Editorials

Paul H. Mussen, a pioneer in child psychology and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley for 30 years, died July 7, at Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley after a long struggle with prostate cancer. He was 78.  

An early developmental psychologist, Mussen wrote the classic text, “Child Development and Personality,” 1956, used as a standard in the field for 30 years, making Mussen the top-selling author for Harper Textbooks for years.  

He was among an avant-garde who moved the field from stimulus-response theory to a focus on social interactions between parents and children. His books included the “Handbook of Child Psychology,” 1971, “The Psychological Development of the Child,” 1963, and “Rootsof Caring, Sharing and Helping,” 1977. 

During a distinguished career at UC Berkeley, from 1956-1986, Mussen received a number of honors, including the Fulbright Award in 1960 for research in Florence, Italy, and, in 1968, was selected as a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford.  

At UC Berkeley, he served as director of the Institute of Human Development from 1971-80 and returned to serve as acting director in 1987.  

Mussen lectured and consulted at universities throughout Europe, Africa, Israel and the Middle East, India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia. 

Born March 21, 1922, in Paterson, N.J., Mussen grew up in Willimantic, Conn., and attended the University of Connecticut at Storrs until he received a scholarship to Stanford University in 1939. Joining the U.S. Navy in 1944, Mussen served as an ensign in NavalIntelligence in Washington, D.C, Hawaii, and San Francisco.  

He completed his doctorate in psychology at Yale University in 1949. He first taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from 1949-51 and then at Ohio State University in Columbus until 1955, where he met and married Ethel Foladare, a graduate student who earned her doctorate from Ohio State.  

Mussen served as a member of the children’s advertising review unit of the Better Business Bureau for several years, upholding standards of writing and advertising on children’s television. He was president of the Western Psychological Association from 1973-74 and the American Psychological Association’s division of developmental psychology from 1977-78.  

Mussen is survived by his wife, Ethel; daughter, Michele, and her partner, Jim Hart, all of Berkeley; a son, Jim, daughter-in-law, Claudia, and grandson, Jacob, of New York; and a brother, Irwin, of Berkeley.  

Contributions in his memory may be made to the UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program, Attention: Nina Green, 570 University Hall, Berkeley, 94720-1190, or to the Alta Bates Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2450 Ashby Ave, Berkeley, 94705-9989.