A century of Chinese developmental psychology

Abstract

A t the turn of last century, psychology, including developmental psychology, was introduced into China. Since then, developmental psychology has always been one of the main branches of Chinese psychology. This paper reviews the progress of Chinese developmental psychology in the last century, with special emphasis on its development during the recent 20 years. The paper consists of three sections. The first is a historical review. The 100 years' history of Chinese developmental psychology has been divided into three phases: first half of the 20th century; the period between 1950s and 1970s after the foundation of the People's Republic of China; and the period from the end of the 1970s up to the present. The authors briefly describe the initiation of Chinese developmental psychology, highlighting the research and related work in the field during the three phases. The second section of the paper introduces the research conducted by Chinese developmental psychologists during the last two decades in the following areas: cognitive development, language development, social development and socialization, the study of gifted children, cross-cultural studies of child development, the study of only children, and the psychology of ageing. This section is the focus of the paper, because in this period, developmental psychology in China has progressed steadily on a sustained course and entered an unprecedented thriving period along with the State opening-up policy and structural reformation. The last section is an appraisal of the past and prospects for the future. Here, the authors comment on the characteristics and achievements of Chinese developmental psychology in the 20th century and discuss future directions for its further development in terms of research scope and depth, research methods, indigenization, and application.A u tournant du dernier siècle, la psychologie, incluant la psychologie développementale, fut introduite en Chine. Depuis lors, la psychologie développementale a toujours été une des branches principales de la psychologie chinoise. Cet article passe en revue les progrès de la psychologie développementale en Chine au cours du dernier siècle, en mettant l'amphase sur son développement durant les deux dernières décennies. Cet article se divise en trois sections. La première section est une revue historique. Les 100 ans d'histoire de la psychologie développementale en Chine furent divisés en trois phases : la première moitié du dernier siècle; la période s'échelonnant entre 1950 et 1970, survenant après la fondation de la République populaire de Chine; et la période débutant à la fin des années 1970 jusqu'à nos jours. Les auteurs décrivent brièvement l'initiation de la psychologie développementale en présentant la recherche et les autres travaux dans ce champ d'étude pendant ces trois phases. La seconde section de l'article introduit les études menées par les psychologues développementalistes chinois, au cours des deux dernières décennies, dans les sphères d'étude suivantes : le développement cognitif, le...

Internationalizing the History of Psychology

“…Attempts to describe development have a long history. Confucius (551-479 bc), the renowned Chinese philosopher and teacher, discussed such important developmental topics as nature versus nurture, stages of devel-opment, individual differences, life-span development, and age-appropriate behaviors (Miao and Wang, 2003). In ancient Greece, Plato (ca.…”