Louise Bates Ames

Louise Bates Ames (29 October 1908 – 31 October 1996) was an American psychologist specializing in child development.[1] Ames was known as a pioneer of child development studies, introducing the theory of child development stages to popular discourse. Ames authored numerous internationally renowned books on the stages of child development, hosted a television show on child development, and co-founded the Gesell Institute of Child Development in New Haven, CT.

Ames's work found that children go through clear, discrete developmental phases based on age. She demonstrated that various age groups feature unique behavioral patterns, to be considered by parents and doctors in monitoring children's development. Perhaps the best-known legacy of her work was the coining of the term "Terrible Twos," to describe the rigid, conflict-laden behavioral patterns of two-year-olds.

Early Life

Ames (née Bates) was born on October 29, 1908 in Portland, Maine to Samuel Lewis Bates and Annie Earle Leach Bates. Her father, a respected lawyer and judge, and her mother, a school teacher, valued education and fostered a stimulating educational environment for Bates and her two younger brothers.

Ames attended Portland public schools throughout her primary and secondary education. Here, she developed an interest in debating, history, and literature, and dreamed of becoming a lawyer like her father. After her 1926 high school graduation, Ames attended Wheaton College, an all-girls school in Norton, Massachusetts. There, Ames chafed against what she felt was an elitist school culture, and transferred to the University of Maine in 1928. While she had intended to pursue law, an undergraduate course in psychology struck Ames's interest, and in 1930 she graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in psychology. That same year, she married fellow psychology student Smith Ames.

From 1933 to 1950 she worked as a research assistant to Arnold Gesell at the Yale Clinic of Child Development. In 1950 she co-founded the Gesell Institute of Child Development. Active in popularizing psychology, she was a prolific co-author and hosted one of the first television shows on child development. Her work emphasized stages in child development.[2]

She received the Bruno Klopfer Award in 1974.[3]

Ames died of cancer aged 88 at her granddaughter's home in Cincinnati.[4] Her papers are held at the Library of Congress.[5]

Works

  • The first five years of life, 1940
  • Infant and child in the culture of today, 1943
  • The child from five to ten, 1946
  • (with Frances L. Ilg) Child behavior, 1955
  • (with Frances L. Ilg and Arnold Gesell) Youth: the years from ten to sixteen, 1956
  • (with Frances L. Ilg) Parents ask, 1962
  • (with Clyde Gillespie and John W. Streff) Stop school failure, 1972
  • (with Ruth W. Metraux, Janet Learned Rodell and Richard Walker) Child Rorschach Responses: developmental trends from two to ten years, 1974
  • (with Frances L. Ilg and Sidney Baker) Child behavior: from the Gesell Institute of Human Development, 1981
  • Arnold Gesell: Themes of his work, 1989

References

  1. ↑ Julia Grant; Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. "Ames, Louise Bates". In Edward T. James; Janet Wilson James; Paul S. Boyer. Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. pp. 22–3. ISBN 978-0-674-01488-6. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  2. ↑ Hogan, John D. (2000). Lawrence Balter, ed. Parenthood in America. ABC-CLIO. pp. 48–50. ISBN 978-1-57607-213-4. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  3. ↑ Walker, Richard (July 1999). "Obituary: Louise Bates Ames (1908–1996)". American Psychologist. 54 (7). doi:10.1037/0003-066X.54.7.516.
  4. ↑ Henry Fountain, Louise Ames, 88, a Child Psychologist, Dies, New York Times, Nov. 7, 1996. Accessed 9 June 2013.
  5. ↑ David Mathison, Louise Bates Ames Papers: A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress, 2010. Accessed 9 June 2013.

Further reading

  • Ames, 'Louise Bates Ames', in Dennis Thompson & John D. Hogan, eds., A History of Developmental Psychology in Autobiography, 1966
  • Ames, 'Child Development and Clinical Psychology', in Eugene Walker, ed., The History of Clinical Psychology in Autobiography, vol.2, 1993
  • Gwendolyn Stevens and Sheldon Gardner, The Women of Psychology, vol. 2., 1982
  • Richard N. Walker, 'Louise Bates Ames', American Psychologist, 54, July 1999, p. 516
  • Matthew Pelcowitz, Louise Bates Ames, Psychology's Feminist Voices, 2012. Accessed 9 June 2013.
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