Heinz Werner and Developmental Science

Heinz Werner (1890-1964) was one of the three key developmental psychologists of the 20th century along with Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. This book is a new exploration of Werner's ideas and their social contexts in Vienna in his student years, in Hamburg up to 1933, followed by the years of transit as an immigrant to America at times of economic depression, finally culminating in his establishment of the prominent "Clark tradition" in American psychology in the 1950s. The book offers an in-depth analysis of Werner's ideas as they were originally formulated in Vienna and Hamburg, and how they were changed by North American influences. Werner's pivotal role between European and American intellectual traditions is illuminated through the use of rich memories of his former students, unique documents from Werner's personal library at Clark, and analyses of links with other European traditions in philosophy and biological sciences. The European period (prior to 1933) in Werner's academic life is found to be definitive for Werner's contributions to science. The ideas developed in his early career continued in the form of a productive empirical research program in the 1950s at Clark. An analysis of the social-intellectual climate of the development of psychology in America in the 1950s is a special feature of this book that will further enhance an understanding of Werner's unique contribution

This book will be of interest to developmental psychologists, sociologists and historians of science, philosophers, practitioners working in special education and neuropsychology, and for general readers interested in the history of ideas and life courses of scientists.

Contributes an in-depth view of Heinz Werner's work during his Clark University years, shedding further light on the development of his ideas Demonstrates how the history of a line of thought continues to inform the future scientific investigation of a particular area

Autorentext
Jaan Valsiner, geboren 1951 in Tallinn, Estland, ist ein Kulturpsychologe mit einer konsequent entwicklungsorientierten axiomatischen Grundlage, die er auf die Analyse psychologischer und sozialer Phänomene anwendet. Er ist Gründungsherausgeber (1995-2025) der Sage Zeitschrift Culture & Psychology sowie Editor in Chief von Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science (Springer, 2007-2026). Nach mehr als drei Jahrzehnten Tätigkeit in den USA an der University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill und der Clark University nahm er 2013 den Ruf als Niels Bohr Professor für Kulturpsychologie an die Aalborg Universität in Dänemark an. Valsiner leitet außerdem das Kompetenzzentrum für Kulturpsychologie an der Universität Tallinn, Estland. Sein Schwerpunkt liegt auf theoretischen Innovationen, darunter die Monografien The Guided Mind (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), Ornamented Lives (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishers, 2018) und Sensuality in Human Living (Springer, 2020). Zudem veröffentlichte er das grundlegende theoretische Werk General Human Psychology (Springer, 2021), in dem er William Sterns Personologie mit seiner Kulturpsychologie semiotischer Dynamiken integriert.Jaan Valsiner wurde in Europa mit bedeutenden Forschungspreisen ausgezeichnet - dem Alexander von Humboldt Preis im Jahr 1995 in Deutschland sowie dem Hans Kilian Preis im Jahr 2017. Als Teil seines Credos, Psychologie auf einer internationalen und transkulturellen Grundlage aufzubauen, war er Gastprofessor in Brasilien, Japan, Australien, Estland, Deutschland, Italien, Luxemburg, dem Vereinigten Königreich und den Niederlanden. Seit 2017 ist er auswärtiges Mitglied der Estnischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Inhalt
General Introduction.- General Introduction.- Basic Life Course: Heinz Werner.- Basic Life Course: Heinz Werner.- The European Roots Re-examined.- The Context of the Formation of Heinz Werner's Ideas.- Heinz Werner and the Psychological Institute in Hamburg.- The Making of a Developmental Psychologist.- Topics in development.- Metaphor and Perception.- Re-Thinking Development.- The Sensory-Tonic Field Theory of Perception.- The World at Clark.- The Clark Years: Creating a Culture.- Heinz Werner: Mentor and Mensch.- Werner: Orthogenesis as Life Style.- Heinz Werner, My Spiritual Grandfather.- Feeling for Others: Werner's Interpersonal Style.- Personal Experiences With Heinz Werner at Clark University.- Werner Recollected.- Relating to Dr. Werner: Past and Present.- Transforming Werner's Heritage.- The Theory of Phenomenal Psychology.- Critical Person-in-Environment Transitions Across the Life Span.- The Primate Phylogeny of Cognitive Ontogeny.- Werner's Developmental Thought in the Study of Adult Psychopathology.- Heinz Werner: Catalyst for a New Way of Understanding and Treating Children on the Autism Spectrum.- General Synthesis.