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Growth and Development

Theory: ARNOLD GESELL (1880 –
1961)
Home / Sociology & Philosophy / Growth and Development Theory: ARNOLD…

Prior to the early twentieth century, scientific

observations of children were not common.  Arnold
Gesell was one of the first psychologists to
systematically describe children’s physical, social,
and emotional achievements through a
quantitative study of human development from
birth through adolescence.
He focused his research on the extensive study of a
small number of children. He began with pre-school
children and later extended his work to ages 5 to 10 and 10 to 16. From his findings,
Gesell concluded that mental and physical development in infants, children, and
adolescents are comparable and parallel orderly processes.

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The results of his research were utilized in creating the Gesell Development
Schedules, which can be used with children between four weeks and six years of age.
The test measures responses to standardized materials and situations both
qualitatively and quantitatively.
Areas emphasized include motor and language development, adaptive behavior, and
personal-social behavior. The results of the test are expressed first as developmental
age (DA), which is then converted into developmental quotient (DQ), representing “the
portion of normal development that is present at any age.” A separate developmental
quotient may be obtained for each of the functions on which the scale is built.

B.F. Skinner: Biography, Theories,

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Contributions

Gesell’s observations of children allowed him to describe developmental milestones

in ten major areas: motor characteristics, personal hygiene, emotional
expression, fears and dreams, self and sex, interpersonal relations, play and
pastimes, school life, ethical sense, and philosophic outlook. His training in
physiology and his focus on developmental milestones led Gesell to be a strong
proponent of the “maturational” perspective of child development.
That is, he believed that child development occurs according to a predetermined,
naturally unfolding plan of growth.  Gesell’s most notable achievement was his
contribution to the “normative” approach to studying children. In this approach,
psychologists observed large numbers of children of various ages and determined the
typical age, or “norms,” for which most children achieved various developmental
milestones.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Gesell was widely regarded as the nation’s foremost authority
on child-rearing and development, and developmental quotients based on his
development schedules were widely used as an assessment of children’s intelligence.
Gesell argued, in widely read publications, that the best way to raise children requires
reasonable guidance, rather than permissiveness or rigidity.

READ: Alfred Binet: Biography & Associationism

Eventually, the preeminence of Gesell’s ideas gave way to theories that stressed the
importance of environmental rather than internal elements in child development, as
the ideas of Jerome S. Bruner and Jean Piaget gained prominence. Gesell’s writings
have been criticized by other psychologists because he did not readily acknowledge
that there are individual and cultural differences in child development, and his focus
on developmental norms implied that what is typical for each age is also what is
desirable.
Although the developmental quotient is no longer accepted as a valid measure of
intellectual ability, Gesell remains an important pioneer in child development and is
recognized for his advances in the methodology of carefully observing and
measuring behavior, and describing child development.  He created a foundation
for subsequent research that described both average developmental trends and
individual differences in development.  He also inaugurated the use of
photography and observation through one-way mirrors as research tools.

Author: William Anderson (Schoolworkhelper Editorial Team)

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