Jerome Kagan

Jerome Kagan (born February 25, 1929) is an American psychologist, and Daniel and Amy Starch Research Professor of Psychology, Emeritus at Harvard University, and co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute. He is one of the key pioneers of developmental psychology.

Kagan has shown that an infant's "temperament" is quite stable over time, in that certain behaviors in infancy are predictive of certain other behavior patterns in adolescence He did extensive work on temperament and gave insight on emotion. Kagan was listed as the 22nd most eminent psychologist of the 20th century, just above Carl Jung.

Born in Newark, New Jersey to Joseph and Myrtle Kagan, Kagan grew up in Rahway, New Jersey. He chose to study psychology due to his attraction in being a scientist and to preserve his grandfather's interest in human nature. He was accepted at Yale University to study Psychology, where he earned his Ph.D. and he earned his master's degree from Harvard University. He earned a B.S. Degree from Rutgers University in 1950. While at Yale University, he assisted Frank Beach, a well respected researcher.

After he graduated from Yale University, he accepted his first faculty position at Ohio State University. Six months later, in 1955 he was recruited to be a part of the research team at the U.S. Army Hospital during the Korean War. Once he had finished his time at the U.S. Army Hospital, the director of the Fels Research Institute contacted Kagan to ask him to direct a project that was funded by the National Institutes of Health, which he accepted. After that project was completed, he accepted the offer he received from Harvard University to be involved in creating the first Human Development program. Once he moved to Harvard, he remained there until retirement, with the exception of a leave to go and study children in San Marcos. He did this for a year, from 1971 to 1972, and then returned to Harvard as a professor.

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