Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

Granville Stanley Hall 109
Getting Beyond the Facts: Teaching Social Studies/Social Sciences in the Twenty-First Century
(2001), a postformal approach requires us to reach past the understandings that have come down
to us as fact and examine their social construction.
BACKGROUND, INFLUENCES, AND ACHIEVEMENTS—A BRIEF SUMMARY
As mentioned above, Hall came of age during a time of great societal change, all which came
to bear on his educational philosophies. Hall’s first interest was the church. He attended Williston
Seminary in Easthampton, Massachusetts, from 1862 to 1863, transferred to Williams College
until 1867 (receiving his BA and MA), and then spent a year in New York at the Union Theological
Seminary as a divinity student. While in New York he attended many of the meetings held at
Cooper Union where he was exposed to radical thinkers of the day. He even went to a meeting
at the house of the famous (some would say infamous) social reformer, Victoria Woodhull, and
attended at least one séance. Hall was introduced to the well-known abolitionist and minister
Henry Ward Beecher at Beecher’s church in Brooklyn Heights. Beecher, on hearing that Hall
wished to study philosophy in Europe but lacked the funds, in turn introduced him to lumber
magnate, Henry Sage, who gave Hall a check for $1,000 to finance his study.
Traveling abroad in July of 1868, Hall’s European studies began with philosophy then turned
toward psychology. Hall returned from Europe in 1871 and worked as a tutor to the children of
a well-to-do Jewish family in New York. Through this family he was introduced to more social
reformers and progressives who were concerned with children and education such as Felix Adler,
the son of a Rabbi, who went on to found the Society for Ethical Culture and the Ethical Culture
School. After a short teaching stint at Antioch College and then at Harvard, Hall returned to
Europe in 1876, studying in Leipzig under philosopher and psychologist, Wilhelm Wundt, and
experimental physiologist, Carl Ludwig. Upon his return from Germany, Hall studied at Harvard
under William James and Henry Bowditch, and was granted the first PhD in psychology earned
in the United States. He went on to an appointment as a professor of pedagogy and psychology at
the Johns Hopkins University then served as the first president of Clark University in Worcester,
Massachusetts, from 1889 until his death in 1924. Hall founded many professional journals,
including the American Journal of Psychology (1887), the Pedagogical Seminary (1891) and
the Journal of Applied Psychology (1915). He also served as the first president of the American
Psychological Association.
THEORY
Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny
As the theories of Darwin and other evolutionists swept the world, Hall’s focus began to center
around child development and its relation to evolutionary theory. Hall applied German zoologist
Ernst Haeckel’s theory that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny—that the development of embryos
mirrors the evolutionary stages of a species—and expanded it to mean that the psycho-educational
development of the child followed the evolutionary path of human society. This is sometimes
referred to as the culture-epochs theory. One must remember that for Hall, as well for many of
those living in Hall’s time, evolutionary belief was heavily colored by the bias toward Western
society as being the highest level achieved in the history of mankind. Therefore, in Hall’s view, the
young child experiences the “animal” stage until about six or seven years of age, then progresses
to the “savage” stage and so on until becoming a “civilized” adult. Hall did not believe that the
child in his “animal” stage should be unduly pressured. Nature, he felt, was the best teacher.
With this understanding, Hall recommended that reading not be taught until at least the age of 8,