ABSTRACT
The main concern of academic studies was for long the discovery of the general laws of mental life as a whole, and this remains a very large and important branch of our science. The child is very truly father of the man, and there is unbroken continuity of development from infancy to maturity. The special study of this aspect of psychology is spoken of as genetic psychology. The development of this branch of our science has had the most profound influence upon the orientation of psychology as a whole. It constitutes a fascinating chapter of science in itself, and is no less important for its own contributions to our understanding of human problems. All the fields of psychology so far discussed are concerned with the formulation of general laws, applicable to human beings or other animals as a whole, albeit from a special standpoint.
