I recently read a really excellent article – “Can you call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath?”
It’s really engaging to me, because of instances in my childhood where I behaved irrationally, calculating, and manipulative. It’s definitely opened up an interesting line of conversation between myself, my brother, and my mother.
But part of the conversation that intrigues me is kind of the nurture vs nature argument.
Two specific instances run in my family. Not sure how it applies, but here they are:
* There is a specific way that my father sat, when in watching TV, or in a contemplative mode. He would rest the forearm or the crook of his elbow of one of his arms on the top of his head. Anyone in my family has seen me do it a million times. It’s so unconscious, that I don’t even realize it. My brother, father, and myself were at a Christmas party where I noticed my father sitting on the couch with the aforementioned pose. So I nudged my brother and we all assumed that pose – my dad didn’t even realize we were doing it. Everyone is looking at us and giggling. So, I’ve seen my brother do it, and apparently it’s an inherited trait.
* When I sleep, even though I sleep on my side, and not on my back, typically I’ll fall asleep on my back with a pillow over my eyes. Then my arm is draped across the pillow. I saw my dad fall asleep this way a million times, and I assume my brother does it too.
Nothing more to add really.
