Review of Infancy and human growth

Abstract

Reviews the book, Infancy and Human Growth by Arnold Gesell (see record 1929-00886-000 ). This treatise sets forth an extension of the methods employed in the study of child development presented in 1926 in the book The Mental Growth of the Preschool Child by the same author. The results summarized in the present volume are the outgrowth of clinical observations on infant development under controlled conditions in the psycho-clinic at Yale University. Excluding the Introductory chapter which discusses the cycle of mental growth, the book is divided into three parts. Part 1 treats the methods of observation in studies of infant development; Part 2 deals with genetic studies of infant behavior; And Part 3 discusses the significance of infancy. Despite the fact that in Part 1 the author is often repetitious and devotes three of the five chapters to method (Comparative) used in making observations on infant growth in the Photographic Observatory, one is impressed with the description given and the cuts shown. Part 2 contains nine chapters which deal with results of development studies. Much which should be of interest to students of infant life is to be found in this section of the book. In Part 3 the author discusses the significance of Infancy and behind this discussion one is compelled to see the effect of the writer's broad clinical experience on what he has to say. The particular topics treated are the preeminence of human infancy, the potency of infant growth on personality, and the possible prediction value resulting from studies like the ones reported here. The closing chapters deal with the author's interpretation of growth as it is related to human life. The diction and style of this book are not as lucid as one might want at times--nevertheless it should find a welcome place in the all too meager list of scientific studies, to date, on the subject of infant life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)