Premium
Child study at Clark University: 1894–1904
Author(s) -
White Sheldon H.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6696(199004)26:2<131::aid-jhbs2300260205>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , sociology
A first cooperative research program in developmental psychology was established in the Clark questionnaire studies. The program was not meant to be free‐standing but to elaborate an evolutionary conception of child development synthesized from findings of several scientific fields. The short‐lived program had some serious faults, but an examination of its research papers suggests that it produced some worthwhile work. The child‐study researchers gathered information about children's social and emotional reactions in everyday settings; one or two of their studies were replicated; they found pattern and order; they elaborated a meaningful social‐biological view of child development.