A child suffers something gone wrong. To whom does he turn? A parent.
A mother’s response tends to be respondent,* a term from Biobehavioral Science. She administers hugs and kisses that elicit unconditional emotional relief. Her ministrations, however, change little in terms of context and consequences. The emotional relief is fleeting.
*The respondent paradigm applies mainly to mental and physiological responses.
A father’s response tends to be operant.** He administers analysis and advice about actions that can change context and consequences. His ministrations can lead to emotional relief that is lasting.
**An operant is a behavior under the control of a particular consequence or class of consequences.
Therein lies the fundamental reason why matriarchies fail; whereas, patriarchies succeed. In the entire history of mankind, never has there been a successful matriarchy of importance.
These United States have devolved from a patriarchy into a matriarchy under the control not of the Scientific Method but of abstract ideology divorced from reality. Emotion overrules cognition. We have become a fragmented, declining nation on fire committing suicide. In the end, reality rules.
“An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.” -Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975)
See “Biobehavioral Science“.