ABSTRACT

Few studies conducted by psychologists have received the amount of publicity accorded Myrtle Mcgraw's 1932 co-twin study of Johnny and Jimmy Woods. In the case of newspaper and magazine coverage of Johnny and Jimmy Woods, the press emphasized the issues of environment and heredity, the role of early experience, the merits of behaviorism, and psychology's potential to contribute to improved techniques in child-rearing. Parents were confronted by differences between psychologists regarding the relative significance of environment and heredity, maturation and training and the issue of possible harmful effects resulting from the over-stimulation of infants. In addition to conceptualizing McGraw's work as a critical test of behaviorism, the press went on to suggest that the study was a test of psychology's potential to contribute to better child-rearing practices. McGraw saw the study of motor development as demonstrating that learning entailed more than simply the gradual enlargement or mechanical recombination of specific motor skills through simple conditioning.