Chapter 2: Historical Highlights of Developmental Science

The introductory text reads, As evident throughout this textbook, much more research and appreciation of the brain, social context, and the non-Western world has expanded our understanding of human development in the 21st century. This timeline lists a few highlights of the past.
200,000 to 50,000 B. C. E.: With their large brains, long period of child development, and extensive social and family support, early humans were able to sustain life and raise children more effectively than other primates. An outline of a map of Africa accompanies the text.
Circa 400 B. C. E.: In ancient Greece, ideas about children from philosophers likePlato (circa 428 to 348 B C E) and Aristotle (384 to 322 B C E) influenced further thoughts about children. Plato believed children were born with knowledge. Aristotle believed children learn from experience. A portrait of Plato accompanies the text.
140 B. C. E.: In China, imperial examinations are one of the first times cognitive testing is used on young people.
500 to 1500: During the Middle Ages in Europe, many adults believed that children were miniature adults. A mosaic depicting an adult consoling a little girl in the foreground of an empty bed accompanies the text.
1100 to 1200: First universities founded in Europe. Young people pay to be educated together.
1650 to 1800: European philosophers like John Locke (1632 to 1704) and Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712 to 1778) debate whether children are born as ‘blank slates’ and how much control parents should take in raising them. A portrait of John Locke and another of Rousseau accompany the text.
1797: First European vaccination: Edward Jenner (1749 to 1823) publicizes smallpox inoculation, building on vaccination against smallpox in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
1750 to 1850: Beginning of Western laws regulating child labor and protecting the rights of children.
1837: First kindergarten opens in Germany, part of a movement to teach young children before they entered the primary school system. A sketch accompanying the text depicts young ones sitting on small stools attending a class in a school, and the blackboard reads the English alphabets.
1859: Charles Darwin (1809 to 1882) publishes On the Origin of Species, sparking debates about what is genetic and what is environmental. A diagram of human skeletons shows the evolution process to the modern man.
1879: First experimental psychology laboratory established in Leipzig, Germany.
1885: Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939) publishes Studies on Hysteria, one of the first works establishing the importance of the subconscious and marking the beginning of the theories of psychoanalytic theory. A portrait of Sigmund Freud accompanies the text.
1895: Ivan Pavlov (1849 to 1936) begins research on dogs’ salivation response. A photo of a dog accompanies the text.
1900: Compulsory schooling for children is established for most children in the United States and Europe. A painting accompanying the text shows a teacher standing on a podium and teaching a class of students seated on long benches.
1903: The term ‘gerontology,’ the branch of developmental science devoted to studying aging, first coined. A photo accompanying the text shows a nurse taking care of an aged person seated on a chair.
1905: Max Weber (1864 to 1920), the founder of sociology, writes The Protestant Work Ethic, about human values and adult work.
1905: Alfred Binet’s (1857 to 1911) intelligence test published.
1907: Maria Montessori (1870 to 1952) opens her first school in Rome. A photo accompanying the text shows school buildings in Rome with dome-shaped roofs.
1913: John B. Watson (1878 to 1958) publishes Psychology As the Behaviorist Views It.
1920: Lev Vygotsky (1896 to 1934) develops sociocultural theory in the former Soviet Union.
1923: Jean Piaget (1896 to 1980) publishes The Language and Thought of the Child. A portrait of Jean Piaget accompanies the text.
1933: Society for Research on Child Development, the preeminent organization for research on child development, founded. A photo of a little girl admiring her dress accompanies the text.
1939: Mamie (1917 to 1983) and Kenneth Clark (1914 to 2005) receive their research grants to study race in early childhood.
1943: Abraham Maslow (1908 to 1970) publishes A Theory of Motivation, establishing the hierarchy of needs.
1950: Erik Erikson (1902 to 1994) expands on Freud’s theory to include social aspects of personality development with the publication of Childhood and Society. A portrait of Erik Erikson accompanies the text.
1951: John Bowlby (1907 to 1990) publishes Maternal Care and Mental Health, one of his first works on the importance of parent–child attachment. A photo accompanying the text shows a couple cooing their baby.
1953: Publication of the first papers describing D N A, our genetic blueprint. An illustration of a D N A strand accompanies a text.
1953: B. F. Skinner (1904 to 1990) conducts experiments on rats and establishes operant conditioning. A photo of rats accompanies the text.
1955: Emmy Werner (birth 1929) begins her Kauai study, which focuses on the power of resilience.
1956: K. Warner Schaie’s (birth 1928) Seattle Longitudinal Study of Adult Intelligence begins. A photo accompanying the text shows a child dressed in tribal attire posing and sticking out his tongue at the camera at a beach.
1957: Harry Harlow (1905 to 1981) publishes Love in Infant Monkeys, describing his research on attachment in rhesus monkeys. A photo accompanying the text shows a monkey hugging a robot.
1961: The morning sickness drug thalidomide is banned after children are born with serious birth defects, calling attention to the problem of teratogens during pregnancy.
1961: Alfred Bandura (birth 1925) conducts the Bobo Doll experiments, leading to the development of social learning theory.
1965: Head Start, an early childhood education program, launched in the United States.
1965: Mary Ainsworth (1913 to 1999) starts using the ‘Strange Situation’ to measure attachment. A portrait of Mary Ainsworth accompanies the text.
1966: Diana Baumrind (birth 1928) publishes her first work on parenting styles.
1972: Beginning of the Dunedin, New Zealand, study—one of the first longitudinal studies to include genetic markers. A genetic marker map accompanies the text.
1979: Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917 to 2005) publishes his work on ecological systems theory.
1986: John Gottman (birth 1942) founded the ‘Love Lab’ at the University of Washington to study what makes relationships work.
1987: Carolyn Rovee–Collier (1942 to 2014) shows that even young infants can remember in her classic mobile experiments.
1990 to Present: New brain imaging technology allows pinpointing of brain areas involved in everything from executive function to Alzheimer’s disease. A photo of a neuroimaging machine accompanies the text.
1990: Barbara Rogoff (birth 1950) publishes Apprenticeship in Thinking, making developmentalists more aware of the significance of culture and context. Rogoff provided new insights and appreciation of child–rearing in Latin America.
1993: Howard Gardner (birth 1943) publishes Multiple Intelligences, a major new understanding of the diversity of human intellectual abilities. Gardner has since revised and expanded his ideas in many ways. A photo of a girl of Asian-origin clutching a book to her chest accompanies the text.
1994: Steven Pinker (birth 1954) publishes The Language Instinct, focusing attention on the interaction between neuroscience and behavior, helping developmentalists understand the need for physiological understanding as part of human growth. These themes continue in How the Mind Works (1997).
1996: Giacomo Rizzolatti publishes his discovery of mirror neurons.
2000: Jeffrey Arnett conceptualizes emerging adulthood.
2003: Mapping of the human genome is completed.
2013: D S M- 5, which emphasizes the role of context in understanding mental health problems, is published.
2013: U. S. President Barack Obama announces his administration’s Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, which helps researchers seek new ways to treat, cure, and prevent brain disorders. A photo accompanying the text shows Barack Obama delivering a speech at a BRAIN Initiative forum.
2014 to 2020 Onward. Many more discoveries are chronicled in this book, as researchers continue to test and explore.