Editing James W. Prescott

{{short description|American developmental psychologist (born 1934)}}
{{BLP sources|date=January 2011}}
'''James W. Prescott''' (born January 21, 1934) is an American developmental [[psychologist]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Moffet|first=Penelope|title=Sensory Stimuli Vital for Young, Speaker Says|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1066518062.html?dids=1066518062:1066518062&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+25,+1986&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Sensory+Stimuli+Vital+for+Young,+Speaker+Says&pqatl=google|access-date=19 January 2011|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=25 March 1986|archive-date=5 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105091436/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1066518062.html?dids=1066518062:1066518062&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+25,+1986&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Sensory+Stimuli+Vital+for+Young,+Speaker+Says&pqatl=google|url-status=dead}}</ref>  whose research focused on the origins of [[violence]], particularly as it relates to a lack of [[Maternal bond|mother-child bonding]].

Prescott was a health scientist administrator at the [[National Institute of Child Health and Human Development]] (NICHD), one of the Institutes of the US [[NIH|National Institutes of Health]] (NIH) from 1966 to 1980. He created and directed the Developmental Behavioral Biology Program at the NICHD where he initiated NICHD-supported research programs to study the relationship between mother-child bonding and the development of social abilities in adult life. Inspired by [[Harry Harlow]]'s famous experiments on [[rhesus monkey]]s, which established a link between neurotic behavior and isolation from a care-giving mother, Prescott further proposed that a key component to development comes from the [[somesthetic]] processes (body touch) and vestibular-cerebellar processes (body movement) induced by mother-child interactions, and that deprivation of this stimulation causes brain abnormalities. By analogy to the neurotic behavior in monkeys, he suggested that these developmental abnormalities are a major cause of adult violence amongst humans.

Prescott also served as assistant head of the Psychology Branch of the Office of Naval Research (1963 to 1966) and as president of the Maryland Psychological Association (1970 to 1971). In 1973 he was one of the signers of the [[Humanist Manifesto II|Humanist Manifesto]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_II |title=Humanist Manifesto II |publisher=American Humanist Association |access-date=October 10, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020110719/http://www.americanhumanist.org/humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_II |archive-date=October 20, 2012 }}</ref>

Prescott's findings about origins of child abuse was innovative, groundbreaking, and controversial. In 1978, Hustler Magazine published an article by Prescott with shocking photos of actual abused children. Dr. Prescott supported this publication of his work in order to reach an audience outside of the scientific community.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://violence.de/prescott/hustler-new/article.html|title=Article: Child Abuse in America: Slaughter of the Innocents|website=violence.de|access-date=2019-07-31}}</ref> For this, NICHD fired Prescott, and he protested in front of the U.S. Senate and House Appropriations Committee. Prescott testified that "we are producing more criminals . . . 'by the manner in which we are raising our children ... than we will be able to house in all the prisons that we can build.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/372856298/|title=Is Isolation a Hidden Form of Child Abuse: Touching Seems to Make a Difference|last=Innes|first=Charles|date=26 August 1983|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-07-31}}</ref>'"

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*[http://www.ttfuture.org/blog/1181 Touch The Future: Blog]
*[http://www.violence.de/prescott/cv.html Violence.de: Bio page and bibliography]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prescott, James W}}
[[Category:21st-century American psychologists]]
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American psychologists]]