4.12 · Rating details · 126 Ratings · 20 Reviews
Between 1939 and 1942, one of America's leading universities recruited 268 of its healthiest and most promising undergraduates to participate in a revolutionary new study of the human life cycle. The originators of the program, which came to be known as the Grant Study, felt that medical research was too heavily weighted in the direction of disease, and their intent was to chart the ways in which a group of promising individuals coped with their lives over the course of many years.
Nearly forty years later, George E. Vaillant, director of the Study, took the measure of the Grant Study men. The result was the compelling, provocative classic, Adaptation to Life, which poses fundamental questions about the individual differences in confronting life's stresses. Why do some of us cope so well with the portion life offers us, while others, who have had similar advantages (or disadvantages), cope badly or not at all? Are there ways we can effectively alter those patterns of behavior that make us unhappy, unhealthy, and unwise?
George Vaillant discusses these and other questions in terms of a clearly defined scheme of "adaptive mechanisms" that are rated mature, neurotic, immature, or psychotic, and illustrates, with case histories, each method of coping. (less)
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Paperback, 416 pages
Published August 11th 1998 by Harvard University Press (first published 1977)
Original Title
Adaptation to Life
ISBN
0674004140 (ISBN13: 9780674004146)
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English
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Oct 29, 2012Luke rated it really liked it
This book is a like a wide-lens biography. There are dozens of men we learn about and we see them live and change over decades. With the breadth of characters it was not hard to see myself in many of them and begin to wonder about the influences that were shaping me, right here, in real time. It was deeply confronting to stare this in the face. Without ever giving any direct life advice, this book was the best of self-help books because it lets you to take from it what particular wisdom you need and will teach different people in different ways.
The main lesson I found in the book is that character is not formed by large isolated events but the slow, steady effect of relationships. Freud’s idea of mental health as the ability to love and work is found to be true, but deeper than that. By loving and working we find it ever easier to love and work, or by falling out of this positive cycle, we become more isolated and selfish and ever more unable to join it. Life builds on momentum. Experiences in childhood and temperament may create the outline of a person but it is how the world acts upon that person that moulds them slowly, over decades. Friendships, relationships and worthwhile work are the benevolent winds that gently steer a happy course. Someone without them increasingly turns inwards to seek comfort and that source is shallow and will soon be propped up by fickle, destructive pleasures which can quickly slide into addictions.
There is much in this book which supports traditional values as the best way to live. A stable and faithful marriage, for example, is crucial to a good life; solid, honest friendships as well. The evidence illuminates why these ancient codes are the way they are. Honesty, for example, is a mysterious virtue which at first glance seems to have no clear benefit for the person who has it. Yet when we look closer we see that honesty is the gateway to close relationships. Without it, a person can never truly share and blend with another and so they remain cut off and alone, isolated from the engines of life which shape a good and happy character.
These are the main conclusions that leap from the pages to me, but someone else will draw something else from these men’s lives. In a curious aside, one of the men studied is JFK, so he must be hidden in the pages somewhere. I found myself looking for hints for him. He might be there with his name and details changed but character intact, or he may have faded into the statistics, just a number in a column somewhere. That thought however was enough to remind me that these were real men with real lives and I should certainly be able to learn something from them.
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Feb 28, 2013Ariadna73 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: brain-and-mind
Adaptation to life
Little Brown USA ISBN 031689520-2
Following 268 of the healthiest college students through all their lives.
Study conceived in 1937.
The author joined the staff in 1967.
Part I the study of mental health Introduction
1937 Philanthropist William T. Grant.
Previous study Frank Barron.
Conclusion -> problems exist always. The difference is how do we react to them.
The hypothesis was that health had a lot to do with success.
Ego mechanisms = keep affects, restore emotional balance, master changes in self-image, handle conflicts, survive major conflicts.
Author bias -> the experiment had too much candor.
Mental Health
How you adapt to life.
What do we do to make lite tolerable? -> Sublimation, altruism (Makes you warm).
Dissociation and Projection (make, you cold)
Thesis of the book: “A man's adaptative devices are as important in determining the course of his life as are his heredity, his upbringing, his social position, or his access to psychiatric help"
Five ideas:
1. Not the isolated traumas of childhood shape our future, but the quality of sustained relationships with important people.
2. Lives change and life is discontinuous
3. Key = understand adaptative mechanism. One defensive style can evolve into another.
4. Humans evolve. Truths are always relative.
5. Health exists and can be discussed.
Chapter 3 HTWS Six considerations on how small the sample was.
The men of the Grant study
This, book describes 95/268.
Many biases.
Did not pretend to be representative.
Kind of stoic. Kind of privileged.
How they were studied
We cannot be taught self-esteem. We absorb it
Sublimating the conflicts and wishes.
Forget or "Repress" passions.
Health redefined-sex-anger.
Questions about the mechanisms
How to identify them?
Defenses are a major means of Managing instinct and affect.
Do they exist?
They are unconscious.
How many are there?
Discrete from one another
Dynamic and reversible s.
They can be adaptative or pathologic.
The mechanisms 4 levels.
Level 1
Psychotic (childhood)
Denial
Distortion
Projection
Level II
Immature (Adolescents or people with personality disorders)
Fantasy
Projection
Hypochondriasis
Passive aggressive (masochism)
Acting out.
Level III
Neurotic
Intellectualization
Repression
Reaction formation
Displacement
Dissociation
Level IV Mature
Sublimation
Altruism
Suppression
Anticipation
Humor
What is the diff. between pathological defense Mech. and adaptive coping Mech?
Practical consequences?
Are they immutable through life?
What to do when seeing one?
Since these mechanisms are unconscious we can try to make the person shift to another one, but having the time and love to do it.
Part two Basic style, of adaptation
Adaptative ego mechanisms: A hierarchy
Sublimation
Makes instinct acceptable, makes ideas fun.
Every failure bring, something new and exciting.
Suppression, Anticipation, Altruism, and humor
Anticipation-Attenuates anxiety
Suppression-Always seeing the bright side.
Humor: elegant defense
Sup or Ant. = Positive
Sublim and Altruism = Poorly adapted
The neurotic defenses
Freud contribution.
Unusual human behavior could be Compensatory and adaptative. rather than immoral or derranged.
Repression = Prototype "Just forget it"
Suppression' Element of choice that differentiates it from repression
Intelectualization = Most clearly relates to the OCD
Displacement -> displace sexual arguments with money arguments.
Reaction formation Rigidity, change the perception. For example start hating the smell of cigarettes.
Dissociation = More dramatic Drugs, alcohol, Stanislavski method of acting
Important = The defense mechanism affect the interior of the user these neurotic mechanisms are the most widely used.
The immature defenses
Character disorders never learn
Projection -> Assign our own responsibilities to someone else.
Paranoia. Men who used it were terrified of intimacy.
Obsessive over involvement with the enemy.
Fantasy: Making events alight in our head
Acting out Giving in to impulses permits to express avoiding control drinking, killing, etc.
Hypochondria-Accuses and punishes others. Conversion of affect into a somatic equivalent.
Can't show hurt, so they sommatize it.
Masochism: Gandhi was a bad husband and a bad father
Guilty and paranoids are two ends of the same circle.
Part THREE Developmental consequence) of adaptation
The adult lifecycle: in one culture.
Caterpillars and butterflies
The passage of time renders truth itself relative.
Opinions change with aging.
Maturation makes liars of all of us.
There are patterns and rhythms in life. Not easy to discover, but they are the answer.
Adult development is still a mystery.
Adult life patterns outlined by Erik Erikson in "Childhood and society"
Basic trust
Autonomy + Initiative
Industry
Identity
Intimacy (40)
At 10 we pay attention to what our parents say. At 16 to what they do.
Adolescence- the first time around
Real responsibility -> after consolidation the career.
Parents are very important to achieve maturity.
By nature they are spontaneous, gregarious and idealistic
Intimacy and career consolidation
Marriage, before 30 (intimacy age) are more likely to fail.
Important change in Career consolidation> Acquisition, assimilation and finally casting aside of mentors.
Generativity-A second adolescence
At 40 extramarital affairs reach their peak.
Some fathers are more rigid.
At 55 one can only do 60% of watt could do at 40.
Implies responsibility for fellow creatures.
The keepers of the meanings
50 s are quieter than 40
50 sound terrifying for the younger readers.
However, don't forget that this is a limited study. .
Paths into health
Actors are masters al disociation
Hypocondriacs rarely connect their disease to emotions but theydo with maturity and dissociation from the parent-like figures.
Successful adjustment
"Occasionally, I would start thinking how such dull people could make money. I should have known that money making has more to do with emotional stability than intellect."
JP Marqland "Women and Thomas Harrow"
Blanche is sick. Stanley is healthy
It seems that people that don't self analize much, are happier.
Defense, of the best outcomes: Chanel rather than block inner life = suppression, anticipation, altruism, displacement
Poor outcomes = Defenses that remove, denies. Reaction formation, disociation, immature defenses.
P. 277 Photo Mental health is not predictable
The child is father to the man.
Selfishness occurs in people that got too little when children.
Children with less love grow into men that have 10 times prescription meds and spend 5 times more hours with the phyisichiatric.
Friends, wives and children.
Mental health and the capacity to love are linked.
In our era emotional attachments are overrated
Friends
Lives of friendly and lonely are very different.
Lonely are more frightened-more likely to feel nervous.
Friendly took full vacations.
Fatherhood
Family is a treasure for the successful.
Marriage
Less successful = Reaction formation = substitute happy myths to deny sadness.
More successful: supression
Fear of sex is linked with mistrust of the universe.
Love and the capacity to love is KEY
Part Four: Conclusions
The maturing Ego
Maturation of mind cannot be separated from maturation of body.
Criminals mysteriously reform between 25 and 40
The evolution of mature defenses is shockingly independent of social and genetic good fortune.
Evolution is independent of good fortune.
Biological maturity is necessary but not sufficient.
Maturity is accompanied with deeper relationships and love.
Environment influences
Suppression, anticipation and altruism are enhanced by apprenticeship
Defenses cannot be taught. They can be absorbed.
Adaptational maturity and ego are the agents of morality.
Belief in the species without generativity is impossible.
The ethical rule of adulthood is to do to others what will help them, even as it helps you to grow.
Association between maturation and external adjustment
Trust, autonomy and initiative are the most important tasks of childhood.
Pessimism, self-doubt and fear of sex are features of the worst lives.
What is mental health
Important = Internalize fathers as role models.
Master intimacy for good outcomes
Worst outputs gave less back.
Working and loving are still the goals of our society.
Health is success at living know when to stop.
Summary
Isolated traumatic events rarely mold individual lives.
Breaks of luck = interaction between our choice of adaptative mechanisms and our sustained relationships with other people.
Mental illness is more like the red tender swelling around a fracture that immobilizes so that it may heal.
Mental health exists.
Those who pay their internists the most visits are also most likely to visit psychiatrists.
Individual capable of homeostasis survive.
It is not stress what kills us. It is effective adaptation to stress that permits us to live.
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Jun 27, 2018Robert W. rated it really liked it
The chapter that really resonates with me is about Alan Poe. He breaks the study open and gives Valiant the most pause.
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Mar 18, 2018Jonathan rated it it was amazing
Re-read after 32 years. Did not duplicate the sense of revelation I had reading it at the age of 24, but that’s a measure of how deep the imprint was left.
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Apr 29, 2013Alex Ball rated it really liked it
Adaptation to Life provides an insightful look into the maturing ego defenses of a group of well-adjusted young men studied from the early 20th century through their later years ending in 1977. Vaillant, a psychologist, expands on Freud's (Anna's and Sigmund's) and Erikson's development theories, defining and illustrating such mechanisms as neurotic denial, suppression and altruism and how these mechanisms, or adaptive styles, impact the objective qualities of the men's adult lives.
Vaillant, writing in a clinically accurate but friendly style, makes some interesting points backed by extensive anecdotes and statistical data. For instance, a childhood characterized by stable but distant or immature parenting can in fact be more harmful in the long run than one traumatized by the death of a mother or father. Mental health, as defined by impartial professionals blind to particular variables, was not significantly correlated to socioeconomic stratum. Finally, a man's adaptive style (essentially, his ability and fashion of realistically (stoically?) facing and overcoming long-term personal challenges) predicts a vast number of variables, including career, social and marital success.
Adaptation to Life is really unique in that its longitudinal approach trumps all the snake oil and cross-sectional preaching you might hear from shrinks of one life-coaching camp or another. Great read if you're into psychology.(less)
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Jan 10, 2013Michaela rated it it was amazing
Shelves: nonfiction
A longitudinal study of adults, of what constitutes mental health. Fascinating, terrifying, freeing, what other adjectives can I throw at it? I am now slightly more apprehensive of middle age, when apparently both my children and I will be going through adolescence at the same time. But there is also incredible relief for a parent when he claims that single traumatic events are unlikely to result in poor development. As long as I am not subjecting them to ongoing trauma for decades, my children should turn out ok… Maybe I should classify this book as parenting… ;)
In all seriousness, this book was eye-opening and useful. The criticisms I could hurl at it the author has anticipated (showing great adaptive maturity?) and acknowledged. The biggest being that it is so very biased by the selection process of the study: privilege, college-educated white males born after WWI. There were paragraphs where I ached as he described a level of mental health based on criteria I can (still!) only imagine. In curiosity I longed to also know the mental health of the wives of some of the mentally healthy men, suspicious of what I would find. And yet. You won't be disappointed in Vaillant's treatment of that shortcoming. And the majority of his findings and conclusions I think do apply to humanity, not just a subset. So much in here to learn, even with the timeliness of some of the theories. (Those too, the author acknowledges) (less)
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Feb 16, 2016Alexei G rated it really liked it
When I first opened the book and read the first couple of chapters, I was initially stunned by the parochial narrow-mindedness of the notions and judgements the author passes upon his subjects. I was about to skim the rest of the book and was already gearing myself up to writing a scathing review.
And yet. As I read further and further on, I realised that the book is indeed very valuable. The simple access to a very unique and undervalued study gave the man insight and material to work with few o ...more
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Jun 05, 2011Ryan rated it it was amazing
Two quotes from the Conclusion sum up this book quite well:
"Neither a sextant nor a celestial map can predict where we should go; but both are invaluable in letting us identify where we are."
"Contrary to popular belief, lucky at work means lucky in love; lack of overt emotional distress does not lead to headache and high blood pressure but to robust physical health; and those who pay their internist the most visits are also most likely to visit psychiatrists. Inner happiness, external play, objective vocational success, mature inner defenses, good outward marriage, all correlate highly - not perfectly, but at least as powerfully as height correlates with weight." Though there is the occasional (1 in 1000) exception.
Fantastic insight into how we tick and where we, as individuals, are currently ticking. The book acknowledges its weaknesses (mostly in its cohort selection), but it provides some very useful broad swaths. The second to last chapter is also incredibly heartening. It should almost be read first, but acts as a sort of tension release valve for the rest of the book.
Highly recommended. (less)
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Aug 19, 2011Pepe rated it really liked it
Shelves: experiment-science
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Jul 11, 2007Ben rated it really liked it
Shelves: psychology
In this book George Vaillant analyzes adaptation techniques (aka coping strategies aka defense mechanisms) using the lives of men in the Grant Study (the Grant Study undertook the task of profiling 250+ male college graduates in the United States from 1940 to the end of their lives; this book was written in the 1970s, when the men were in their fifties). He covers 14 adaptation techniques, from altruism and sublimation to delusional projection and denial. The really fascinating aspect of this book is the author's ability to show how one defense can evolve into another one, for better or worse. He also gives a good picture of how different defenses work within the same person simultaneously. This book is an introduction to the defenses, so you don't need to know much about psychology to get into it. Vaillant cites Anna Freud and Sigmund Freud throughout the text, but also indicates that he is influenced by the writings of Harry Stack Sullivan, Erik Erikson, and Adolf Meyer. (less)
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Sep 11, 2013Jim Angstadt rated it liked it
Shelves: dnf
This is a topic that should be a some concern to all of us. How do we adapt to the curve-balls that life throws up? What are the important factors that point to successful adaptation? Or un-successful adaptation?
The author has a very organized approach to evaluation of a longitudinal study of some young men.
For me, the author's approach seems scientific and realistic. And yet, that was not my take-away learning.
My bottom-line was that we are all thrown curve-balls. The difference is our adaptability. Are we reasonable, or something else? Is our adaptability of a healthy kind or an unhealthy kind?
I bailed early, but this topic is still in my mind. (less)
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Jan 03, 2013Emma rated it it was ok
A book adhering to outdated Freudian analysis, where you can feel how the author manipulates /misrepresents characters in order to fit his overarching theme - positive coping mechanisms (defined rigidly) trump bad ones. Okay, after 50 pages we already get the idea, but the whole book repeats it over and over again, using caricatures, so one-dimensional it is like reading a horrible teen novel.
The idea is worth knowing, an excerpt/ review is all you need. With the advent of more scientific psychology theories, the ideas proposed here seem increasingly simplistic, sometimes laughable.
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Sep 20, 2010Michael rated it it was amazing
Shelves: brain-body-science, thought-religion
LIFE-CHANGING. I beg you to read it! Rarely has a book affected my view of the human condition so profoundly, and never so precisely. It approaches perfection; not for universality or omniscience, but because it shines within the acknowledged limits of the study. Erudition and grace transform what could have been a dull academic text into something approaching a novel. I felt both highly vulnerable and hopeful while reading it, and I doubt anyone could finish without becoming a more complete person. (less)
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Aug 15, 2014Rebecca rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Very interesting. I was more interested in immature and mature adaptation styles than neurotic so skimmed through a few sections. Reading about the men in the study, with the deft use of contrast and comparison, was enlightening. The conclusions resonated and are held up but what we have since learned about mental health, imho. Nothing mind-blowing here except for the depth and breadth of the study, which is remarkable.
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Apr 21, 2010Kristie Castellini rated it it was amazing
The detailed history behind my favorite article in years: What Makes Us Happy? It's a 72-year longitudinal study of Harvard grads and the long-term drivers for health & happiness.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/a...
This book is a skimmer but great detail behind the article if you get as interested in it as I did.
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Dec 26, 2009Andrew Pace rated it it was amazing
The best non fiction book I have ever read. Covers key events in the lives of dozens of intelligent, successful Harvard graduates. Describes the ways even the best of them manage to make themselves miserable, or how those who started with so little build rich, fulfilling lives.
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Apr 16, 2016Mugizi Rwebangira rated it liked it
This one talks a lot more about their quasiFreudian theories of how humans adapt than the follow up Triumphs of Experience.
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Sep 06, 2014Michele rated it it was amazing
Shelves: psychology, freud-is-alive, leadership
A genius longitudinal study that created a very effective way at viewing defenses. The taxonomy of defenses is fascinating. I have to go look at this again.
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Dec 23, 2013Adrian Herbez rated it really liked it
I found this to be fascinating- great take on what really matters in life, and what contributes to success and happiness.
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Jul 29, 2011Catherine Woodman rated it really liked it
Interim analysis of a very interesting longitudinal study
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Top customer reviews
Long term customerTop Contributor: Star Trek
1.0 out of 5 starsOf historic interst onlyFebruary 17, 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Interesting premise that might have been an informative read, were it based on what we now know about mental health. Unfortunately, this analysis is just out-dated. We have all been struck, at one time or another, by the incongruities of existence. The high school valedictorian who fails at everything he or she tries. The mediocre student who attains great success in business. Such outcomes have traditionally defied explanation. The author takes the position that our ultimate success is largely due to the use of appropriate, healthy defense mechanisms. While there is a small nugget of truth in that, there is nothing here about the impact of one's vulnerability to such things as anxiety, depression or alcoholism and nothing about the luck factor when picking our careers or life's partner. In reading these life stories, it seemed to me that most of the "losers" were in fact depressed individuals. There is also no mention of sentinel spiritual events and life- changing epiphanies. In summary, while the Grant Study may offer some useful insights, I did not find it particularly enlightening, nor is it of any clinical utility for the mental health professional.
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Rich
5.0 out of 5 starsI liked this work (and found it personally insightful as I ...April 2, 2015
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
As you read this, you need to review what the types of behavior are meant by the different "defense mechanisms" (there is an Appendix A that lists them, but often without sufficient examples). However, as the book essentially covers case studies, you come to see the different defense mechanisms used. People who use "immature" type defense mechanisms (denial, acting out, etc.). do less well than those who use more mature defense mechanisms (various ones are covered). There is an interplay of the individual and the environment, too. I liked this work (and found it personally insightful as I think about how I react and progressed through life's hardships and everyday events). If you're interested in this type of research and material you'll be enthralled. Mr. Vaillant's work, I believe, is considered seminal and he has additional (more recent) follow up books on living as an older adult. Many of the other higher rated reviews also summarize various aspects of his conclusions nicely (including avoid alcohol/drug abuse, etc.). However there is much more to this book than that and you can think about how you tend to react to life's events and get some insights from his work.
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Dave Shumway
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent book I hadn't read in yearsJuly 10, 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Excellent book I hadn't read in years. Important insights into "being able to live in your own skin type of success" in a narrow sector of the society. The study needs repeated (expensively) in a coed, broader population.
I love his book on spirituality. As a Buddhist/atheist/humanist I found myself slowing down and rereading in spite of the fact I'm 70 and feel I have much yet to read in a short time. He's a kind man, a good writer and someone I'd love to have lunch with.
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Scott716
5.0 out of 5 starsThis book changed my lifeOctober 2, 2005
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This book is amazing. It provides concrete examples based on a wonderful study of a group of Harvard graduates of how different psychological coping methods helped people succeed or fail during their lives.
Its most important finding, in my view, is that peoples circumstances in life play no role in their eventual success or failure. Instead, it is the coping methods that people develop, and the positive effort they put in, that decide their outcomes and happiness.
Most chapters contrast 2 real people from the Harvard study, identifying the opposing psychological methods each used (i.e. one is a procrastinator and another gets things done) and shows how their lives played out. Their behaviors correlated directly with their happiness and success in life. The procrastinator wandered from one job to the next, did not have satisfactory relationships, and did not build wealth. The person who got things done succeeded in business and in personal life.
This book identifies the key mental characteristics necessary to adapt to life, using concrete examples based on a long-term study. It provides a positive message that the circumstances of these subjects birth and background did not matter nearly as much as how much effort they put into life. It is well worth reading.
On the other hand, it is worth noting that these graduates were predominantly white, at least middle-class, often Protestant, and were part of the "greatest generation" that as WWII veterans worked during a time when the US economy was booming.
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James
5.0 out of 5 starsUseful framework to think about your lifeApril 3, 2011
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I loved this book. I'm not a psychiatrist nor a psychologist but just a very introspective person who struggles with identity and liminality. Being a very skeptical person, I usually discredit a lot of these "prescriptive" books, and assure you that this is not one of them. I call this a self-help book not in the ordinary sense of the term, but b/c I read the book with "self-help" in mind - how can I use the experiences of these men in the Grant study to guide me to become the happy (which I define for myself, not necessarily as the study defines happiness). The book does well by laying out a framework of how to think of adaptive mechanisms and how they should evolve over time from the immature to the mature, but instead of trying to judge the reader and put the reader in this framework, the book tells the stories of the Grant men and how their adaptations made them or ruined them. This makes the book a far more enjoyable read and one whose lessons I am more willing to accept. Instead of preaching, it allows these men to lead by example. The longitudinal study gives the reader a unique opportunity to see it (read it) so as to believe it, which makes the lessons that much more effective. For anyone who knows something is wrong in their lives but can't put a finger on it, this book is a must read. While some of the cultural zeitgeists have moved dramatically from the date of its publication (and from the period in which these men grew), an intelligent reader will know how to apply their life lessons to the current struggles in our modern society. Even if everything seems right in your life, I would still urge a reading. I think you will definitely learn something about yourself.
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