real change that is in line with our character, rather than in line with some artificial or arbitrary system. The brain and the nervous system are not immutable; they grow and change with life experiences thus, we can take an active role in changing our own brain processes and improve the way we manage ourselves".
"I've tried to show that we need to analyze the human personality and know oursleves in a new way, one based on our physiology rather than our ideology. Knowing about how our physiology disposes us toward life may provide us with a way to enact real change that is in line with our character, rather than in line with some artificial or arbitrary system. The brain and the nervous system are not immutable; they grow and change with life experiences thus, we can take an active role in changing our own brain processes and improve the way we manage ourselves".
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews