Child Psychology in Retrospect and Prospect: in Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the institute of Child Development (Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology)

291 Pages·2002·1.28 MB·English

by  Willard W. Hartup

Child Psychology
in Retrospect and Prospect
In Celebration of the 75th Anniversary
of the Institute of Child Development
The Minnesota Symposia
on Child Psychology
Volume 32
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Child Psychology
in Retrospect and Prospect
In Celebration of the 75th Anniversary
of the Institute of Child Development
The Minnesota Symposia
on Child Psychology
Volume 32
Edited by
Willard W. Hartup
Richard A. Weinberg
University of Minnesota
Copyright ' 2002 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form,
by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
10 Industrial Avenue
Mahwah, NJ 07430
Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Child psychology in retrospect and prospect: in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the
Institute of Child Development / edited by Willard W. Hartup, Richard A. Weinberg.
p. cm.(cid:151)(The Minnesota symposia on child psychology; v. 32) Includes bibliographical
references and indexes. ISBN 0-8058-3971-2 (alk. paper)
1. Child psychology(cid:151)Congresses. 2. Child development(cid:151)Congresses. I. Hartup,
Willard W. II. Weinberg, Richard A. III. University of Minnesota. Institute of Child
Development. IV. Minnesota symposia on child psychology (Series); v. 32.
BF721 .C5164 2001
155.4(cid:151)dc21 2001040929
Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free paper, and their
bindings are chosen for strength and durability.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Prefacevii
1.Origin of Species: The Potential Significance of Early
Experience for Evolution 1
Gilbert Gottlieb
2.How a Child Builds a Brain: Insights From Normality
and Psychopathology 23
Dante Cicchetti
3.The Symbol-Mindedness of Young Children73
Judy S. DeLoache
4.Understanding Understanding: Historical Origins
of Current Questions About the Early Development
of Receptive Language Competence 103
Anne Fernald
5.Emotion-Related Regulation and Its Relation to Quality
of Social Functioning133
Nancy Eisenberg
6.Children Develop in History: So What(cid:146)s New?173
John Modell and Glen H. Elder, Jr.
7.Notes Toward a Philosophy of Science for
Developmental Science 207
Sheldon H. White
8.The Institute of Child Development: Pioneering in
Science and Application 227
Willard W. Hartup, Ann Johnson, and
Richard A. Weinberg
Author Index 259
Subject Index 271
v
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Preface
Anniversaries suggest stock taking as well as celebration. Accordingly, when
the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, neared its 75th
anniversary, the faculty wished to observe the event in two ways(cid:151)by examining
current research in developmental psychology in historical context, and by
studying the history of the Institute itself. Included in this volume are eight essays
based on presentations made at the 32nd Minnesota Symposium on Child
Psychology held at the university on October 19(cid:150)21, 2000, in observance of
this Diamond Jubilee.
All of the essays in the book are devoted to developmental science, its history
and current status. The editors deliberately sought diversity in these manuscripts.
For example, one contains an assessment of new ideas concerning the manner
in which development affects evolution rather than the reverse. In another
manuscript, current work on the linkages between brain and behavior is assessed
within an extended historical context. And so, too, the volume includes essays
on the development of symbolic thought, the understanding of spoken language,
and personality(cid:151)each describing contemporary work within an analysis of the
history of ideas leading to it.
The volume also contains two essays in which (cid:147)history(cid:148) figures some-what
differently: One deals with the manner in which the child(cid:146)s development
contributes to social historical change as well as the reverse. In this essay, readers
are reminded clearly that the dialectic between ontogeny and the social-historical
context must be a constant consideration in developmental science. Still another
essay contains a penetrating analysis of the philosophical and ideological
foundations of the contemporary field of child psychology as a whole. (cid:147)History(cid:148)
thus comes alive in this volume in several guises: as the context in which changing
ideologies shape scientific endeavor; as an accounting, through time, of ideas
undergirding contemporary research; and as processes through which ontogeny
contributes to both the origin of species and the origins of social change.
The remaining essay deals with institutional history, specifically the
history of the Institute of Child Development. No such account has been
published previously and this one was written to complement the other
essays in the volume. As it happens, the Institute came into being as a
result of major changes that occurred in the United States during the early
vii
viii PREFACE
20th century in ideas about childhood, in the uses and responsibilities of science
with respect to children, and in the utilization of great philanthropic and educational
institutions to shape public policy concerning children and families. In this chapter,
the forces are described that brought the Institute of Child Development into being
as well as the forces that affected its subsequent history.
Taken together, the manuscripts included in this book show how the history of
science connects past and future, how it gives the individual investigator an identity
and sense of purpose that he or she would not have without it, how contemporary
studies occur within larger traditions, and how institutions like the Institute of Child
Development constitute cultural traditions of their own. Collectively, these essays
show that the past explains a great deal(cid:151)whether we want to know about the
processes through which the child acquires symbolic thought or whether we want to
know how and why, during the last century, a few enduring centers were established
for the scientific study of children and adolescents. Reading these essays, one obtains
a sense of how the past becomes evidence, how it forms models for the way we
think, and how intellectual challenges arise.
As editors, we are grateful to the authors for undertaking the retrospective/
prospective task we laid out; most of them are not trained historians and the task
was challenging. The historians among our authors also deserve great credit for the
originality of their syntheses. The anniversary celebration held in October 2000
brought together current and former students, current and former faculty, and current
and former staff; the presence of these individuals was crucial to the success of the
symposium that had been planned. In fact, the celebration was gala: There was
discussion, thesis and antithesis, feasting, music, and dancing.
Special thanks are also due to several other individuals: to Ann Masten, Director
of the Institute, for her many efforts on behalf of this event including the scholarly
proceedings, the gala celebration, and this volume; to Lu-Jean Huffman-Nordberg,
who headed the support staff for a number of previous symposia as well as this one
(just before she retired); and to Claudia Johnston and Wendy McCormick for services
too numerous to mention. Sponsors of the celebration included the Institute of Child
Development, The College of Education and Human Development, the Leon and
Marian Yarrow Endowment for Research in Social Relationships, and the Parents(cid:146)
Institute Fund. As organizers of this event, we are grateful to these entities and to the
individuals responsible for them.
Finally, we wish to express our gratitude to the thousands of children,
adolescents, women, and men who have been active in the Institute of
Child Development over the last three quarters of a century. These
include babies and preschool children, school children and adolescents,
PREFACE ix
professors, teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, cooks, librarians,
accountants, secretaries, statisticians, laboratory technicians, parents, grandparents,
University alumni, deans, presidents, site visitors, individuals on sabbatical leave,
Minnesota Symposia guests, maintenance personnel, donors, colloquium speakers,
and many others. Our research, our nursery school, our classes and seminars, our
research and writing, and the many other activities that constitute the Institute would
not have been possible without them. We believe these contributions merit celebration
and, with these words, we invite readers to celebrate along with us.
(cid:151)Willard W. Hartup
(cid:151)Richard A. Weinberg