We are not left entirely to speculation about the mental, moral, intellectual man of the future. Our psychological knowledge of individuals living today permits a concrete evaluation of the actual or “innate” capacities of man. We are already in a position to answer the question of whether man is basically selfish and ruthless, regardless of his moral conscience and intellectual insight. We know facts which indicate that emotions can change, facts which confirm the faith in the future development of mankind as more than an idle dream concocted by visionaries and impractical romanticists.
Psychology and psychiatry offer an important contribution to sociological theories and conceptions. Careful analysis of individuals-especially of children-reveals a bewildering and amazing fact: that everyone, without exception, possesses hundreds of abilities, innumerable undetected talents which were never developed, often frustrated even before perceived. All the deficiencies and personal limitations which hinder personal adjustment and success are artificial, the results of a deep discouragement to which we all, as children, are subjected. Our methods of bringing up children excel those of primitive people merely in regard to knowledge and art. Many wild tribes know more about emotional education 6–education toward courage, self-confidence, and endurance-than our best educators’ dream of.
We teach our children culture and civilization; that is, to read and write, to count and to master many skills; but we do not teach our children how to live with others. Instead, we continually bleach courage out of them. The curse of our civilization, which turns our nearest relative into a competitor, can be studied in our nurseries, in our schools, and in our families. Potential qualities of every sort are stifled in their first groupings. Where children need assistance, they find misunderstanding and, often enough, neglect and frustration, disregard for their most basic and vital needs. Confronted with selfishness and possessiveness, how can they develop self-confidence and social interest? How innately strong must human nature be if it is possible for us to have grown up under such unfavorable conditions, against so many odds-and still to have become as civilized as we are! We have not, however, learned to mature. We look grown-up and dignified, but under a very thin crust the little child, pampered or frightened, insecure and timid, can be detected in almost everyone. Who can deny that?
In psychotherapy and child guidance we witness in individuals the emergence of qualities which without therapy and guidance never would have been developed. Children especially can suddenly commence to grow intellectually, artistically, or morally when exposed to new stimulating and encouraging influences. It matters little that such experiences are relatively infrequent and exceptional, as only a small portion of our population has been exposed so far to psychiatric treatment; and not all so exposed respond favorably, for not always can conditions and attitudes be sufficiently changed. Nevertheless, such experiences of reeducation refute the criticism that our attitude is unrealistic and our inferences over-optimistic.
Anthropology seems to provide some proof of the hidden potentialities of man. For the past 25,000 years, mankind has undergone very little change physically. Our brain is almost identical with that of the prehistoric Cro-Magnon, but what a difference in function! It took time and experiences to make our brain function as it does today; but the capacity existed many thousands of years ago. Several times in history this progress from a lower stage of development to one more advanced occurred abruptly. In our times, this point has been brought home unmistakably. Wild tribes living in remote parts of the world, untouched by modem civilization, remain savage, crude, and undeveloped; a wide realm of art and science separates us from them. But if one of these people is brought into our civilization, he acquires skills and develops mental capacities unimaginable in his tribe. In his natural environment no one could have anticipated such qualities and potentialities, and he would never have developed them there. Physiologically, as genotype, he is no different from his relatives still living, say, in
Africa. Today, among the descendants of these “aborigines” -descendants by only a few generations-we find represented the highest intelligence attainable by mankind. They have furnished us scientists, artists, professional men and women. Even the less intelligent among them learn to read and write arts that even their most ingenious relatives in the jungle could never have mastered. No change of brain is necessary; no alteration of innate qualities, to reach a higher level of culture what is true of these groups is true of others.
Our children demonstrate vast possibilities of learning when they, at an early age, with little effort, master skills and abilities that would take adults years of study. It is not the fault of the children that little use is made of their intellectual, moral, and emotional potentialities, but rather of those who guide their destinies. Once Watson 7 tried vainly to promulgate full recognition of this fact; he failed because he regarded the problem only structurally, as if the child’s behavior were merely responding to isolated stimulations and irritations. It takes more than the provision of mechanical stimuli to create progress. Each quality, each limitation reflects the function of the whole individual within his social group. What we lack is not merely a better technique of rearing children, but a different social spirit to evolve in them all potential qualities. The spirit which affects them for good or ill is the spirit of our society. Consequently, what they are is due more to the spirit of competition, fear, and hostility than to their inherited capacities.
If mankind ever achieves living conditions that permit social feeling and cooperation, then-and only then-will all our children, whole generations, have a fair chance to develop fully their capacities, morally and emotionally.
Then probably a new type of man will appear, differing from our present generations as we do from wild savage tribes. We may presume that the man of tomorrow will be characterized by greater social interest, a greater sense of responsibility, and less concern with his own pleasure and personal prestige. His intelligence may easily reach or even outgrow the mentality of the few geniuses who were capable, as individuals, of overcoming for themselves the social and cultural handicaps imposed on all. His intellectual development will probably coincide with his emotional maturity; aggressive emotions will be recognized not as “drives” of a misconstrued nature, but as the “tools” of a maladjusted human being. Just as our emotions change and mature during our individual lives, so probably will they change when mankind as a whole matures.
Emotions of love may then be quite different from what we experience today. Jealousy has no place when the elements of possession, aggression, and competition are removed from the relationship between men and women. Even sexual sensations may be fundamentally altered, for we know the great variety of physical and emotional reactions which even the same individual experiences when sexually stimulated. Today the feeling of familiarity and routine often stifles the sexual desire; it may lose this repressing effect.
Any prognosis about sexual licentiousness is impossible, as we are unable to visualize clearly the changed relationship of two human beings who recognize more important values and interests than their own pleasures and victories. 