Mary Cover Jones

840 Words2 Pages

Introduction
Mary Cover Jones was born on September 1, 1896 and died at the age of 91 in 1987 (Krasner, 1988). For many years, Jones was a typical housewife and mother. Yet, she wanted more. She wanted a career in the field of psychology. Just as everyone else, Jones struggled throughout her life to become the psychologist that she really wanted to be. She failed at attending specific colleges and seminars. However, she was not one to give up and finally ended up attending Vassar and Columbia University to obtain her degree in psychology. “Throughout her career Mary was quite involved in the child development/education field as parent/teacher/researcher/author” (Krasner, 1988, p. 91). Though she played many roles within the psychology field during her lifetime, Mary Cover Jones played more of a role within the field of developmental psychology rather than behavior therapy (Logan, 1980). Mary Cover Jones played a very important role in the world of psychology from day one by doing work within the direct area of children (the elimination of fear, self-conceptions and motivations of boys and self-conceptions and motivations girls).
The Achievements of Mary Cover Jones
Mary Cover Jones was a gentle and kind soul who cared about other human beings, especially children. Deana Dorman Logan (1980) gives a detailed description of some of Jones’s accomplishments in the following paragraph:
Author of over seventy publications, she is past President of Division 7 (Developmental) of the American Psychological Association (APA), a Fellow of both the APA and The Gerontological Society, and recipient of the G. Stanley Hall Award, the highest accolade given in developmental psychology (p. 103).
She spent much of her time studying children and ...

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...adolescent. Her studies show us ways in which we can help children feel better about themselves and how they can eliminate their fears. Joe Wolpe “introduced Mary as the Mother of Behavior Modification” and it is easy to see why with all of her great contributions to the psychology field during her lifetime (Krasner, 1988, p. 91).

References

Works Cited

Jones, M. C., & Mussen, P. H. (1958). Self-conceptions, motivations, and interpersonal attitudes of early-and late-maturing girls. Child Development, 29(4), 491-501.
Krasner, K. (1988). In memoriam. The Behavior Analyst, 11(1), 91-92.
Logan, D. D. (1980). Mary Cover Jones: Feminine as asset. Psychology of Women Quarterly,
5(1), 103-115.
Mussen, P. H., & Jones, M. C. (1957). Self-conceptions, motivations, and interpersonal attitudes of late- and early-maturing boys. Child Development, 28(2), 243-256.

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