The Personality of the Preschool Child

The Personality of the Preschool Child: The Child's Search for His Self presents child behavior and child expression from the point of view of the dynamics of personality during th

Organized into three parts encompassing 11 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the speech and thought of children as rhythmically organized in a characteristic way. This text then examines the psychic effect of the fairy tale upon the child, which becomes an adequate means for the child's projections. Other chapters consider children's fantasies that help them to relate otherwise meaningless data to each other, thus facilitating their memorization by establishing relationships. This book discusses as well the confusion of reality and imagination for the child. The final chapter deals with the methods of investigation in child psychology.

This book is a valuable resource for child psychologists.

Foreword

Preface

Part I Observation

Chapter I The Mind of Child and Adult

Association and Perception

The Child's Logic

Ego-Concept and Thought

Self-Training for Security

Imagination

First Experiences

The Child's Inability to Generalize

The Mechanism of Children's Questions

The Child's Subjectivism

Directed and Undirected Thought

The Process of Condensation in Children's Thought

Concept Formation in the Thinking of the Child

Integration of Fairy Tales Into the Orbit of Experiences

Learning

The Confusion of Words

The Confusion of Relationships

The Confusion of Reality and Imagination

Learning and Performance

Chapter II The Emotion of Child and Adult

The Range of Emotions

Individuality and Self

The Child's Belief in Magic and Mystical Participation

The Child's Delight in His Bodily Manifestations

The Structure of the Child's Aggression

Sadism and Masochism in Young Children

Children's Fears

Anger and Jealousy

Chapter III The First Characteristics of Social Life

Family Relations

The Parents

Siblings

The Newborn

Ideal and Identification

Isolation and the Concept of Possession

Dominance and Submission

Genuine Social Relationships

Child-Adult Relationship

Social Relationships in Childhood and Adulthood

Chapter IV The Child's Concept of Reality

Space, Time, and Differentiation

Self-Observation

The Problem of Birth

The Problem of Death

Reality and Imagination

Dissociation of Personality

Dreams

Theories of Play

Tools and Imagination in Play Activity

The Social Influence of Play

The Mental Influence of Play

The Emotional Influence of Play

Play as a Training for Expressiveness and Impressionability

Part 2 Experimentation

Chapter V The Preschool Child as an Individual

The Growth of Individuality

Types of Adjustment

Consistency and Types

Identification and Empathy

Neurosis in Child and Adult

Expression Analysis

The Child's Individual Hieroglyphics

The Graphic Dream

Analysis of Individual Problems

A Little Girl's Hate Against the Newborn Baby, Realized in Aggression

A Little Boy's Hate Against the Newborn Baby, Realized in an Escape from Reality

Interpretation of the Child's Individual Associations

Chapter VI The Child's Feeling of Security

Evaluation of the Home Situation from Children's Drawings

Evaluation of the Home Situation from Children's Spatial Concepts

Expression of Security in Children's Drawings

The Child's Adjustment to Space

Security Test

Experiments in Aggression

Chapter VII Intelligence in the Preschool Child

Intelligence and Perception

The Shortcomings of Intelligence Tests

Intelligence and Emotion

Intelligence and Imagination

Imagination vs. Intelligence

Intelligence and Adjustment

I.Q. and R.Q.

Testing the Child's Rhythmic Organization

Nature and Nurture in Graphic Proportions: Rhythm of African Children

The Conscious and Unconscious Sensing of Relationships: The Graphic Expression of the Blind

Changes in Personality and the Change of Graphic Proportions: The Graphic Expression of the Epileptic

The Unconscious Sensing of Relationships as an Innate Factor of Personality

Dynamics of Intelligence

Chapter VIII Projective Methods for Judging Expressive Behavior of Preschool Children

Diagnosis of the Child's Personality from His Everyday Behavior

Expressive Behavior

Analysis of Static Postures of the Body

Analysis of Bodily Movements

The Child's Approach to an Object

The Child's Handling of Material

Finger Paintings

The "Blind" Analysis of Graphic Expression

Graphic Movements a Reflex of Bodily Movements

Graphic Movements a Reflex of Inner Personal Dynamics

The Interrelationship of Graphic Movements

Structure of Forms and Lines

The Texture of Strokes

Direction of Strokes

Movement and Form

Methods of Grapho-Analysis

Training in Interpreting Graphic Expression

Table of Graphic Elements in Drawings by Young Children

Diagnosis of Personality Through a Blind Analysis of Scribblings and Drawings

Part 3 Theory

Chapter IX Principles of Children's Art

The Aesthetic Viewpoint of Child and of Adult

The Negative Attitude Toward Children's Drawings

The Meaning of Wrong Proportions

The Spatial Concept

The Synthesis

The Emphasis

Aesthetic Preferences

Aspects of Studying Children's Drawings

Art Criteria of Child and of Adult

Chapter X Child and Adult. The Educational Bridge Between Two Worlds

Four Misconceptions About the Child's Personality

Illusion of the "Happy Childhood"

Underestimation and Overestimation of a Child's Perception of His Environment

Illusions of Parents About their Role

Illusion About the Value of Punishment

The Case of Jean Jacques Rousseau and His Productive Neurosis

General and Individual Patterns

Nature-Nurture and the Unique Pattern

The Development of the Self

The Change of Personality

Authoritarian and Progressive Education

Philosophies of Education

Dynamic Education

"Editing the Material" of the Child's Personality

Chapter XI Methods in Child Psychology

The Mother and the Scientist

The Postulate of Converging Methods in Child Psychology

Methods of Research in Child Study

Differences of Approach in the Natural Sciences, Psychology, and Child Study

Steps and Techniques of Experimentation

The Goal of Child Psychology

Approaches to the Personality of the Preschool Child by Experimental Depth Psychology

Bibliography

Index