    33

    The Importance Of Hugging

    Why do some cultures seem abnormally prone to revel in

    violence?

    One possible answer comes from the patriarch of American

    psychology, William James.  Says James,  civilized life makes it possible

    "for large numbers of people to pass from the cradle to grave without

    ever having had a pang of genuine fear."  James implies that without

    the omnipresent sense that at any moment they may lose their lives,

    the beneficiaries of civilization feel far less of the savage animosity, the

    fierce hatreds, and the deep desires to mutilate and kill that terror

    inspires.97  James' notion is intriguing.  But let's not forget that we, too,

    have our hatreds and our violent moments.

    Another answer may be found in a survey of 49 primitive

    cultures conducted by James W. Prescott, founder of the National

    Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Developmental

    Biology Program.  Some of the cultures Prescott studied took great

    pleasure in "killing, torturing or mutilating the enemy."  Others did

    not.  What was the difference?  Says Prescott, "Physical

    affection--touching, holding, and carrying."  The societies that hugged

    their kids were relatively peaceful.  The cultures that treated their

    children coldly produced brutal adults.  Or, to put it more technically,

    a low score on the "Infant Physical Affection" scale correlated with a

    high rate of "adult physical violence."98

    You can see elements of Prescott's "Infant Physical Affection"

    factor at work in Islamic society.  Islamic mothers tend to be warm and

    nurturing.  But Islamic fathers treat their children harshly.  They are

    cold, distant and wrathful.  Their justification is an old religious

    proverb: "father's anger is part of God's anger."99  When he reaches

    puberty, an Arab boy is expelled from the loving world of his mother

    and sisters into the realm of men.100  There, hand holding between

    males is still allowed, but physical affection between men and women

    is frowned upon.  A vengeful masculinity stands in its place. The

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