G. Stanley Hall
American psychologist and university president
American psychologist who began a psychology laboratory at Johns Hopkins, founded the American Journal of Psychology in 1887, became first president of the American Psychological Association in 1892, wrote Adolescence (1904) and invited Freud and Jung to Clark University in 1909.
Why this person matters
Hall built institutions for American psychology and made adolescence a research topic. His developmental theories rested on recapitulation and on racial and evolutionary hierarchies that are now rejected, so he appears in the course with a mixed record.
Main contributions
Institution building
He began a psychology laboratory at Johns Hopkins in 1883, which some historians count as the first formal American psychology laboratory. He founded the American Journal of Psychology in 1887 and was elected the first president of the American Psychological Association in 1892.
Adolescence
His 1904 book Adolescence drew on Ernst Haeckel's idea that individual development repeats the evolution of the species. Hall popularised the phrase 'storm and stress' for adolescence, although William Burnham had used it in 1889. Senescence (1922) addressed ageing.
Clark University conference of 1909
As the first president of Clark University, a post he held until 1920, he invited Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung to lecture at the conference marking its twentieth anniversary. Freud's lectures were published in the American Journal of Psychology in 1910.
Context and limits
Recapitulation theory is no longer accepted, and psychologists no longer treat 'storm and stress' as universal. Hall called pre-adolescent children 'savages', distinguished 'higher' and 'lower' races, treated Black people as representing an early stage of human development, and supported selective breeding and forced sterilisation. He also backed corporal punishment as part of authoritarian discipline. He mentored Francis Cecil Sumner, the first African American to earn a psychology PhD.
In your introductory course
Lifespan development.Appears in the history and development chapters as the person behind the 1909 Clark conference and early adolescence research. Students should read his racial theories as part of the record.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 1.3. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1883
Began a psychology laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.
- 1887
Founded the American Journal of Psychology.
- 1892
Became first president of the American Psychological Association.
- 1904
Published Adolescence.
- 1909
Invited Freud and Jung to lecture at Clark University.
Sources
- University at Buffalo, Granville Stanley Hall 1844 to 1924 (history of communication disorders)University. Reference article inspected.
- New World Encyclopedia, G. Stanley HallReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Classics in the History of Psychology (York University), Freud, The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis (Clark lectures, contents page)Original work. Abstract inspected.
- Wikipedia, G. Stanley HallReference work. Reference article inspected.