Mengmu’s three moves prefigure modern developmental psychology by centuries

Evidence

This is — operationally — one of the earliest surviving discussions in any culture of the importance of environment in early-childhood moral formation. The Mengmu does not try to discipline Mencius’s tendency to imitate. She changes the environment so that what he imitates is what she wants him to become. This is Vygotskian — it is Bronfenbrennerian — it is contemporary developmental psychology. In the fourth century BCE. And the lesson is, again, not severity. The lesson is environmental choice. — , The Rod and the Child, 929

Categorization

• SEED: Nice angle: an ancient environmental-engineering approach to childrearing that resembles contemporary developmental science.
• XREF: connects to: Fourth-century Pachomian discipline matched modern developmental psychology better than later Christian practice — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 1717; Thirteenth-century Jewish ethics foreshadowed modern developmental psychology — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 2630; Shi’i pedagogy structures childhood in three seven-year stages without corporal correction — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 3543 (+3 more)

Related

• Fourth-century Pachomian discipline matched modern developmental psychology better than later Christian practice (similarity 0.83)
• Thirteenth-century Jewish ethics foreshadowed modern developmental psychology (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Most behavioral coding is acquired unconsciously during childhood socialization #corroborates (0.75)
• Fourth-century Pachomian discipline matched modern developmental psychology better than later Christian practice #corroborates (0.70) — , The Rod and the Child, 1717
• Thirteenth-century Jewish ethics foreshadowed modern developmental psychology #corroborates (0.70) — , The Rod and the Child, 2630
• Shi’i pedagogy structures childhood in three seven-year stages without corporal correction #exemplifies (0.60) — , The Rod and the Child, 3543
• Practice discovered organized norm diffusion before theory named it #corroborates (0.50) — , The Rod and the Child, 10755
• Marx and Engels saw labor, speech, and brain development as mutually reinforcing evolution #expands (0.40)