Gary W. Ladd (ed.) - Appraising the Human Developmental Sciences: Essays in Honor of Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

APPRAISING THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCES

LANDSCAPES OF CHILDHOOD

General Editor

Elizabeth N. Goodenough, Residential College, University of Michigan

Editorial Board

Louise Chawla, Kentucky State University

Robert Coles, Harvard University

Donald Haase, Wayne State University

Gareth Matthews, University of Massachusetts

Robin Moore, North Carolina State University

Michael Nettles, University of Michigan

Zibby Oneal, author of childrens books

Valerie Polakow, Eastern Michigan University

Roger Hart, City University of New York

Pamela F. Reynolds, Johns Hopkins University

John Stilgoe, Harvard University

Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, Harvard University

Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota

A complete listing of the books in this series
can be found online at wsupress.wayne.edu

Essays in Honor of
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

Edited by Gary W. Ladd

2007 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201.

All rights are reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Appraising the human developmental sciences :

essays in honor of Merrill-Palmer quarterly / edited by Gary W. Ladd.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8143-3342-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-8143-3342-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Developmental psychology. 2. Child development. 3. Child psychology.

I. Ladd, Gary W., 1950II. Merrill-Palmer quarterly

(Wayne State University Press)

BF713.5.A67 2007

155dc22

2006030894

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.481984.

Gary W. Ladd

I.
The Origins and Evolution of Merrill-Palmer Quarterly:
A Historical Overview

Gary W. Ladd

II.
Essays in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

Jerome Kagan

John H. Flavell

Robert V. Kail

Robert S. Siegler

Mary K. Rothbart

Nancy Eisenberg, Claire Champion, and Yue Ma

Carol S. Dweck and Bonita E. London

Thomas J. Berndt

Kenneth H. Rubin and Robert J. Coplan

Richard A. Fabes, Carol Lynn Martin, and Laura D. Hanish

Judy Dunn

Ross D. Parke

Lawrence J. Walker

Grazyna Kochanska and Nazan Aksan

Robert Plomin

Kenneth A. Dodge

Robert J. Sternberg and Elena L. Grigorenko

Elliot Turiel

Deborah Lowe Vandell

Craig T. Ramey and Sharon L. Ramey

John E. Lochman

Robert B. McCall, Christina J. Groark, and Robert P. Nelkin

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly at Age 50, An Occasion for Appraising the Past, Present, and Future of the Human Developmental Sciences

Gary W. Ladd

In 2004 Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: A Journal of Developmental Psychology marked its 50th anniversary, which provided an occasion to celebrate the journals heritage, its long history of scholarly contributions to the human developmental sciences, and its current and future mission as a purveyor of scientific discoveries. This juncture provided a vantage point from which to appraise the scientific endeavors that generated the contents of MPQ and its sister publications during the latter half of the 20th century and the first few years of the 21st century.

One can argue that the best way to gauge the progress and prospects of a scientific discipline is to examine it from three perspectives, all of which have the potential to be instructive for current and future investigators. Hindsight offers a view of the past, a viewpoint from which assays can be made of the scientific yield from pursuing various theories and and empirical investments. Coincident, or side-long, glances permit assessments of the current state of the science, including recent trends, innovations, and discoveries that have emerged within specific subdisciplines or areas of inquiry. Finally, foresight lends itself to the process of projecting the future of existing lines of investigation, anticipating impediments to progress (and devising strategies to circumvent these obstacles), and identifying promising new frameworks and innovative objectives.

To capitalize on this opportunity to assess the state of developmental psychology, the editors of Merrill-Palmer Quarterly invited senior investigators whose research programs and accomplishments span many of the last 50 years to write the chapters that appear within this volume. Earlier versions appeared as invited commentaries within special anniversary issues of Merrill-Palmer Quarterly during the 2004 calendar year (volume 50, numbers 1, 3, and 4). All the contributors have at least two things in common: each has made a contribution to Merrill-Palmer Quarterly at some point in her or his career (e.g., as an author, reviewer, board member, former editor or associate editor, etc.), and all are leaders within their respective disciplines and the larger domain of the human developmental sciences.

The chapters are remarkably diverse, both individually and as a collection. Each author provides an integrated analysis of one or more interconnected research domains, and in this context they critically review past research accomplishments (e.g., a historical perspective on critical concepts and findings), current progress (e.g., the contemporary status of pertinent theories and findings), and future directions (e.g., a vision of the future; prospects for new lines of investigation). As a whole the anthology speaks to most of the subdisciplines that comprise the human developmental sciences, and, consistent with its purpose, the book reflects the scope and complexity of the research findings that MPQ has published during its 50 years of existence.

The first chapter provides a historical overview of the confluence of events, people, institutional forces, and publication trends that brought Merrill-Palmer Quarterly into existence and contributed to its longevity (Ladd, 2004). The remaining 22 chapters contain treatises on the scientific enterprise and the utility of specific research agendas that have evolved within the human developmental sciences. Although these chapters need not be read consecutively, the volume is organized to promote an analysis of agendas, accomplishments, and innovations that is relevant not only within major substantive domains but also across subdisciplinary boundaries.

Toward this end, the chapters are organized around ten conceptual themes. The first, methodological and interpretive considerations, contains a single chapter titled The Limitations of Concepts in Developmental Psychology. The author of this chapter, Jerome Kagan, considers how past scientific research traditions and agendas have shaped the way that modern investigators conceptualize the phenomena they investigate, how these conceptual commitments may hinder the work of modern developmental scientists, and, ultimately, how they may restrict the progress of the entire discipline. Chief among the concerns that Kagan raises is the theoretical shortsightedness that has accrued from the way investigators have construed and defined developmental phenomena. Kagan argues that developmentalists have too often created concepts to represent aspects of development that have been modeled after approaches used in other branches of science (e.g., physics) and that a consequence of this practice is that these concepts tend to be too rigid and abstract to fully capture developmental phenomena and the full range of properties or dynamics that define these phenomena. Related concerns are definitions of developmental concepts that do not reflect the contexts in which they were discovered or the milieu in which they operate, and that this theoretical imprecision encourages investigators to overestimate the meaning, properties, and applicability of developmental concepts. Kagan also offers guidance as to how contemporary investigators might address these concerns and problems. He explores several potential solutions, including both methodological and substantive avenues, and illustrates them with relevant scientific examples.