On the way to the airport Friday I read a potentially important opinion piece in the New York Times from their resident conservative, David Brooks. You have to be a subscriber to link to it, but it questions efforts to change behavior by persuading high schoolers--or the high schooler in all of us--to resist temptation and act morally.
It touches on issues we are covering in the public opinion section about how we process information. By the time we are in a position to face temptation, we have already been exposed to stimuli that will condition our responses--responses that will be reactive, not thought driven.
Kids raised in happy houses behave differently than those raised in violence. The presence of a caring father at an early age will have a greater impact on how a girl responds to sexual overtures than high school abstinence lessons. The behavior in each case are adapted to the needs created in each environment.
Brooks does not go into neural research, but he could have. Cognitive research suggests that thought is a product of neural pathways that develop in the brain over one's life--but primarily in one's early years. The behavior one is exposed to (peer groups, families, etc...) affects this development, which determines one's attitude, which then influences later decisions.
It's disturbing to those of us who believe in free will, but the case is compelling. If taken to an extreme, might this suggest that is impossible to modify human behavior past a certain age?
