The developing mind by daniel j siegel

Praise for

The Developing Mind
“A tour de force of synthesis and integration. Siegel has woven a rich tapestry
that provides a compelling account of how our interpersonal worlds and neural
systems form two important pillars of the mind. The second edition brings the
latest neuroscientific evidence to the fore; it is a ‘must read’ for any student or
professional interested in mental health, child development, and the brain.”
—R ichard J. Davidson, PhD, William James and Vilas Professor of
­Psychology and Psychiatry; Founder and Chair, Center for Investigating
Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin–Madison
“With the original publication of The Developing Mind, the field of interpersonal
neurobiology was born. Siegel’s genius for synthesizing and humanizing neuroscience, attachment, and developmental theory made the book a bestseller
and attracted thousands to this new field. The second edition benefits from
over a decade’s worth of additional findings, reflections, ideas, and insights. I
encourage you to take Siegel up on his offer to share this fascinating journey,
whether for the first time or for a return trip. You won’t be disappointed.”
—Louis Cozolino, PhD, Department of Psychology,
Pepperdine ­University
“When The Developing Mind was first published, Siegel’s proposal that mind,
brain, and relationships represented ‘three aspects of one reality’ essential to
human well-being still seemed closer to inspired speculation than teachable
scientific knowledge. Just over a decade later, the neurobiology of interpersonal
experience has grown into one of the hottest areas of psychological research.
Over two thousand new references surveyed for the second edition testify to
just how far neuroscientists, developmental psychologists, and clinicians have
brought the field as they begin to more fully chart the interplay of mind, body,
and relationships. This splendid second edition—at once accessibly written and
meticulously documented—provides a comprehensive guide to this emerging
science.”—Sarah Blaffer H rdy, PhD, Professor Emerita of Anthropology,

University of California, Davis
“Siegel describes his book as ‘a journey into the developing mind,’ and no one is
better equipped to invite psychotherapists and other students of human impulses
to share this remarkable adventure. In clear and inspired prose, he reviews facts
and theories about the human brain that can be difficult to grasp. He explains
how the brain differentiates and enables the creative and passionate mind of a
child to share meaningful intentions, experiences, imaginative beliefs, relationships, community, culture, and language. He puts this understanding in
the service of a humane and respectful psychotherapy that can give integrity to
young lives that have become anxious, chaotic, and rigid.”
—Colwyn ­T revarthen, PhD, FRSE, Professor Emeritus of Child
Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom


“Fulfilled my wildest expectations. Instead of laboriously struggling to learn
about neurobiology, I found myself fairly effortlessly assimilating information
because 1) the author is able to present his material in the context of interpersonal relationships in general and the treatment dyad in particular, and 2) the
author is a master of lucidity, avoids pedantry, and succeeds in making his data
clinically useful.”—American Journal of Psychiatry
“Readable, thoughtful, and informative.”—Educational Leadership
“I knew that this book was one I should keep handy when I wanted to improve
my understanding of information on which the future science of psychiatry
will be based.”—Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
“A remarkable book. . . . The Developing Mind boldly transcends the reductionism that characterizes so much of contemporary psychiatry.”—Psychiatric Times
“Current, thorough, closely argued. . . . One of Siegel’s major gifts is for presenting anatomical, neurological, research, and clinical information while still
pointing out what remains unknown. He explores infant–parent relationships,
emotions, states of mind, and how knowing about them can help one improve
one’s relationships and capabilities for developing successfully.”—Booklist
“Why can’t we remember what we did at age three? Why are some children
unusually shy? What is the biochemistry of humiliation, and how can it be
‘toxic to the developing child’s brain’? New and plausible answers to these

questions emerge from Siegel’s synthesis of neurobiology, research psychology
and cognitive science. . . . His subject—how we become the people we are—
deserves to hold many readers spellbound.”—Publishers Weekly
“The story Siegel tells is indeed fascinating, essentially describing the transactional processes that happen at the interface between developmental neurobiology and the environment of an individual. He links every level of the system
from cell chemistry to brain architecture, to caregiver–infant attachments, to
interpersonal relationships in adulthood. . . . This is a book to stimulate, illuminate, and drive our understanding of human developmental processes forwards and I suspect that The Developing Mind will be seen as a milestone work
in the future.”—Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
“Brilliant. . . . It should probably not be read at one sitting, but sifted slowly as
you would a 20 year old port. . . . This is not just a book for bright psychiatric
residents or child fellows, but child psychiatrists young and old, overworked or
underpaid. It offers a glimpse of new horizons in the profession.”—Canadian
Child Psychiatry Review


The Developing Mind



The Developing Mind
How Relationships and the Brain
Interact to Shape Who We Are
Second Edition

Daniel J. Siegel

THE GUILFORD PRESS
New York   London


© 2012 Mind Your Brain, Inc.

Published by The Guilford Press
A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc.
72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012
www.guilford.com
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written
permission from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Last digit is print number:  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
The author has checked with sources believed to be reliable in his efforts to
provide information that is complete and generally in accord with the standards
of practice that are accepted at the time of publication. However, in view of the
possibility of human error or changes in behavioral, mental health, or medical
sciences, neither the author, nor the editor and publisher, nor any other party
who has been involved in the preparation or publication of this work warrants
that the information contained herein is in every respect accurate or complete,
and they are not responsible for any errors or omissions or the results obtained
from the use of such information. Readers are encouraged to confirm the
information contained in this book with other sources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Siegel, Daniel J., 1957–
  The developing mind : how relationships and the brain interact to shape who
we are / Daniel J. Siegel. — 2nd ed.
   p. cm.
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  ISBN 978-1-4625-0390-2 (hardcover: alk. paper)
  1.  Developmental psychology.  2.  Interpersonal relations.  3.  Intellect. 

4.  Brain—Physiological aspects.  I.  Title.
  BF713.S525 2012
  155—dc23

2011052460


For Maddi



About the Author

Daniel J. Siegel, MD, is an internationally acclaimed author, award­w inning educator, and renowned child psychiatrist. He is Clinical Professor
of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine of the University of California, Los
­A ngeles, where he serves as Co-Investigator at the Center for Culture, Brain,
and Development, and Co-Director of the Mindful Awareness Research
Center. He is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an
educational center devoted to promoting insight, compassion, and empathy
in indi­v iduals, families, institutions, and communities. Dr. Siegel’s books
include Mindsight, Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology, The Mindful Therapist, The Mindful Brain, Parenting from the Inside Out, and The Whole-Brain
Child.



vii



Preface to the Second Edition

W

elcome to the fascinating world of interdisciplinary thinking. I invite
you to join me on this journey to explore the intricate intertwining of
mind, brain, and relationships. Since the publication of the first edition of
The Developing Mind over a dozen years ago, much has emerged from the
objective study of science and the subjective knowledge of internal reflection. This book honors these distinct but equally important realms of knowledge that will inform our travels.
In this second edition, I have had the deep honor to incorporate what
I’ve learned from scientists, psychotherapists, educators, philosophers, contemplative practitioners, and community leaders. The field that the first
edition of this book introduced—“interpersonal neurobiology,” or simply
“IPNB”—has grown in wonderful ways since then. It now has its own organizations (see the Global Association for Interpersonal Neurobiology Studies,
or GAINS), in-depth educational programs (see www.mindsightinstitute.com),
and a professional library of over two dozen textbooks.
My goal in thoroughly updating the references and revising the text for
this edition is to make the ideas of IPNB and its scientific foundations as clear
and concise as possible. I have had the good fortune of having 15 dedicated
and bright research interns work by my side during the initial phases of this
revision process. Their assignment was twofold: to “prove the first edition of
this book and the ideas behind IPNB to be wrong” so that we could discard
any proposals that were outdated or unfounded in the literature, and to offer
any new research that presented alternative views. In this effort, over two
thousand new scientific papers were reviewed; each paragraph of the book
(projected on the wall at the Mindsight Institute) was collectively examined;
and any necessary changes were made. In this process, we had the advantage
of fresh minds exploring the foundations of IPNB to see whether any of
the hypotheses set forth over a dozen years ago had since been proven with
new studies and emerging technology. When we found that the majority of


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Preface to the Second Edition

propositions were in fact supported by new findings, the shared experience
was exhilarating.
We also had the opportunity to interview several readers of the first
edition—many of them teachers of the book for over a decade now—and to
ask them, “What should be changed in the second edition?” Their virtually
uniform response was “Nothing, except to update the scientific references.”
So to stay true to the positive reception of the first edition, here in the second
edition you’ll find that the text has been thoroughly updated to reflect the
research advances in various fields. I have also added special discussions of
culture, gender, temperament, genetics, and the role of consciousness and its
neural correlates in various mental and social processes. Most of the proposals have been supported by research findings enabled by recent technological
advances, and for those that remain hypotheses, the text still reflects their
status as educated guesses. Keeping the distinction between implications and
data-­supported findings clear was an important feature of the original text
and remains a goal for this edition, and for the field of IPNB as a whole.
This new edition also has an epilogue reflecting on various practical and
scientific aspects of this approach, as well as a glossary of terms to improve
access to some of the intricate ideas and their vocabulary. In addition, there
are new figures and frequent “pullout” quotations to support those who
enjoy and benefit from these visual aids to learning. In discussing examples
throughout the book, I alternate between the third-­person singular pronouns “she” and “he” to avoid sexist usage. Naturally, all examples of individuals are presented without identifying features.
The Developing Mind has become a favorite book in a variety of programs; I hope that this second edition continues to be as well received. I love
writing books, and returning to this first work to create a second edition has
been a labor of love. This edition may have roughly the same sequence of

chapters, but it is filled with fresh material and the integration of many new
ideas and applications. I am grateful for all of the input we have received
from readers from around the globe, and also to the many authors and conference co-­faculty members who share in the passion for creating a consilient approach to this work. Marion Solomon and Bonnie Goldstein have
been a wonderful team in bringing IPNB to the professional audience at our
annual UCLA gatherings, and I thank them for their leadership in our professional community. Kitty Moore, the initial editor at The Guilford Press
who brought this work into the world, is a joy to work with, and I am thankful for all of her support and wisdom over the years. Barbara Watkins worked
with me on the day-to-day, line-by-line editing, and I cannot say enough
in gratitude for her superb skills and for the way she kept the whole in mind
while also paying such careful attention to detail and continuity. We had the
exciting challenge of taking something people loved, updating it completely,




Preface to the Second Edition

xi

and maintaining the essence of its heart and soul, while also refining the
message with clear and integrated prose. It has been a pleasure to pore over
these pages with her to get the book ready to go to press. Marie Sprayberry
again magnificently copyedited the manuscript, and Martin Coleman served
as production editor.
I would also like to thank the wonderful individuals who are a part of
the Mindsight Institute, which serves as an intellectual home for IPNB. Our
global online course participants’ international perspective on the field and
its application is invaluable for seeing the many ways in which this work can
be applied across cultures. Input from students, both local and at a distance,
has been a driving force for this work and motivates all of us to keep the field
current. The members of our staff, including Stephanie Hamilton and Whitney Stambler, have made working here a pleasure. Whitney was devoted to

making the extensive references and notes well integrated throughout the
book, and I thank her for those efforts. I am also grateful for the assistance
of Eric Bergemann and Aubrey Siegel in helping to do some of the final
copyediting of the manuscript. Caroline Welch, our CEO, has been both
an inspiration and a powerful presence in helping us to organize our work
and create a vision for the many possible applications of IPNB in the world.
I thank her for her leadership, which is at the heart of this second edition’s
message.
To dive into over a dozen disciplines of science and explore the consilient findings that emerge is naturally quite a challenge. For the first edition,
the library was my second home, where I’d spend long hours wading into
the stacks of periodicals. Since then, there has been an exponential increase
in the number of journals and research articles accessible through our interconnected digital library via the Internet. Taking on this goal of updating
the book was a joy with the fabulous group of interns who joined in on the
intellectual adventure. Working together, we could explore research data,
cross-­reference a wide range of studies, integrate ideas, and weave all of these
together in creating the second edition. I am deeply grateful for the companionship of this “mindful bunch”: Lisa Baldini, Kimberly Clark, Hannah
Farber, Julien Fyhrie, Victoria Goldfarb, Riley Kessler, Cyrus Nahai, Benjamin Nelson, Karen Olivares, Suzanne Parker, Francesca Reinisch, Gregory
Sewitz, Katey Solzberg, Lucy Walsh, and Anabel Young. We went on a creative journey of discovery together, and I am thankful for their dedication to
this project. It is my sincerest wish that this book you hold in your hands will
maintain its usefulness as a solid resource, helping us to support the development of healthy and resilient minds throughout our lives.



Preface to the First Edition
W

hat is the mind? How does the mind develop? This book synthesizes
information from a range of scientific disciplines to explore the idea that
the mind emerges at the interface of interpersonal experience and the structure and function of the brain.
Like many adolescents, as a teenager I became filled with a particular

intellectual passion: I was fascinated with people and the nature of the mind.
Through a series of journeys, I eventually became a psychiatrist, specializing
in the care of children and families. Along the way have been encounters
with a wide variety of people and the stories of their lives. Trained in science and immersed in human struggles, I found myself naturally trying to
understand the process of human development—of how people become who
they are—by investigating what was known from research and getting as
close as possible to the subjective experience at the core of people’s lives. This
book presents the integration of this effort to gain insights into the mind and
human development.
From mountaintops and quiet conversations to lecture halls and the bustling discussions of a weekend conference, this exploration of the nature of
the developing mind has come to involve people from many walks of life.
At recent seminars, I have met with a range of professionals—in child development, education, medicine, neuroscience, psychology, public administration, and social work—to discuss basic questions regarding the mind and
the ways experience shapes development. These experiences as an educator
have motivated me to synthesize this work into a framework that provides
an integrated scientific foundation regarding the interpersonal and neurobiological basis of the developing mind.
This book may be useful for those working in a variety of disciplines.
Understanding these processes can enable clinicians to help patients heal.
Academicians may find such an interdisciplinary effort useful in gaining
insight into how their own work relates to independent fields of research.


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Preface to the First Edition

Educators can benefit from insights into how emotion and interpersonal
relationships are fundamental motivational aspects of learning and memory.

For child development specialists and others who care for children, knowing how forms of communication directly shape a child’s developing brain
can be essential in creating programs that are scientifically based and that
can optimize the care of children. For many other people, learning about
how the mind emerges from the substance of the brain and the processes of
interpersonal relationships can provide useful insights that can improve their
professional as well as personal lives. Interpersonal experience shapes the
mind as it continues to develop throughout the lifespan. This book is about
how these interpersonal processes occur and how we can utilize ideas about
neurobiology to help others, and ourselves, to grow and develop.
In my own field of psychiatry, the tremendous expansion of neuroscientific research seems to have been interpreted in the extreme by some as a call
to “biological determinism”—that is, to a view of psychiatric disorders as a
result of biochemical processes, most of which are genetically determined
and little influenced by experience. This impression may sound reductionistic, but I wish that the sense of demoralization expressed by many educators and students in psychiatry didn’t support the notion that the field has
been losing its mind in favor of the brain. What is ironic, and what up until
now has not been well known, is that recent findings of neural science in
fact point to just the opposite: Interactions with the environment, especially
relationships with other people, directly shape the development of the brain’s
structure and function. There is no need to choose between brain or mind,
biology or experience, nature or nurture. These rigidly applied divisions are
unhelpful and inhibit clear thinking about an important and complex subject: the developing human mind.
As I was finishing up the last chapter revisions for this book, an article
by a renowned neuroscientist who is also trained as a psychiatrist appeared
in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Eric Kandel’s paper “A New Intellectual
Framework for Psychiatry”1 suggests that the field of psychiatry in recent
times has suffered from a series of damaging divisions within its ranks. These
divisions have blocked the ability to integrate a wide range of information
about human experience, mind, and brain. It is my hope that presenting a
scientifically grounded synthesis focusing on these domains will enable such
professional divisions to give way to a new conceptual foundation that will
be useful for clinicians and others who help people develop.

Although it is important to be aware of the significant and very real
contributions of genetic and constitutional factors to the outcome of development, it is equally crucial that we examine what in fact is known about
how experience shapes development. Such a balanced view enables us as
parents, for example, to have a sense of responsibility for the experiences we




Preface to the First Edition

xv

provide without the unnecessary burden of guilt generated by the belief that
our actions are solely responsible for the outcome of our children’s development.
One factor turning some mental health care providers’ attention away
from the role of experience in human development may be our attempt to
avoid some of the devastating errors of the past. Not so long ago, the mothers
of children with autism were accused of being “refrigerators”; the families of
patients with schizophrenia were said to be giving “double binds”; individuals
with bipolar disorder were given thousands of hours of therapy, in search of
the “psychological cause” of their mood swings; and people with obsessive–­
compulsive disorder were thought to be repressing some early trauma that
may have produced their worries. In each of these painful examples, we as
professionals looked toward experience to explain the causes of our patients’
anguish and dysfunction. Despite the goodness of our intentions, these views
were misguided and not helpful to our patients. They produced accusations
of blame and a sense of guilt that were unfounded. They did not lead to
growth or healing in our patients or their families.
Many people have been spared devastating amounts of pain and ­suffering
because of our modern understanding of psychiatric illness and the appropriate use of pharmacological agents. Psychiatry has had to embrace the notion

that the brain contributes to mental dysfunction, in order to pursue these
extremely important avenues of medical care. But losing sight of the important role of experience, especially social experience, in shaping the mind
does not help us to understand development or to help our patients.
If social factors—that is, human relationships—shape the development
of the brain and the mind, how does this occur? The purpose of this book
is to explore this question by examining some ways in which interpersonal
experience shapes the developing mind and fosters emotional well-being.
An exciting challenge in writing this book has been to attempt to deepen
an understanding of subjective everyday life, of the mind and human relationships, by drawing on the objective views of science. The benefit of this
approach is that we can learn much more about what creates human experience than is possible with only everyday logic or self-­reflection. For example,
by learning how the circuits in the brain develop during the first years of
life, we can gain insights into why older children or adults generally cannot
consciously recall their experiences before the preschool years. By learning
about the nature of how the brain creates an awareness of other minds, we
can begin to understand the biological basis for emotional communication
and what may be occurring when empathy is not a part of human relationships. In addition, understanding how trauma affects the developing brain
can yield insights into the subsequent impairments in memory processing
and the ability to cope with stress. Using science to understand the mind


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Preface to the First Edition

has provided a powerful tool for deepening our comprehension of subjective mental life and interpersonal relationships. These insights have proven
tremendously useful in helping others grow and develop.
To see how these neurobiological ideas help others develop and heal not
only has fueled my enthusiasm, but has generated the energy required for the
completion of this book. This task would not have been possible without the
loving support of my family. How many times they heard the excited call

“It’s finished!”, only to find me working on the next draft a few weeks later.
Their continuing encouragement is of immeasurable importance to me.
When The Guilford Press initially asked me to write this book, its focus
was to be on memory and psychotherapy. Since that time, the topic of the
book has broadened; it has come to include, with the helpful assistance of
my patient editor, Kitty Moore, the much wider topic of these fundamental
questions about the mind, the brain, and human relationships. I thank her for
her belief in the work and her skillful help with the process of bringing it to
completion. I would also like to express my appreciation to the efficient and
responsive publication staff at Guilford, and especially to Anna Brackett and
Marie Sprayberry, for their thoughtful attention to the text.
In my professional life, it can’t be overstated that my patients have had
the largest impact on my clinical education. In ways both professional and
personal, they have taught me more than I ever dreamed I’d learn in a lifetime. I have also had the good fortune of having had several clinical teachers
who have been especially supportive and helpful in my development as a psychotherapist, including Jim Grotstein, MD, Chris Heinicke, PhD, Regina
Pally, MD, Arnold Scheibel, MD, and Don Schwartz, MD. Also along the
journey have been many students—­especially those in the Infant and Preschool Service, which I directed with Mary O’Connor, PhD, at UCLA,
and at the Mindsight Institute and around the globe in our online class—
whose questions keep an investigating and conceptualizing mind reflective
and excited about trying both to understand and to communicate complex
ideas. One of the most moving teaching experiences has come from the
opportunity to work with many teams of psychotherapists from over a dozen
nations in Eastern Europe who have been struggling to deal with the ravages of political wars and childhood abuse. The Children’s Mental Health
Alliance Foundation, directed by Pamela Sicher, MD, and Owen Lewis,
MD, has developed a novel educational program to teach these devoted and
sacrificing therapists the basic elements of evaluating, treating, and (we all
hope) preventing child abuse in their developing nations. It is inspiring to
see their dedication, and exhilarating to hear that the ideas of this book have
been accessible and useful across cultures.
These issues about how experiences shape the brain and organize the

mind were topics of passionate discussion for a local study group called,




Preface to the First Edition

xvii

affectionately, the ID-CNS (Institute for Developmental and Clinical Neural Science). My thanks to its members—Lou Cozolino, PhD, Allan Schore,
PhD, Judith Schore, PhD, and John Schumann, PhD—for our intellectual
companionship on this journey into mind and brain. My childhood friend
and longtime conversation partner in matters of the mind, Jonathan Fried,
has offered valuable comments on the text and has been especially helpful
in pointing out the abundance of “thuses” in the original manuscript; thus
I thank him. Others who have read this work at various stages in its evolution and have provided immensely useful comments and questions include
Daniel Attias, the late Lisa Capps, PhD, Leston Havens, MD, Erik Hesse,
PhD, Althea Horner, PhD, Mary Main, PhD, Eleanor Ochs, PhD, Sarah
Steinberg, Caroline Welch, and several anonymous reviewers through the
editing process at The Guilford Press.
Several other people also need to be acknowledged. In medical school,
Tom Whitfield III, MD, was my pediatric mentor and friend who taught
me early on that “the way to care for patients is to care about them.” The
initial version of what was to become this book was begun on a trip to visit
Tom and his wife, Peg, in the Berkshires before his death in 1996. The lessons I have learned from trying to make sense of the process of losing such
an important attachment figure in my life are contained within these pages.
Another person in those years who “saved my life” in medical school is Leston Havens, MD, who gave me the strength to hold on to my own experience in the confusing Boston psychiatric climate at the time. During my
years of adult and child psychiatric residency, Joel Yager, MD, and Gordon
Strauss, MD, and the late Dennis Cantwell, MD, supported my explorations
of different directions and my efforts to organize my professional passions.

In my National Institute of Mental Health research training years at UCLA,
Marian Sigman, PhD, and Robert Bjork, PhD, were extremely supportive
in guiding me through the wonderful interdisciplinary learning that the
research fellowship allowed.
During many of those years as a trainee in psychiatry, I had the honor
of being supervised by Robert Stoller, MD, who devoted much of his professional life to exploring the ways in which early life experiences shape
development. We would spend hours discussing patients, the mind, and our
own experiences as therapists. One of our topics was about human communication. As Bob wrote in one of his last books before his tragic accidental
death:
Still, yearning for clarity contains a pleasure of which I am only now fully
aware. Sometimes, on paring a sentence down to its barest minimum, I find it
transforms into a question, paradox, or joke (all three being different states of
the same thing, like ice, water and steam). That is a relief: clarity asks; it does