Social psychology as a developmental discipline in the dynamics of practical life: Gustav Jahoda’s pioneering studies on children’s social thinking

Abstract

Gustav Jahoda’s research on children’s development of ideas and concepts constitutes a fundamental contribution to social psychology as a developmental and cultural discipline. Jahoda conceived humans in their interdependent relations with socio-cultural and historical environments in which they live, attain knowledge and act. Jahoda’s research on the diversities of thought and agency in children was the subject of meticulous conceptual and methodological rigour. His scholarly work crossed several social and human sciences. This tribute focuses on Jahoda’s early studies of children’s ‘social thinking’ about nationality and economic systems that he carried out in Glasgow. Later in his life Jahoda pursued his ideas on children’s thinking in a close dialogue with other scholars among whom Jean Piaget, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl and Serge Moscovici assumed particular relevance.