Clara Stern

Clara Stern (née Joseephy; March 12, 1877 – 1945) was a German developmental psychologist.

Biography Clara was born into a wealthy Jewish family and was one of seven children. Her father was a banker named Julius Joseephy and her mother's name was Friederike Joseephy (née Benjamin). Clara and William met in 1897 while on a bicycle ride through Forst Grunewald in Berlin, Germany. They married in 1899 despite the opposition of Clara's parents due to the fact that William had little money to provide for them. They then moved to Breslau, Germany which is now Wrocław, Poland. The Sterns went on to have three children, the first being a daughter named Hilde (1900–1962), then a son named Günther (1902–1992), followed by their last daughter named Eva (1904–1992).

Work in child development Clara and William Stern greatly influenced the growing field of child development. They studied the language development of their three children for 18 years by keeping detailed diaries from the day each child was born until they were 12, 10, and 7 years old, respectively. All together, there are 24 diaries with almost 5,000 handwritten pages of notes. The data that they recorded included reactions, babbling, the ability to recall events, lying and moral judgment.

Some of their work was groundbreaking, according to Görlitz: He died March 27, 1938, in Durham.

Writings The results of the Stern's collaborative research were summarized in their three books, which listed Clara as first author.

Clara and William Stern: The Children's Language. 1907, (Reprint Scientific Book Society Darmstadt, 1987) Clara and William Stern: Memory, Statement and Lies in the First Childhood. 1908 Clara and William Stern: Psychology of Early Childhood up to the Sixth Year. 1914 (Clara Stern translated the third edition of this book into English and that text was published in 1924.)

Honors According to James Lamiell, "Bestowed posthumously on Clara Stern at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, Holland... one can view the busts of nine individuals judged by a panel of distinguished scientists to have made extraordinary contributions to the discipline of psycholinguistics. The eight busts alongside that of Clara Stern are those of (in alphabetical order) Paul Broca, Karl Bühler, F. C. Donders, Roman Jakobson, Edward Sapir, William Stern, Carl Wernicke, and Wilhelm Wundt – all widely known and highly respected historical luminaries, and all males."