Janellen Huttenlocher

Summary

Janellen Huttenlocher (February 17, 1932 – November 20, 2016) was a psychologist and professor known for her research in the field of the child's environment in the development of cognitive skills. She was the William S. Gray Professor Emeritus in Psychology at the University of Chicago at the time of her death.

Janellen Huttenlocher
Born(1932-02-17)February 17, 1932
DiedNovember 20, 2016(2016-11-20) (aged 84)
Alma materUniversity of Buffalo, Harvard University
Occupation(s)Professor of Psychology, University of Chicago
SpousePeter Huttenlocher
Children3, including Anna Huttenlocher

Huttenlocher was a recipient of the Association for Psychological Science William James Fellow Award in 2013,[1] and the Society for Research in Child Development Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Child Development in 2009. She was honored with the APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology in 2008 for having "greatly expanded scientific knowledge about cognition and its development in domains as varied as language, spatial cognition, quantitative thought, and memory."[2]

Biography edit

Huttenlocher (née Burns) was born in Buffalo, New York. She received her B.A. at the University of Buffalo in 1953, married her husband Peter Huttenlocher in 1954, and had three children. Huttenlocher attended Harvard University for her graduate studies in Psychology, completing her M.A. in 1958 and Ph.D in 1960 under the supervision of Professor Frederick Mosteller.[3] She completed postdoctoral training at Harvard University in the 1960s in the midst of the cognitive revolution.[4] Huttenlocher joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago in 1974, after teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University.[2]

Research edit

Huttenlocher co-authored two books and over 100 research articles on a range of topics including language development, spatial reasoning, memory, and quantitative development. Her book Making space: The development of spatial representation and reasoning, co-authored with Nora Newcombe, provided a comprehensive account of how children actively construct mental models of spatial environments.[5][6] Her second book Quantitative development in infancy and early childhood, co-authored with Kelly Mix and Susan Levine, focused on how children develop numerical concepts and quantitative reasoning skills.[7][8]

Huttenlocher was well known for her research on the verbal behavior of parents and teachers in relation to children's language development, focusing on the effects of early input on children's vocabulary growth and their learning of grammar (syntax).[9]

Representative publications edit

  • Huttenlocher, J. (1968). Constructing spatial images. Psychological Review, 75(6), 550-560.
  • Huttenlocher, J. (1964). Children's language: Word-phrase relationship. Science, 143(3603), 264-265.
  • Huttenlocher, J., Haight, W., Bryk, A., Seltzer, M., & Lyons, T. (1991). Early vocabulary growth: Relation to language input and gender. Developmental Psychology, 27(2), 236-248.
  • Huttenlocher, J., Hedges, L. V., & Duncan, S. (1991). Categories and particulars. Psychological Review, 98(3), 352-376.
  • Huttenlocher, J., Vasilyeva, M., Cymerman, E., & Levine, S. (2002). Language input and child syntax. Cognitive psychology, 45(3), 337-374.
  • Huttenlocher, J., Waterfall, H., Vasilyeva, M., Vevea, J., & Hedges, L. V. (2010). Sources of variability in children’s language growth. Cognitive Psychology, 61(4), 343-365.

References edit

  1. ^ "Janellen Huttenlocher". Association for Psychological Science. Retrieved 2018-12-15.
  2. ^ a b "Award for distinguished scientific contributions: Janellen Huttenlocher". American Psychologist. 63 (8): 638–648. 2008. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.63.8.638. ISSN 1935-990X. PMID 19014211.
  3. ^ "Neurotree - Janellen Huttenlocher Family Tree". neurotree.org. Retrieved 2018-12-15.
  4. ^ "Janellen Huttenlocher, PhD – FABBS". Retrieved 2018-12-15.
  5. ^ Newcombe, Nora S.; Huttenlocher, Janellen (2003). Making space : the development of spatial representation and reasoning. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-64050-3.
  6. ^ Davis, Alyson (2001-11-01). "Reviews: Making Space: The Development of Spatial Representation and ReasoningMaking space: the development of spatial representation and reasoning by NewcombeN S, HuttenlocherJ; MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000, 262 pages, $37.95 (£25.95) ISBN 0 262 14069 1". Perception. 30 (11): 1403–1405. doi:10.1068/p3011rvw.
  7. ^ Mix, Kelly S.; Huttenlocher, Janellen; Levine, Susan Cohen (2002). Quantitative development in infancy and early childhood. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512300-5.
  8. ^ Muldoon, Kevin P. (2003-03-01). "Quantitative development in infancy and early childhood. Kelly S. Mix, Janellen Huttenlocher and Susan Cohen Levine, Oxford University Press, 2002. pp. 158. Price: £27.50. ISBN 0-19-512300-X". Infant and Child Development. 12 (1): 110–112. doi:10.1002/icd.315. ISSN 1522-7219.
  9. ^ "Janellen Huttenlocher, pioneering scholar in childhood development, 1932–2016". UChicago News. 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2016-12-09.

External links edit

  • FABBS In Honor Of… Janellen Huttenlocher