ABSTRACT
As the Ÿeld of developmental psychology grew, there were psychologists who chose to focus on children’s strengths and the importance of appropriate environments for development. Lois Barclay Murphy, who came to psychology from an unorthodox background, was one of the early pioneers who thought outside the box of conventional approaches and topics. She stressed the positive aspects of children’s development, especially how children develop a sense of identiŸcation with others, mutual care, and the need for ethical behavior. To study these topics, she was innovative in her methods and her interpretations. Mamie Phipps Clark had a similar focus on the strengths and abilities of children. This was especially important in her work at the Northside Center, as many of the children she and her staff served there were racial and ethnic minorities who faced structural barriers in New York City schools and of poverty and paucity of opportunity. Joseph McVicker Hunt, who came late to the formal study of children’s development, had a profound impact on how we understand children’s abilities and the importance of the environment in maximizing those abilities. It is interesting that the wide range of his experiences prior to his formal engagement with the Ÿeld may have been especially important as an environmental stimulus to his own scientiŸc development as a midcareer scientist at the University of Illinois. He was among a small cohort of psychologists and other child specialists who played a central role in creating Head Start, which has certainly been critically important in providing opportunities for the appropriate early development of hundreds of thousands of children in the United States.
