A Guide for Studying the Personality of a Young Child
Character and personality can best be de scribed in terms of their functioning under the varied conditions of normal life. This article reports the result of several years effort to develop a method of studying per sonality from records of observation with two main points of reference, the situation and the response. The result is a tentative tool called a Guide for Studying the Personality of a Young Child. The guide assumes that at all times a child is reacting to a total situation, but that at different times different elements are prepotent in influencing his response. The tendency to be selective in his response is the basis for the analysis in tenns of situation. The tendency to respond to any aspect of the situation differently at dif ferent times is the basis for the analysis in terms of response. These are the two points of reference in studying behavior: To what in the total sit uation is the child predominantly respond ing? How does he respond to this predomi nant factor in the situation? Several thousand incidents or events of behavior recorded over a period of years by staff and students have been classified in answer to these two questions. An incident op event, as used in this study, means a simple unit of experience, a response how ever involved to a situation however complex. Duplicates among these recorded events have been weeded out until each incident retained in a group is unique in some way although basically like the others in the group. A descriptive statement has been rade for each group covering all the incidents within the group. These refined groups have been orga nized into a guide. The guide has been used as a method of studying the personality of young children. It has served as a working basis for guiding current behavior, as a means for measuring change from time to time, and as a basis for comparing, one child with other children. Year after year the details of the guide have been changed in adapting it for better , usefulness. Therefore, the findings from