Gyermeklélektan

by Ferenc Mérei, Binét Ágnes V.

Genres: Psychology

309 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Born in Budapest into a bourgeois family, Mérei often spent time in his parents' photography studio at the Garay Bazaar. He did not like school, where he felt excluded and his teachers' brutality caused him much pain. He read a lot, even 4-500-page books in one sitting. His mother's liaisons with several men disturbed him.

After graduating from high school, he studied at the Sorbonne from 1928, even though his mother wanted him to study in Berlin. He specialised in political economy, statistics and literature and studied eleven languages. It was child psychology and vocational guidance that really captivated his interest. Henri Wallon received him at the university as his pupil, and directed him in studying child psychology. He joined the French Communist Party in 1930.

He gave his first scientific lecture in 1932. The lecture, in which he criticised Jean Piaget, attracted Wallon's disapproval, and it was then that Mérei developed his key idea, the essence of which is the social determination of humans.

He obtained two degrees, one from a career advising college, and one from the Sorbonne Faculty of Arts in philosophy, sociology, psychology and pedagogy. He made lifelong friends in Paris, where they and his teachers shaped his ideals and his world view.