While on the psychological phase of child study the results so far obtained are naturally more vague, their importance must not be un derestimated. Apart from such lessons of gen eral psychology as have a hearing on the men tal development of the child, perhaps the most practical result in this new field of study is the formulation of a graduated scale of child development by which the normal growth of mentality can be readily ascertained. This standard table, known as "Billet's Metrical Scale of has been found so nearly correct for the average child that, with some modifications and extensions (see MEN TAL TEsTs), it has been adopted by students of child psychology and teachers everywhere. Still, it cannot be said that experimental psy chology has done as much for child study as have the other biological sciences. Even the typical child mind has not yet been satisfac torily determined, a task performed for the adult mind long ago. Yet until this is accom plished by child psychology, it can hardly be considered a science. But even so the psychol ogy of childhood has, to quote Professor Thorndike, °acquired facts concerning instinc tive tendencies, the gradual maturing of capaci ties, the tendencies useful or harmful in chil dren's habits of observing, associating and reasoning, the actual kinds and amounts of knowledge which they may be expected to pos sess at different ages and under different con ditions, their likes and dislikes, the relation of their mental to their physical well being, and the like.* Specifically, and according to the periods of childhood already outlined, the following facts have been fully established in regard to the child's mental development.
The human infant is at first essentially a sensory and motor animal whose mental life, apart from the emotions of anger and fear, is confined almost exclusively to sense-perception. With the acquisition of language comes the earliest indication of conscious meaning. Then the mental life of the child really begins. Imagination develops rapidly and tends to obliterate for the child the dividing line be tween fact and fancy, which is so exasperating to the adult, whose imagery is never so vivid as that of the child. In general, spatial per ception precedes temporal, and both come much before color discrimination. Ideas of time-in tervals dawn rather late upon the child's mind, and the sense of rhythm is often a very slow acquisition. The modes of learning for in fancy seem to consist of the atrial and success method') and unconscious imitation.
With the advent of childhood come con scious imitation, a rapid extension of purposive activity, an enlargement of the field of sense perception, and a corresponding enrichment of mental life generally. Actual experiments have shown that an average child doubles or trebles its power of sense discrimination be tween the years of 6 and 16. There is probably a corresponding rise in the child's entire mental life at this stage of development. It is certain, at any rate, that the power of immediate mem ory keeps on increasing till about the 15th year, after which it remains stationary. The power of logical memory, however, continues to increase. In emotional life childhood differs hut little from adulthood. Every emotion known to the latter, with the single exception of the sexual, are experienced in the former, though naturally in a cruder and simpler form.
The most striking characteristics of the adolescent period, which is a period of transition, are the rapid growth of the emotions, the higher sentiments, and of indi vidualism, which are either effects or correla tives of the sexual awakening that comes in this period and largely dominates many of its manifestations. Altogether, it is a very critical period in the life of the young man or woman —as critical psychologically as infancy is phy sically— a period calling for more patience, tact and sympathy in parents and teachers than any other. It is then that intellectual, msthetic, moral or religious life really begins.
Among the general results of child study mention should be made at least of the conclu sion reached by psychologists that childhood, though necessarily a preparation for adulthood, is to be passed through by the child entirely for its own sake. Nor should its various stages be hurried or compressed, save under very unusual circumstances. For it is believed that the best possible preparation for adulthood is to absorb fully the various influences and ex periences characteristic of each preceding age; that, in other words, the person who displays the characteristics peculiar to each age in the fullest degree will ultimately attain a higher type of manhood or womanhood than one upon whom adult characteristics are forced Prema turely. In this connection passing mention must be made, too, of the quickening of the parental conscience as one of the far-reaching results of child study, thanks to which the serious responsibilities of parenthood are com ing to be better realized. The vogue of °eugenic marriages* and the cry for abetter babies') are but superficial manifestations of the deeper tendency making for an enlightened parenthood. See ADOLESCENCE.
Besides the works men tioned incidentally in the body of this article, consult Binet, A., 'Les idees modernes sur les enfants' (Flammarion 1910); Chamberlain, A.. 'The Child: A Study in the Evolution of Man) (New York 1900) ; Claparede, E., 'Psy chologie de l'enfant (Geneva 1909); Com payre, G., 'Intellectual and Moral Develop ment of the Child' (New York 1902) ; Dear born, 'Moto-Sensory Development' (Balti more 1910) -, Drummond, W. B., Introduc tion to Child Study' (London 1907); Fiske, J., 'The Meaning of Infancy' (Boston 1909); Forbush, 'Guide Book to Childhood' (Phila delphia 1915); Groos, K., 'The Play of Man' (New York 1901); Hall, S. 'Adolescence) (ib. 1905); Harrison, E. 'A S., of Child Nature) (Chicago 1900); Haskell, E. M., 'Child Observations) (Boston 1896); Jacoby, 'Child Training as a Science' (New York 1914) ; Kirpatrick, E. A. 'Fundamentals of Child Study' (New York 1908) •, McKeever, 'Outlines of Child Study' (ib. 1915); Neu mann, (Vorlesungen zur Einfiihrung in die ex perimentelle Padagogik) (Leipzig 1907) • Op penhcim, 'The Development of the Child' (New York, 1898) Rowe, S. H., 'The Physical Nature of the Child' (New York 1899); Tay lor, 'The (ib. 1900) ; Thorndike, E. E., 'Notes on Child Study' (ib. 1901); Tracy, F., 'The Psychology of Childhood' (Boston 1897) ' • Warner, F., 'The Study of Children' (ib. 1898) • Washburne, M. F. 'Study of the Child) (Chicago 1907) ; and Whipple, 'Manual of Mental Tests' (Baltimore 1910). Very suggestive reading may be found in the numer ous autobiographical and literary accounts of children.