Basic Biographical Information
Stern, whose full given name was Louis William, was born on April 29, 1871, in Berlin, Germany. He would be the only child born to Sigismund and Rosa Stern, parents of modest means. He began his university studies in 1888 at the Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin (today the Humboldt University), and in 1893 concluded his doctoral work there under the mentorship of Moritz Lazarus (1824–1903). After spending four more years in Berlin conducting independent research on the perception of change, Stern accepted the offer of a position as lecturer at the University of Breslau (a city renamed Wroclaw after the cession of the German state of Silesia to Poland in the aftermath of World War II). At Breslau, Stern completed his Habilitation under Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909) in 1897, and then continued as a member of the teaching faculty there for 19 more years.
In 1916, Stern left Breslau for Hamburg in order to replace Ernst Meumann (1862–1915) as Director...
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Behrens, H., & Deutsch, W. (1991). Die Tagebücher von Clara und William Stern (The diaries of Clara and William Stern). In W. Deutsch (Ed.), Über die verborgene Aktualität von William Stern. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Peter Lang.
Bühring, G. (1996). William Stern oder Streben nach Einheit (William Stern or the striving for unity). Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Peter Lang.
Lamiell, J. T. (2003). Beyond individual and group differences: Human individuality, scientific psychology, and William Stern’s critical personalism. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Lamiell, J. T. (2006). William Stern (1871–1938) und der “Ursrpungsmythos” der differentiellen Psychologie (William Stern (1871–1938) and the “origin myth” of differential psychology). Journal für Psychologie, 14, 253–273.
Lamiell, J. T. (2010). William Stern (1871–1938): A brief introduction to his life and works. Lengerich, Germany: Pabst Science Publishers.
Stern, C., & Stern, W. (1907). Die Kindersprache (Children’s speech). Leipzig: Barth.
Stern, C., & Stern, W. (1909). Erinnerung, Aussage und Lüge in der ersten Kindheit (Recollection, testimony, and lying in early childhood). Leipzig: Barth.
Stern, W. (1900). Über Psychologie der individuellen Differenzen: Ideen zu einer 'differentiellen Psychologie’ (On the psychology of individual differences: Toward a ‘differential psychology’). Leipzig: Barth.
Stern, W. (1906). Person und Sache: System der philosophischen Weltanschauung. Erster Band: Ableitung und Grundlehre (Person and thing: System of a philosophical worldview (Rationale and basic tenets, Vol. one). Leipzig: Barth.
Stern, W. (1911). Die Differentielle Psychologie in ihren methodischen Grundlagen (Methodological foundations of differential psychology). Leipzig: Barth.
Stern, W. (1914). Psychologie der frühen Kindheit bis zum sechsten Lebensjahr (The psychology of early childhood up to the sixth year of age). Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer.
Stern, W. (1916). Der Intelligenzquotient als Maß der kindlichen Intelligenz, insbesondere der Unternormalen (The intelligence quotient as measure of intelligence in children, with special reference to the subnormal). Zeitschrift für angewandte Psychologie, 11, 1–18.
Stern, W. (1917). Die Psychologie und der Personalismus (Psychology and Personalism). Leipzig: Barth.
Stern, W. (1918). Person und Sache: System der philosophischen Weltanschauung. Zweiter Band: Die menschliche Persönlichkeit (Person and thing: System of a philosophical worldview. Volume two: The human personality). Leipzig: Barth.
Stern, W. (1924). Person und Sache: System der kritischen Personalismus. Dritter Band: Wertphilosophie (Person and thing: The system of critical personalism. Volume three: Philosophy of value). Leipzig: Barth.
Stern, W. (1927). Selbstdarstellung (Self-portrait). In R. Schmidt (Ed.), Philosophie der Gegenwart in Selbstdarstellung (Vol. 6, pp. 128–184). Barth: Leipzig.
Stern, W. (1930). Eindrücke von der amerikanischen Psychologie: Bericht über eine Kongreßreise (Impressions of American psychology: Report on travel to a conference). Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, experimentelle Pädagogik und jugendkundliche Forschung, 31, 43–51. and 65–72.
Selected Bibliography
Stern, C., & Stern, W. (1999 ). Recollection, testimony, and lying in early childhood (trans: Lamiell, J. T.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Books.
Stern, W. (1924). The psychology of early childhood up to the sixth year of age (trans: Barwell, A.). London: Allen & Unwin.
Stern, W. (1930). William Stern (trans: Langer, S.). In C. Murchison (Ed.), A history of psychology in autobiography (Vol. 1, pp. 335–388). Worcester: Clark University Press.
Stern, W. (1938). General psychology from a personalistic standpoint (trans: Spoerl, H. D.). New York: Macmillan.
Stern, W. (2010). Psychology and personalism (trans: Lamiell, J. T.). New ideas in psychology, 28,110–134.
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Lamiell, J.T. (2012). Stern, William. In: Rieber, R.W. (eds) Encyclopedia of the History of Psychological Theories. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0463-8_149
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