Margaret Caldwell Donaldson (or Salter; 16 June 1926 – 16 September 2020) was a professor of

developmental psychology Developmental psychology is the science, scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult deve ...

at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. Donaldson was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where she gained a Ph.D. in 1956, and continued as a teacher after graduating. She traveled to

Memphis Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

to guest-lecture and teach at Rhodes College (then Southwestern) during the 1962–1963 school year. In 1980, she was appointed professor of developmental psychology. Her main research interest has always been in the study of human thought and language. At Edinburgh, Professor Donaldson oversaw the development of research in developmental psychology and

psycholinguistics Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects. The discipline is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind ...

. At an early stage in her career, she spent some time at Jean Piaget's research institute in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, and was much influenced by that experience, though she later came to question some important aspects of Piagetian theory. She spent a year in the United States as the holder of a

John Hay Whitney John Hay Whitney (August 17, 1904 – February 8, 1982) was U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, publisher of the ''New York Herald Tribune'', and president of the Museum of Modern Art. He was a member of the Whitney family. Early life Whit ...

Fellowship, and has also worked there with Jerome Bruner on curriculum development projects. Donaldson authored ''A Study of Children's Thinking'' and ''Children's Minds''. Along with Robert Grieve and Chris Pratt, she edited a book of readings entitled ''Early Childhood Development and Education''. Jerome Bruner described Donaldson's ''Children's Minds'' as "One of the most powerful, most wisely balanced and best informed books on the development of the child's mind to have appeared in twenty years. Its implications for education are enormous."

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, Margaret 1926 births 2020 deaths Academics of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British psychologists