The Psychology of Human Aggression | J. D. Haltigan | EP 464

Coming up (0s)

• Why does the current generation seem to have difficulty regulating their emotions compared to previous generations?
• How much of this is due to innate temperament, differences in rearing, and cultural influences?

Intro (28s)

• Introduction of Dr. J.D. Haltigan, a developmental psychologist with an interest in psychopathology and a vocal critic of the current state of the psychological community and culture.
• Dr. Haltigan's decision to work at a deli rather than pursue an academic career due to his concerns about the direction of the field.
• Dr. Haltigan's academic journey, including his Ph.D. in developmental psychology at the University of Miami, where he studied attachment theory and early risk for autism.
• His post-doctoral experiences, including training in attachment measures like the adult attachment interview and the strange situation.
• The challenges he faced in securing a tenure-track position in academia.
• His appointment at the University of Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health from 2016 to 2023.
• His growing discomfort with the "woke" direction of academia and research, leading to his departure from the university.
• His current efforts to stay involved in academia while working odd jobs to support himself.

Developmental psychology (5m4s)

• Developmental psychology studies human development from birth to death.
• It examines cognitive skills, emotional capacities, language development, and theory of mind.
• Key figures in developmental psychology include John Bowlby, Lev Vygotsky, and Sigmund Freud.
• Freud's Oedipus complex contributed to understanding modern-day psychopathology.
• Freud highlighted the potential dangers of mothers extending excessive care past its due date.
• Eric Neumann described symbolism and mythology associated with the devouring mother.
• The current administrative environment in universities and K-12 systems shows signs of a maternal instinct gone awry.

Psychology of the devouring mother, cluster B pathology (10m3s)

• Freud's concept of the "good enough" mother is relevant to current cultural issues, as overprotectiveness can restrict children's adaptation and development.
• A "good enough" parent replaces a child's dependency on an external source with competence and skill, but this can be challenging for mothers with cluster B personality disorders.
• Cluster B personality disorders involve preoccupation with the attachment relationship, and the parent regulates their own sense of satisfaction through the child, inverting the normal parent-child dynamic.
• This inverted role reversal relationship is toxic for the child's development and adaptation, leading to a weak identity structure and an inability to regulate their own emotions.
• Children of cluster B mothers, who are often present in the lives of children with absent fathers, have personality pathologies that include histrionic, narcissistic, psychopathic, and antisocial traits.
• Children of cluster B mothers are constantly called upon to attend to their mothers' unmet emotional needs, but there is no way of meeting those needs due to the nature of cluster B personality disorders.

Attachment theory and generational failure (18m13s)

• Multigenerational transmission of familial emotional pathology occurs biologically and socially.
• Caregivers' baseline emotional regulation levels and the early childhood social relationship affect a child's ability to regulate emotions.
• Failure in regulating or scaffolding a child's emotional development leads to persistent inability to regulate emotions, seen in cluster B personality disorders.
• This failure has aggregated in the culture, leading to societal issues.

Proper infant development, the face-to-face still-face paradigm (21m23s)

• Infants are born with a few primary emotions, motivations, and wired-up motor skills. Their development progresses from the center outward, with intense and immediate emotional needs.
• Parents and the social environment help children integrate their emotions through play and social interactions, especially during the critical stage of development between the ages of two and four.
• The "still face effect" demonstrates the importance of social communication and interaction for infants' emotional well-being, as infants become highly negative when their caregiver shows no emotional communication or engagement.
• Parents play a crucial role in scaffolding the regulation of emotion in their children, allowing for exploration and providing comfort when needed.
• Disciplinary strategies are necessary to prepare children to behave appropriately in the real world and integrate their emotions into a framework of behavior that others find attractive and inviting.
• Parents should encourage their children's instinct towards mastery and integration between the ages of two and four, while also regulating their emotions to prevent negative consequences and ensure positive social interactions.

The broader culture has been captured by overprotection (34m11s)

• Overprotection and over-involvement by parents can interfere with a child's impulse control development.
• Children who are constantly dependent on their parents for emotional satisfaction or fulfillment of their needs may not develop the ability to regulate their impulses.
• This can lead to emotional dysregulation and impulsive behavior in adulthood, as seen in the millennial generation.
• There is evidence to support the influence of overprotection on impulse control, but more research is needed to formally establish the link.
• Overprotection and over-involvement by parents can interfere with a child's impulse control development.
• Children who are constantly dependent on their parents for emotional satisfaction or fulfillment of their needs may not develop the ability to regulate their impulses.
• This can lead to emotional dysregulation and impulsive behavior in adulthood, as seen in the millennial generation.
• There is evidence to support the influence of overprotection on impulse control, but more research is needed to formally establish the link.

How older parents raise their kids (37m36s)

• Modern parenting differs from the past, with older parents, fewer children per family, and an increase in single parents.
• Developmental psychology literature focuses on infancy and childhood, neglecting broader sociological transformations.
• Factors like older parenting, fewer children, and single parenting are understudied due to ideological biases in academia.
• Inborn temperament, rearing differences, and cultural milieu shape the emotional regulation abilities of the current generation.
• Social media, texting, and online content exposure reduce face-to-face interactions among children and adolescents.
• Excessive screen time hinders social skills and emotional intelligence development by replacing unstructured play and creative conceptualizations.

The dramatic and frantic search for identity after delayed development (45m12s)

• The lack of dramatic play in childhood, especially during adolescence, can lead to issues with identity formation in early adulthood.
• Social media, combined with increasing secularism, creates a consumer market for identities that are not useful in the real world.
• Living online rather than in the real world can lead to a lack of understanding of the consequences of actions.
• Online environments provide an incentive structure that facilitates dark tetrad behavior, such as anonymity and the ability to engage in indirect aggression.
• Approximately 25% of online content is pornographic, and a significant amount is outright criminal.
• The pathological incentive structure of the virtual world may be spilling over into the real world, leading to negative consequences.
• Social media acts as an incubator for cluster B personality traits, amplifying negative behaviors and emotions without any limiting mechanisms.
• The combination of dark tetrad traits and the online environment can lead to events like the October 7th incident and campus tent cities, where online behavior manifests in real-world actions.

Macro-social contagions, why people moralize lies (55m42s)

• Cluster B personality types, such as psychopaths and narcissists, use claims of victimization to justify their aggression and camouflage their true motives with a moral narrative.
• Religious, political, and economic conflicts can be used as a cover for cluster B individuals to gain power and control.
• The intermingling of cluster B psychopathologies with religious, political, and economic ideologies can have perverse consequences.
• Lying and moralizing lies are more psychopathic than simple lies and can be used to justify atrocities and socially unacceptable behaviors.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, female scholars advocating against mask mandates and lockdowns faced online bullying from male trolls with credentials.
• The anonymity of the internet and social media enabled aggressive behavior that would not have occurred in real-world interactions.
• The moralization of potential harm to a few individuals versus the majority's well-being led to harmful consequences for the majority.

The dissociation of atrocity from guilt (1h3m33s)

• The Nazis were guilty about their crimes and tried to hide them.
• In contrast, modern atrocities like the Hamas massacres and the trans butchery are reveled in and seen as moral virtues.
• Sadists claim victimization to gain sympathy and exploit others.
• The glamorization of sadistic behavior, such as the killing and mass slaughter of people, is seen in media like Hamas tapes and trans TikTok videos.
• This glorification of harmful behaviors creates an environment where engaging in them is seen as heroic.
• Social media platforms enable the spread of these toxic ideologies through echo chambers and validation.
• The moralization of lies, as seen in the recent Biden-Trump debate, is more psychopathic and damaging to society than simply telling lies.

When chimpanzees go to war, the limits of human aggression (1h8m36s)

• Chimpanzees, our closest primate relatives, exhibit extreme violence during "chimpanzee wars," suggesting that aggression may be inherent in our primate nature.
• The Rape of Nanking, marked by extreme Japanese atrocities, shows that human aggression can reach unimaginable levels outside of social hierarchy constraints.
• The participation of normal Japanese soldiers in these atrocities indicates that aggression can spread beyond individuals with psychopathic tendencies.
• Attempts to abolish hierarchies often result in the emergence of worse hierarchies, suggesting that hierarchies are ingrained in human behavior.
• The absence of hierarchy or guiding principles leads to unregulated behavior and cultural disintegration.
• The current cultural malaise is caused by ideologues trying to abolish structure, categories, and constraints in various societal aspects, such as mental health, law, and gender identity.
• A culture that allows unconstrained individual expression leads to a crisis and the inability to contain underlying tyrannical behaviors.

Why J. D. Haltigan was canceled (1h15m58s)

• J. D. Haltigan, despite his academic qualifications and publication record, believes his outspoken personality and criticism of "woke" ideologies may have hindered his hiring prospects in academia.
• Haltigan expresses concern that his association with topics like gender and race could negatively impact the career opportunities of his graduate students due to potential biases against him.
• He highlights a racial and gender bias in academia, suggesting that Caucasian males face difficulties in obtaining interviews compared to their female and non-Caucasian counterparts.
• Following the George Floyd incident, Haltigan observed that 94% of 300,000 jobs went to non-white males, while white males were largely excluded.
• Despite not experiencing overt reputational damage, Haltigan considers himself "soft-cancelled" due to job loss and challenges in academia.
• To cope, he has built a social media platform, engaged with students, and taken on a part-time job while continuing to speak out against Dei statements.
• A Pacific Legal team is representing Haltigan in a lawsuit against the University of Santa Cruz for their Dei statement requirement.
• Haltigan criticizes social justice and equity initiatives, prioritizing personal integrity and staying true to his beliefs even if it means sacrificing career opportunities.
• He accuses "demented progressives" and "cowardly liars" in psychology of dishonesty and lacking scientific rigor.
• Haltigan suggests his troubles may stem from his refusal to conform to prevailing ideologies and unwillingness to propagate falsehoods.

What marks the death of the scientific enterprise (1h27m45s)

• The scientific enterprise dies when scientists cease to seek the truth.
• Scientists can lie at every level of the research process, from data recording to publication.
• Without a commitment to truth, science becomes corrupted and ceases to be a reliable source of knowledge.
• The academy is in a state of decline due to a lack of attention to detail, scientific rigor, and a focus on ideology over truth.
• Researchers are engaging in questionable practices, such as laundering their findings around ideologies and normalizing psychopathology.
• The misuse of language, such as the term "cis," is contributing to the breakdown of structure and normativity in academia.
• This breakdown of structure and normativity is leading to a culture in crisis.

One final horrible hypothesis: pluralism (1h31m58s)

• Marginalized individuals face socioeconomic disadvantages, health issues, mental illnesses, and substance abuse problems.
• Postmodern efforts to center marginalized groups create a paradox, as the marginalized are diverse and ever-expanding, making a unified center impossible.
• Bringing extreme societal fringes to the center can have destructive consequences for both the center and the previously marginalized groups.
• The author warns against excessive inclusivity of marginalized groups, as it risks unleashing dangerous individuals.
• The concept of pluralism in developmental psychopathology is criticized for leading to unmitigated pluralism, where individual truths prevail over objective truth, potentially resulting in the absence of definable psychopathology.
• Excessive pluralism can normalize individual idiosyncrasies and make societal norms irrelevant, leading to a state of insanity.
• The speaker expresses concern about the current state of academia, particularly in psychology and psychopathology, criticizing the acceptance of multiple online identities and the lack of methodological rigor.
• The speaker condemns the silence of many psychologists and developmental psychologists regarding gender-affirming care and the rewriting of psychopathology classifications.
• The speaker praises Dr. Haltigan for speaking out against these issues and encourages others to do the same.
• Independent science may make a comeback, potentially changing how scientific research is published.