Education, evangelism, and the origins of clinical psychology: The child-study legacy

Abstract

Both contemporary psychologists and historians of the discipline have disparaged the poor quality of research generated by the Child-Study movement. The real significance of this movement, however, lay not in its scientific findings but in its institutional innovations. Its most important legacy was the structuring of a new working relationship between psychologists and schoolteachers. This mutually beneficial collaboration subtly altered the shape of professional psychology by reorienting research toward practical classroom concerns. In the midst of controversies surrounding the social role and scientific potential of Child-Study, a new clinical psychology began to emerge.