Louise Bates Ames

Louise Bates Ames (October 29, 1908 – October 31, 1996) was an American psychologist specializing in child development. Ames was known as a pioneer of child development studies, introducing the theory of child development stages to popular discourse. Ames authored numerous internationally renowned books on the stages of child development, hosted a television show on child development, and co-founded the Gesell Institute of Child Development in New Haven, Connecticut.

Ames's work found that children go through clear, discrete developmental phases based on age. She demonstrated that various age groups feature unique behavioral patterns, to be considered by parents and doctors in monitoring children's development. Perhaps the best-known legacy of her work was the coining of the term "Terrible Twos," to describe the rigid, conflict-laden behavioral patterns of two-year-olds.

Life Louise Bates Ames was born on October 29, 1908 in Portland, Maine to Samuel Lewis Bates and Annie Earle Leach Bates. The oldest of three children, Louise was the only daughter of the Bates family. Her father, a respected lawyer and judge, and her mother, a school teacher, valued education and fostered a stimulating educational environment for Ames and her two younger brothers.

Ames attended Portland public schools throughout her primary and secondary education. She developed an interest in debating, history, and literature, and dreamed of becoming a lawyer like her father. Ames worked at the clinic from 1933 to 1948, co-authoring a number of works with Gesell, and received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1936 in experimental psychology. Her dissertation, The sequential patterning of prone progression in the human infant, was published as a journal article in 1937. The institute, founded in 1950, is located in New Haven, Connecticut, though operated independently of Yale. Ames was appointed director of research at the institute. At the time, she was also a member of International Council of Women Psychologists. In her work with the council, she conducted a large-scale survey with Harriet Fjeld of women psychologists' professional experiences. The survey was published in the Journal of Social Psychology. Her papers are held at the Library of Congress.

Works The first five years of life, 1940 Infant and child in the culture of today, 1943 The child from five to ten, 1946 (with Frances L. Ilg) Child behavior, 1955 (with Frances L. Ilg and Arnold Gesell) Youth: the years from ten to sixteen, 1956 (with Frances L. Ilg) Parents ask, 1962 (with Clyde Gillespie and John W. Streff) Stop school failure, 1972 (with Ruth W. Metraux, Janet Learned Rodell and Richard Walker) Child Rorschach Responses: developmental trends from two to ten years, 1974 (with Frances L. Ilg and Sidney Baker) Child behavior: from the Gesell Institute of Human Development, 1981 Arnold Gesell: Themes of his work, 1989

Awards

University of Maine Honorary Doctorate of Science (1957) Wheaton College Honorary Doctorate of Science (1967) Bruno Klopfer Award (1974) University of Maine Alumni Career Award (1974) Society for Projective Techniques and the Rorschach Institute Honoree (1974) Yale University Emeritus Appointment (1996)