Freedomain Radio

When I was 3 years old, my mom was going to the grocery store and I wanted to go with her. She told me 'no', that I couldn't go with her, and that made me want to go even more. I threw a temper tantrum and by this time both my parents were getting upset with me, and of course not budging on letting me go. My mom finally left without me. In a rage I threw my shoe towards the door, and it hit this glass pane next to the door and shattered it.

As far back as I can remember I questioned everything. My mom used to call me "doubting Thomas" (even though my name is not Thomas). She would say that if she told me the sky was blue I would argue.

Of course later I turned into a Libertarian, and now voluntaryist all the way.

I'm curious whether this type of skepticism/anti-authoritarianism is inborn, or is is something we develop based on our surroundings from very early ages. Or rather, how much of it are we born with? Why do some develop more resistance than others?

I just want to say that's a great question - I can't wait to see what info is available on this.

Have you talked about your history with a therapist and gotten any insight?

My unscientific understanding is that it must be some combination of nature/nurture.  In my family I resisted and my brother complied (still does).  It's amazing to go back through history and see how those characteristics made/make us behave differently.

From what I gather, I think resistance is affected by:

-  how the parents handle resistance, power struggles, emotions, etc with the infant/child

-  bonding between infant/mother and very early experience

-  intelligence of the child

-  lots of other stuff that I'm eager to hear about