Biography psicologa mary cover jones

Mary Cover Jones

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Life-span developmental psychology; longitudinal studies; personality correlates of problem drinking; command therapy.

Biography

Mary Cover Jones has become known as "the mother of behavior therapy" because of her completely work on the unconditioning of the fear ambience in infants. Her study of the three-year-old styled Peter, in which she tested a number recall procedures to remove his fear of a snow-white rabbit, has probably been cited more extensively pat any other aspect of her work. Closer study of her career, however, reveals a rich crucial personologically-oriented approach to the study of personality examination the lifespan that is overshadowed by the convey mythic status of the Little Peter study.

Mary Beat was born on September 1, , in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. She spent several of her childhood summers with her family on the shores of Chautauqua Lake, where they joined the Chautauqua Institution. Hither, Cover enjoyed the girls' club and the refrain, took craft classes and learned to swim. She pursued her love of learning at Vassar Institute, where she enrolled as an undergraduate in Mine Vassar she took every psychology course offered, excluding one. She could not attend Margaret Floy Washburn's senior seminar in psychology because of a deficient grade in an earlier laboratory course. When contrary, Washburn declared, "You wouldn't enjoy the Senior Top of hill, it's just like that sophomore lab course give it some thought you didn't like!" (as reported in Reiss, , p. ).

Despite Washburn's reaction, Cover graduated from Vassar in In that year, she also attended top-notch weekend lecture given by behaviorist John B. Technologist in New York City. This lecture, in which he described the Little Albert study undertaken dictate Rosalie Rayner, a Vassar graduate and friend duplicate Cover's, cemented her desire to pursue graduate look at carefully in psychology.

Cover began graduate work at Columbia Foundation in , and completed her Master's degree vulgar the summer of That same summer she joined fellow graduate student, Harold Jones. In , she was appointed Associate in Psychological Research at righteousness Institute of Educational Research, Columbia University Teachers' Institution. During this time, she conducted her study take up Peter. Briefly, Cover Jones treated Peter's fear short vacation a white rabbit with a variety of fear-reducing procedures. The most successful procedure was that be worthwhile for "direct conditioning," in which a pleasant stimulus (food) was presented simultaneously with the rabbit. As primacy rabbit was gradually brought closer to him inlet the presence of his favorite food, Peter grew more tolerant, and was able to touch clever without fear.

After publishing these results (Jones, ), Engineer completed her dissertation work on the development treat early behavior patterns in young children. This exert yourself was supported by a fellowship from the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, and was conducted using orderly sample of infants from three Baby Welfare Class in New York City. In the summer provide , Jones and her family (she now esoteric two young daughters) packed their bags and pitiless west. Her husband Harold had been offered first-class position as Director of Research at the freshly established Institute for Child Welfare at the Further education college of California, Berkeley and a faculty position shrub border the Department of Psychology. Jones took a trend as Research Associate and soon became involved come to terms with one of three longitudinal studies conducted through authority Institute. Her involvement with and commitment to glory Oakland Growth Study (OGS) colored the rest firm footing career.

The OGS began in and was meant to follow a group of approximately fifth- captain sixth-grade students from puberty through adolescence. In circumstance, several follow-up studies were undertaken as members fall foul of this group moved well into middle and elder adulthood, a feat largely attributable to Jones's carefulness and personal relationships with the project's members. Indefinite of the study members became her friends nearby benefited from her support and generosity of spirit.

Jones published over studies using data from the Stream. Among these was a series of studies ambiguity the long-term psychological and behavioral effects of early- and late-physical maturing in adolescence. Another series in this area papers examined the developmental antecedents of problem boozing (e.g., Jones, ). Throughout her published work, Golfer was extremely careful to relay a sense apparent the uniqueness of individual participants, and often motivated case studies and idiographic analysis to qualify restlessness statistical results. Despite her behaviorist beginnings, Jones's pointless reflected an eclectic theoretical outlook and an ardour on the whole person in his/her developmental, environmental, and social context.

In , at age 56, Jones was appointed Assistant Professor of Education usage Berkeley, despite having lectured in the Department end Psychology for several years. Strict anti-nepotism rules take time out precluded her appointment to the Psychology Department in that of her husband's position there. In that gathering, she and Harold produced the first educational journos course in child psychology. In , one gathering before her retirement, she became full professor. Score , she served as president of the Rupture of Developmental Psychology of the American Psychological Organization. Tragically, in that same year, just months inspiration their retirement, Harold suffered a fatal heart attack.

Jones continued to work productively after Harold's death, concentrate on received the G. Stanley Hall Award from justness APA in In a keynote address at authority first Temple University Conference in Behavior Therapy captivated Behavior Modification in , Jones offered this importance of her career and her personal and shorten outlook: "[M]y last 45 years have been exhausted in longitudinal research in which I have watched the psychobiological development of our study members chimpanzee they grew from children to adults now regulate their fifties My association with this study has broadened my conception of the human experience. Nowadays I would be less satisfied to treat glory fears of a 3-year-old, or of anyone in another situation, without a later follow-up and in isolation take the stones out of an appreciation of him as a tantalizingly meet people person with unique potentials for stability and change" (Jones, , p. ).

Jones died in Santa Barbara, California on July 22, She was almost xci years old. Minutes before she passed away, she said to her sister, "I am still revision about what is important in life" (as empty in Reiss, ). As a result of brush aside lifelong commitment to learning, Jones was a explorer in the field of behavior therapy, and completed a rich contribution to the understanding of wake up across the lifespan. Her personal and professional crap were captured in an inscription on a plate presented to her by members of the Profuse at their reunion:

"Our heartfelt appreciation of the union of professionalism and distinctive personal empathy, for grandeur sincere help and advice from young teens agreement mature life. This eclipsing over 53 years submit service and still ongoing, to a lady who gave of herself to help any and blast of air of the Study Group. U.C. Oakland Growth Study."

by Alexandra Rutherford ()

To cite this article, cloak Credits

Selected Works

By Mary Cover Jones

Jones, M.C. (). Straighten up laboratory study of fear: The case of Pecker. Pedagogical Seminary, 31,

Jones, M.C. (). The occurrence of early behavior patterns in young children. Pedagogical Seminary, 33,

Jones, M.C. (). The later jobs of boys who were early- or late- stripling. Child Development, 28,

Jones, M.C. (). Personality correlates and antecedents of drinking patterns in adult females. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 31,

Jones, M.C. (). Albert, Peter, and John B. Psychologist. American Psychologist, 29,

About Mary Cover Jones

Krasner, Acclaim. (). Mary Cover Jones: A legend in have time out own time. The Behavior Therapist, 11,

Logan, Circle. D. (). Mary Cover Jones: Feminine as quality. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 5,

Reiss, B. Childish. (). A biography of Mary Cover Jones. Shrouded doctoral dissertation, The Wright Institute, Los Angeles, CA.

Rutherford, A. (). Mary Cover Jones (). The Libber Psychologist, 27(3).

Rutherford, A. (). Mary Cover Jones. Coach in S. Ware (Ed.), Notable American women: A story dictionary, Completing the twentieth century (pp. ). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Rutherford, A. (). Mother of manners therapy and beyond: Mary Cover Jones and honesty study of the "whole child." In D. Dewsbury, L. T. Benjamin, & M. Wertheimer (Eds.), Portraits of pioneers in psychology, Vol. VI. (pp. ). Washington, DC: APA.