Jerome Kagan
Encyclopedia
Jerome Kagan was born in 1929, and grew up in Rahway, New Jersey, USA. Kagan is currently retired after being a professor at Harvard University in the Developmental program . He is one of the key pioneers of developmental psychology
. He is Daniel and Amy Starch Research Professor of Psychology
, Emeritus at Harvard University
, and co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute
. He has shown that an infant's "temperament
" is quite stable over time, in that certain behaviors in infancy are predictive of certain other behavior patterns in adolescence
. He did extensive work on temperament and gave insight on emotion.
Kagan was listed as the 22nd most eminent psychologist of the 20th Century, just above Carl Jung
.
due to his attraction in being a scientist and to preserve his father's interest in human nature . He was accepted at Yale University to study Psychology, where he earned his Ph.D. and he earned his Master's degree from Harvard University.. He earned a B.S. Degree from Rutgers University
in 1950. While at Yale University
, he assisted Frank Beach, a well respected researcher. After he graduated from Yale University
, he accepted his first faculty position at Ohio State University. Six months later, in 1955 he was recruited to be apart of the research team at the U.S. Army Hospital during the Korean War
.
Once he had finished his time at the U.S. Army Hospital, the director of the Fels Research Institute contacted Kagan to ask him to direct a project that was funded by the National Institutes of Health, which he accepted. After that project was completed, he accepted the offer he received from Harvard University
to be involved in creating the first Human Development
program. Once he moved to Harvard, he remained there until retirement, with the exception of a leave to go and study children in San Macros. He did this for a year, from 1971 to 1972, and then returned to Harvard as a professor.
Kagan's next research was in San Macros, Guatemala. During this time, Kagan discovered that biological factors play a huge role in development and an even larger part in child development. Specifically, he found that these children had slower Psychological development when in their homes due to their restricted experiences. Once the children were walking and could leave the home, Kagan found that the psychological delay in development was only temporary, and that cognitive growth is malleable.
While at Harvard University
, Kagan studied infants up to two years and published his work in his book, The Second Year. By the method of observation, Kagan found that there were major changes in Psychological functioning between 19 and 24 months, as well that at one years old, the children were sensitive to events that deviated from the norms of their experiences. Kagan's next research project was to look at the effects of infant daycare, since the congress was considering funding federal day care centres for working mothers. He and two others, Richard Kearsley and Philip Zelazo, created their own daycare in Boston's Chinatown, and compared these infants to infants who stayed at home with their mothers.
In the late 1970's, Kagan studied temperament
with a student who was writing a thesis. This project was funded by the President of the Spencer Foundation.
Some of the books Kagan has written or co-written include:
Temperament is perhaps what Kagan is best known for. He began his work on temperament after his research in Guatemala. Kagan primarily focused on children’s fear and apprehension. He created two types of temperament; inhibited and uninhibited. Inhibited refers to a shy, timid, and fearful profile of a child, whereas uninhibited refers to the appearance of bold, sociable and outgoing behaviours. As a result of his ground breaking work on temperament, we know that these characteristics have the ability to influence later behavior depending on how they interact with the environment. Kagan also believed that there is no guarantee of an indefinitely stable profile considering environmental factors are always changing and that both genes and environmental factors influence a child's temperament
Kagan questioned relying on individual's verbal statements of their feelings. He provided several reasons for this. Firstly, he argued that the English language does not have enough words to describe all emotional states. Secondly, the words to explain emotional states do not convey the differences in the quality or the serverity of it. Lastly, you cannot translate emotional words from one language to another accurately.
in 1963. In 1995, He won the G. Stanley Hall
Award of the American Psychological Association
(APA).
Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...
. He is Daniel and Amy Starch Research Professor of Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, Emeritus at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute
New England Complex Systems Institute
The New England Complex Systems Institute is an American research institution dedicated to advancing the study of complex systems. It was founded in 1996 and is located in Cambridge, MA.- Overview :...
. He has shown that an infant's "temperament
Temperament
In psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learned...
" is quite stable over time, in that certain behaviors in infancy are predictive of certain other behavior patterns in adolescence
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
. He did extensive work on temperament and gave insight on emotion.
Kagan was listed as the 22nd most eminent psychologist of the 20th Century, just above Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
.
Personal background
Kagan was born to Joseph and Mytle Kagan on February 25, 1929. Jerome chose to study PsychologyPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
due to his attraction in being a scientist and to preserve his father's interest in human nature . He was accepted at Yale University to study Psychology, where he earned his Ph.D. and he earned his Master's degree from Harvard University.. He earned a B.S. Degree from Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in 1950. While at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, he assisted Frank Beach, a well respected researcher. After he graduated from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, he accepted his first faculty position at Ohio State University. Six months later, in 1955 he was recruited to be apart of the research team at the U.S. Army Hospital during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
.
Once he had finished his time at the U.S. Army Hospital, the director of the Fels Research Institute contacted Kagan to ask him to direct a project that was funded by the National Institutes of Health, which he accepted. After that project was completed, he accepted the offer he received from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
to be involved in creating the first Human Development
Human development
Human development may refer to:* Human development , the process of a human becoming biologically mature* Developmental psychology, also known as human development* Human development , as it relates to economics and standards of living...
program. Once he moved to Harvard, he remained there until retirement, with the exception of a leave to go and study children in San Macros. He did this for a year, from 1971 to 1972, and then returned to Harvard as a professor.
Research
While at Fels, Kagan did extensive research on personality traits beginning with infancy and continued through adulthood. He looked at whether or not early experiences affected the participants' future personalities, talents and characters. Kagan read up on all of the longitudinal information that was prepared, specifically, the responses to intelligence tests that were administered to them. When Kagan was reviewing the material collected in childhood and adulthood, he found that the first three years in childhood showed little relation to the data collected in adulthood. The results of the Fels study was discussed in Kagan's book, Birth to Maturity, in 1962.Kagan's next research was in San Macros, Guatemala. During this time, Kagan discovered that biological factors play a huge role in development and an even larger part in child development. Specifically, he found that these children had slower Psychological development when in their homes due to their restricted experiences. Once the children were walking and could leave the home, Kagan found that the psychological delay in development was only temporary, and that cognitive growth is malleable.
While at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Kagan studied infants up to two years and published his work in his book, The Second Year. By the method of observation, Kagan found that there were major changes in Psychological functioning between 19 and 24 months, as well that at one years old, the children were sensitive to events that deviated from the norms of their experiences. Kagan's next research project was to look at the effects of infant daycare, since the congress was considering funding federal day care centres for working mothers. He and two others, Richard Kearsley and Philip Zelazo, created their own daycare in Boston's Chinatown, and compared these infants to infants who stayed at home with their mothers.
In the late 1970's, Kagan studied temperament
Temperament
In psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learned...
with a student who was writing a thesis. This project was funded by the President of the Spencer Foundation.
Publications
He is the author of:- Personality and the learning Process (1965)
- Reflection- Impulsivity and Reading Ability in Primary Grade Children (1965)
- Personal Development (1971)
- The growth of the child. Reflections on human development (1978)
- The Nature of the Child (1982)
- An argument for mind (2006)
- What is emotion?: History, measures, and meanings (2007)
- In defense of Qualitative Changes in Development (2008)
- The three cultures: Natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities in the 21st century (2009)
- Once more into the Breach (2010)
- The temperamental thread. How genes, culture, time, and luck make us who we are (2010) [Trad. esp.: El temperamento y su trama. Cómo los genes, la cultura, el tiempo y el azar inciden en nuestra personalidad, Buenos Aires/Madrid, Katz editores, 2011, ISBN 9788492946327]
- On the Need for Relativism. American Psychologist, 1967, 22, 131-142.
Some of the books Kagan has written or co-written include:
- Birth to Maturity (1962)
- Understanding Children: Behavior, Motives, and Thought (1971)
- The Second Year: The Emergence of Self-Awareness (1981)
- Unstable Ideas: Temperament, Cognition, and Self (1989)
- Galen’s prophecy: Temperament in human nature (1994)
- Three Seductive Ideas (2000)
- A Young Mind in a Growing Brain (2005)
Temperament
According to Kagan, (conventionally):Temperament is perhaps what Kagan is best known for. He began his work on temperament after his research in Guatemala. Kagan primarily focused on children’s fear and apprehension. He created two types of temperament; inhibited and uninhibited. Inhibited refers to a shy, timid, and fearful profile of a child, whereas uninhibited refers to the appearance of bold, sociable and outgoing behaviours. As a result of his ground breaking work on temperament, we know that these characteristics have the ability to influence later behavior depending on how they interact with the environment. Kagan also believed that there is no guarantee of an indefinitely stable profile considering environmental factors are always changing and that both genes and environmental factors influence a child's temperament
Temperament
In psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learned...
Emotion
Although emotion is not what Kagan is known for, he did bring some work into this field. Kagan explained emotion as occurring in four dinstinct phases. The first phase is the brain state, which is created by an incentive, the second stage is the detection of changes in bodily movement. The third stage is the appraisal of a change in bodily feeling, and the last stage is where there are observable changes in facial expression and muscle tension.Kagan questioned relying on individual's verbal statements of their feelings. He provided several reasons for this. Firstly, he argued that the English language does not have enough words to describe all emotional states. Secondly, the words to explain emotional states do not convey the differences in the quality or the serverity of it. Lastly, you cannot translate emotional words from one language to another accurately.
Awards
Kagan won the Hofheimer Prize of the American Psychiatric AssociationAmerican Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
in 1963. In 1995, He won the G. Stanley Hall
G. Stanley Hall
Granville Stanley Hall was a pioneering American psychologist and educator. His interests focused on childhood development and evolutionary theory...
Award of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
(APA).
External links
- Kagan's NECSI Web Page (with a photo of him)
- The Ideas of Jerome Kagan A link to the CBC Radio One Ideas Show
- Interview with Jerome Kagan (CBC Radio One Ideas Podcast, (no longer available))
- The Meaning of Psychological Abnormality by Jerome Kagan
- Why the Arts Matter: Six Good Reasons for Advocating the Importance of Arts in School address at the Learning, Arts, and the Brain Conference, Baltimore, May 2009