a branch of psychology which studies the human being in development from birth to maturity. During the first third of this century, parents were advised not to spoil their babies by picking them up every time they cried, to feed them according to a fixed schedule, to toilet train them within their first year. During the 1940s, the trend shifted toward more permissive child-care methods. Views on child development were being influenced by psychoanalytictheory, which stressed the importance of the child's emotional security and the "damage that might result from harsh control of natural impulses." See also psychology in this glossary.—Conquest of Chaos Approved Glossary (8.7.92)