Historical Developmental Psychology: The Sample Case of Paintings

Abstract

Since the publication of Aries's ground-breaking book in 1960, an exponentially increasing number of studies on the history of childhood and the family has been published. A critical review of this historical research however, shows that there are many serious theoretical and methodological weaknesses. It is argued that the empirical analytical research tradition of developmental psychology could be applied fruitfully to solve at least some of the problems. This is demonstrated by the analysis of paintings in which children are depicted. Based on Lorenz's theory of the "Kindchenschema" (child schema), ethological research demonstrated which anatomical proportions trigger the innate releasing mechanisms for affection and nurturing in humans. These proportions were used to devise an instrument for assessing historical change in the depiction of "childishness". This instrument was then used in a first study of 100 Dutch and Flemish paintings from the 15th to the 20th centuries. A correlation coefficient of 0.60 between recency of the paintings and childishness scores was found. These data support Aries's hypothesis that, since the end of the Middle Ages, there is a continuous increase in childishness in the cultural representation of children, such as paintings. This study discusses how this empirical approach to paintings could be generalised to other historical sources. The paper concludes with a general discussion of the desirability of developing a "historical developmental psychology", i.e. of framing an empirical developmental psychology in a cultural-historical context.