ABSTRACT
We have until now concerned ourselves with those facts of development that are largely independent of the individual situation. In the discussion of special abilities we paid no attention to the indivi dually determined factors, but confined our investi gation, with the exception of the study of individual cases and environmental influences in regard to pre-school children, to their chronological appear ance. The older the child gets the more definitely do the effect of the influences exerted by the environment and the gradually crystallizing indi viduality of the child make their appearance. All of the investigations that we took up in the previous chapters indicate an intensification of special interests and abilities from about the eleventh to the twelfth year on. The same holds true for the specific personality of the individual. How and to what extent hereditary and environ mental influences determine individuality is one of the most difficult problems in the entire field of psychology. Research in heredity on the one
hand and in the environmental factor on the other, have begun to attack the problem from diametric ally opposed angles. A third angle, typological research, which attempts to define individuality on the basis of constantly occurring characteristics, represents a point of view independent of the two just mentioned. A detailed discussion of these three points of view would take up an entire book. We will at this point present a few of those findings that are especially pertinent.
