The Child as a Research Subject

Abstract

Like many eminent child psychologists such as Binet, Piaget, Stern, and others, Valentine (1942) used his own children as subjects in his studies on child development. One of them, in later years, was asked whether he resented his father’s professional approach toward him when he was small and answered that, on the contrary, he remembered his childhood as a most pleasing and fascinating experience. Not many individuals, he thought, could claim to have had the undivided attention and boundless interest of a parent during their entire development. He recalled endless hours of play with delightful and challenging materials. It was no concern of his at the time whether his father’s rapt circumspection had affectional or academic sources, but he suspected, looking back, that there was a good deal of both.