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Michael Lewis
Karen D. Rudolph
Editors

Handbook of

Developmental
Psychopathology
Third Edition
Contents

Part I Issues and Theories

1 Toward the Development of the Science

of Developmental Psychopathology ............................................. 3
Michael Lewis
2 A Dialectic Integration of Development
for the Study of Psychopathology ................................................ 25
Arnold J. Sameroff
3 Nature–Nurture Integration ........................................................ 45
Michael Rutter
4 Developmental, Quantitative, and Multicultural
Assessment of Psychopathology ................................................... 67
Thomas M. Achenbach
5 Developmental Epidemiology....................................................... 87
Katie A. McLaughlin
6 Modeling Strategies in Developmental Psychopathology
Research: Prediction of Individual Change................................ 109
Sonya K. Sterba
7 Resilience and Positive Psychology .............................................. 125
Suniya S. Luthar, Emily L. Lyman,
and Elizabeth J. Crossman

Part II Context and Psychopathology

8 Family Context in the Development of Psychopathology ........... 143

Patrick T. Davies and Melissa L. Sturge-Apple
9 Schooling and the Mental Health of Children
and Adolescents in the United States .......................................... 163
Robert W. Roeser and Jacquelynne S. Eccles
10 Peer Relationships and the Development
of Psychopathology ....................................................................... 185
Sophia Choukas-Bradley and Mitchell J. Prinstein

vii
viii Contents

11 The Influence of Stressors on the Development

of Psychopathology ....................................................................... 205
Kathryn E. Grant, Susan Dvorak McMahon,
Jocelyn Smith Carter, Russell A. Carleton,
Emma K. Adam, and Edith Chen
12 Culture and Developmental Psychopathology............................ 225
Xinyin Chen, Rui Fu, and Lingli Leng

Part III Neuroscience and Psychopathology

13 Developmental Behavioral Genetics ............................................ 245

Thomas G. O’Connor
14 Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Developmental
Psychopathology: The Brain as a Window into the
Development and Treatment of Psychopathology ...................... 265
Johnna R. Swartz and Christopher S. Monk
15 The Contributions of Early Experience
to Biological Development and Sensitivity to Context ............... 287
Nicole R. Bush and W. Thomas Boyce
16 Temperament Concepts in Developmental Psychopathology.... 311
John E. Bates, Alice C. Schermerhorn, and Isaac T. Petersen
17 Puberty as a Developmental Context
of Risk for Psychopathology......................................................... 331
Karen D. Rudolph

Part IV Early Childhood Disorders

18 Attachment Disorders: Theory, Research,

and Treatment Considerations .................................................... 357
Howard Steele and Miriam Steele
19 Early Deprivation and Developmental Psychopathology........... 371
Elisa A. Esposito and Megan R. Gunnar
20 Prematurity and Failure to Thrive: The Interplay
of Medical Conditions and Development .................................... 389
Stephanie Blenner, L. Kari Hironaka,
Douglas L. Vanderbilt, and Deborah A. Frank
21 Sleep Interventions: A Developmental Perspective.................... 409
Eleanor L. McGlinchey and Allison G. Harvey

Part V Disruptive Behavior Disorders

22 A Developmental Perspective
on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) .............. 427
Susan B. Campbell, Jeffrey M. Halperin,
and Edmund J.S. Sonuga-Barke
Contents ix

23 A Developmental Model of Aggression and Violence:

Microsocial and Macrosocial Dynamics Within
an Ecological Framework............................................................. 449
Thomas J. Dishion
24 Conduct Disorder .......................................................................... 467
Karen L. Bierman and Tyler R. Sasser

Part VI Emotional Disorders

25 Depression in Children and Adolescents .................................... 489

Judy Garber and Uma Rao
26 A Developmental Model of Self-Inflicted Injury,
Borderline Personality, and Suicide Risk.................................... 521
Christina M. Derbidge and Theodore P. Beauchaine
27 The Developmental Psychopathology of Anxiety ....................... 543
Michael W. Vasey, Guy Bosmans, and Thomas H. Ollendick
28 Obsessions and Compulsions:
The Developmental and Familial Context................................... 561
Catherine K. Kraper, Timothy W. Soto, and Alice S. Carter

Part VII Control Disorders

29 Alcoholism: A Life Span Perspective on Etiology

and Course ..................................................................................... 583
Brian M. Hicks and Robert A. Zucker
30 The Epidemiology and Etiology of Adolescent Substance
Use in Developmental Perspective................................................ 601
John Schulenberg, Megan E. Patrick,
Julie Maslowsky, and Jennifer L. Maggs
31 Developmental Trajectories of Disordered Eating:
Genetic and Biological Risk During Puberty.............................. 621
Kelly L. Klump
32 Enuresis and Encopresis: The Elimination Disorders ............... 631
Janet E. Fischel and Kate E. Wallis

Part VIII Chronic Developmental Disorders

33 Autism Spectrum Disorder: Developmental Approaches

from Infancy through Early Childhood ...................................... 651
Helen Tager-Flusberg
34 Intellectual Disability .................................................................... 665
Barbara Tylenda, Rowland P. Barrett, and Henry T. Sachs, III
x Contents

35 Gender Dysphoria ......................................................................... 683

Kenneth J. Zucker
36 Personality Pathology.................................................................... 703
Daniel N. Klein, Sara J. Bufferd, Margaret W. Dyson,
and Allison P. Danzig

Part IX Trauma Disorders

37 A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective

on Child Maltreatment ................................................................. 723
Dante Cicchetti and Adrienne Banny
38 Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Children and Adolescents .... 743
Stephanie M. Keller and Norah C. Feeny
39 Dissociative Disorders in Children and Adolescents ................. 761
Joyanna L. Silberg

About the Editors .................................................................................. 777

Author Index ......................................................................................... 779

Subject Index ......................................................................................... 829

Contributors

Thomas M. Achenbach, Ph.D. Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology,

University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA
Emma K. Adam, Ph.D. School of Education and Social Policy, and Faculty
Fellow, Cells to Society Center and The Institute for Policy Research,
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
Adrienne Banny, M.A. Institute of Child Development, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Rowland P. Barrett, Ph.D. Alpert Medical School of Brown University,
Providence, RI, USA
John E. Bates, Ph.D. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences,
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
Theodore P. Beauchaine, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, The Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH, USA
Karen L. Bierman, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania
State University, University Park, PA, USA
Stephanie Blenner, M.D. Boston University School of Medicine, Boston,
MA, USA
Guy Bosmans, Ph.D. Parenting and Special Education Research Group,
University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
W. Thomas Boyce, M.D. School of Population and Public Health,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Sara J. Bufferd, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, California State
University San Marcos, San Marcos, CA, USA
Nicole R. Bush, Ph.D. Department of Psychiatry, University of California
– San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
Susan B. Campbell, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, University of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Russell A. Carleton, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, DePaul University,
Chicago, IL, USA

xi
xii Contributors

Alice S. Carter, Ph.D. Psychology Department, University of Massachusetts

Boston, Boston, MA, USA
Jocelyn Smith Carter, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, DePaul University,
Chicago, IL, USA
Edith Chen, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, and Faculty Fellow, Institute
for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
Xinyin Chen, Ph.D. Graduate School of Education, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Sophia Choukas-Bradley, M.A. Department of Psychology, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Dante Cicchetti, Ph.D. Institute of Child Development, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Mt. Hope Family Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Elizabeth J. Crossman, M.A. Department of Human Development,
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Allison P. Danzig, M.A. Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University,
Stony Brook, NY, USA
Patrick T. Davies, Ph.D. Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in
Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Christina M. Derbidge, Ph.D. George E. Wahlen, Department of Veterans
Affairs Medical Center, 500 Foothill Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Thomas J. Dishion, Ph.D. Department of Psychology and Prevention
Research Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Margaret W. Dyson, Ph.D. Child and Adolescent Services Research Center,
University of California – San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Jacquelynne S. Eccles, Ph.D. School of Education, University of California,
Irvine, CA, USA
Elisa A. Esposito, M.A. Institute of Child Development, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Norah C. Feeny, Ph.D. Department of Psychological Sciences, Case
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
Janet E. Fischel, Ph.D. Department of Pediatrics, Stony Brook University
and Stony Brook Long Island Children’s Hospital, Stony Brook, NY, USA
Deborah A. Frank, M.D. Grow Clinic for Children, Boston Medical Center,
Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
Rui Fu, M.S. Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Judy Garber, Ph.D. Department of Psychology and Human Development,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
Contributors xiii

Kathryn E. Grant, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, DePaul University,

Chicago, IL, USA
Megan R. Gunnar, Ph.D. Institute of Child Development, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Jeffrey M. Halperin, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, Queens College
and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, Flushing, NY, USA
Allison G. Harvey, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, The Golden Bear
Sleep and Mood Research Clinic, Clinical Science Program and Psychology
Clinic, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Brian M. Hicks, Ph.D. Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
L. Kari Hironaka, M.D., M.P.H. Boston University School of Medicine/
Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Stephanie M. Keller, M.A. Department of Psychological Sciences, Case
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
Daniel N. Klein, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University,
Stony Brook, NY, USA
Kelly L. Klump, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, Michigan State
University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Catherine K. Kraper, M.A. Psychology Department, University of
Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA
Lingli Leng, M.Ed. Department of Social Work and Social Administration,
Hong Kong University, Hong Kong, China
Michael Lewis, Ph.D. University Distinguished Professor and Director,
Institute for the Study of Child Development, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson
Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
Suniya S. Luthar, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, Arizona State
University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Emily L. Lyman, M.A. Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology,
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Jennifer L. Maggs, Ph.D. Human Development and Family Studies, The
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
Julie Maslowsky, Ph.D. Health Behavior and Health Education, Department
of Kinesiology and Health Education, The University of Texas at Austin,
Austin, TX, USA
Eleanor L. McGlinchey, Ph.D. Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
Columbia University Medical Center, New York State Psychiatric Institute,
New York, NY, USA
Katie A. McLaughlin, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, University of
Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
xiv Contributors

Susan Dvorak McMahon, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, DePaul

University, Chicago, IL, USA
Christopher S. Monk, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Thomas G. O’Connor, Ph.D. Wynne Center for Family Research,
Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester,
NY, USA
Thomas H. Ollendick, Ph.D. Child Study Center, Department of
Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg,
VI, USA
Megan E. Patrick, Ph.D. Institute for Social Research, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Isaac T. Petersen Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana
University, Bloomington, IN, USA
Mitchell J. Prinstein, Ph.D., A.B.P.P. Department of Psychology,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Uma Rao, M.D. Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville,
TN, USA
Robert W. Roeser, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, Portland State
University, Portland, OR, USA
Karen D. Rudolph, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois,
Champaign, IL, USA
Michael Rutter, M.D. MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry
Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, UK
Henry T. Sachs, III, M.D. Alpert Medical School of Brown University,
Providence, RI, USA
Arnold J. Sameroff, Ph.D. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Tyler R. Sasser, M.S. Training Interdisciplinary Education Scientists
Program, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
Alice C. Schermerhorn, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, University of
Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA
John Schulenberg, Ph.D. Institute for Social Research, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Joyanna L. Silberg, Ph.D. The Sheppard Pratt Health System, Baltimore,
MD, USA
Edmund J.S. Sonuga-Barke, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, University
of Southampton, Southampton, SO, UK
and
Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Contributors xv

Timothy W. Soto, M.A. Psychology Department, University of Massachusetts

Boston, Boston, MA, USA
Howard Steele, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, New School for Social
Research, New York, NY, USA
Miriam Steele, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, New School for Social
Research, New York, NY, USA
Sonya K. Sterba, Ph.D. Psychology and Human Development Department,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
Melissa L. Sturge-Apple, Ph.D. Department of Clinical and Social Sciences
in Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Johnna R. Swartz, M.S. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Helen Tager-Flusberg, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, Boston University,
Boston, MA, USA
Departments of Anatomy & Neurobiology and Pediatrics, Boston University
School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
Barbara Tylenda, Ph.D., A.B.P.P. ABPP, Clinical Associate Professor of
Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School of Brown University,
Providence, RI, USA
Douglas L. Vanderbilt, M.D. Keck School of Medicine, University of
Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Michael W. Vasey, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, The Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH, USA
Kate E. Wallis, M.D., M.P.H. Department of Pediatrics, New York
University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
Kenneth J. Zucker, Ph.D. Gender Identity Service, Child, Youth, and
Family Services, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Intergenerational
Wellness Centre, Beamish Family Wing, Toronto, ON, Canada
Gender Identity Service, Child, Youth, and Family Services, Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
Robert A. Zucker, Ph.D. Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology,
Addiction Research Center, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann
Arbor, MI, USA
 Part I
Issues and Theories
 Toward the Development
of the Science of Developmental 1
Psychopathology

Michael Lewis

It is almost 30 years since the seminal paper by how actual events versus the construction of a
Sroufe and Rutter (1984) and nearly 25 years child’s reality or fantasy affect the child’s devel-
since the first edition of the Handbook of opment. For him, attachment theory is more con-
Developmental Psychopathology (Lewis & cerned with the actual events, that is, what really
Miller, 1990). Much has changed in the study of happened in the opening year of life, rather than
pathology since then, including our models of what psychoanalysis has been concerned with, the
development, the definitions of psychopathol- concern for fantasy or the construction of reality.
ogy—with some newer types added and others This dichotomy is of special interest for the
removed—and in particular new measurements study of psychopathology, even though the work
and new statistical techniques. Nevertheless I of Mary Main has tried to bridge the gap though
think it is still appropriate to define our field as her emphasis on attachment models as the mech-
“the study of the prediction of development of anism connecting what happened to the idea of
maladaptive behaviors and the processes that what happened (Main, Kaplan, & Cassidy, 1985).
underlie them.” As we have said, the thrust of the For her, these models are dependent on what
definition of developmental psychopathology actually happened vis-a-vis the earlier mother–
requires something more than a simple combina- child interaction. This is consistent with much of
tion of two sets of interests. Besides the study of the interest in articulating the nature of the devel-
change and development of maladaptive behav- opment of psychopathology since it is predicated
iors, the combination of issues of development on finding the relation between what really hap-
with that of psychopathology informs both areas pened as it affects the child’s development. While
of interest. But perhaps of equal importance is longitudinal studies gives us some clues as to
that our study of the development of pathology what really happened, our emphasis on discover-
forces us to look at individual differences. ing the past as a reality is bound to give us only
In a recent book on attachment and psycho- weak associations. This is likely always to be the
analysis, Morris Eagle (2013) tried to reconcile case given what we know about the human condi-
the different points of view of attachment theory tion, namely, that our experiences and our memo-
and psychoanalysis. He tried to understand the ries are constructions even as they occur, let alone
differences and similarities around the problem of when we recall them, and these constructions
bear only a weak association to what really hap-
pened (Lewis, 1997). Given these facts in regard
M. Lewis, Ph.D. (*) to human behavior, we must remember that the
Institute for the Study of Child Development,
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School,
notion of what really happened cannot be the
New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA bases of a predictive science. An example of this
e-mail: [email protected] dilemma can readily be seen in a longitudinal

M. Lewis and K.D. Rudolph (eds.), Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology, 3

DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-9608-3_1, © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
4 M. Lewis

study of attachment. For this study we obtained regression of a child’s behavior to old behavioral
attachment ratings of a large number of one-year-­ patterns under stress requires that we reconsider
olds in a slightly modified standard attachment the idea that all developmental processes are trans-
paradigm and followed them until they were 18 formational, that is, that all old behavioral patterns
years old (Lewis, Feiring, & Rosenthal, 2000). are changed or transformed into new ones.
We found that their attachment rating did not pre- Two views of human nature have predomi-
dict their AAI scores nor their psychopathology nated in our theories of development. In the first,
scores at 18 years. What did predict these scores the human psyche is acted on by its surrounding
at 18 was the nature of their family structure, environment—both its biological and its external
namely, whether or not their parents were physical and social environments. In the second
divorced. Of particular interest was the finding view, the human organism acts on and in a bidi-
that their memory of their childhood, which was rectional fashion interacts with the biological,
unrelated to their earlier attachment, was related physical, and social environments (Overton,
to their AAI scores at 18 but only if we took the 2006). The reactive view has generated a dichot-
family structure into account. omy of two major theoretical paradigms: biologi-
I mention these findings to remind us of how cal determinism and social determinism. The
children construct their experiences and memo- active view, in contrast, has generated what has
ries; how they respond to events in their worlds recently come to be known as the relational
rather than what really has happened is an impor- developmental systems perspective (Lerner,
tant addition to the study of the development of 2006). Let us consider the views in their more
psychopathology. Thus, when we talk about the extreme forms to show how their respective theo-
various models that we use to study these prob- ries might treat the issues of development.
lems, we need keep in mind that individual differ- In both the biological-motivational and social-­
ence in the construction of reality need be taken determinism paradigms, the causes of behavior or
into account. The question that still needs to be action are forces that act on the organism, causing
addressed is how individual children construct it to behave. These may be internal biological fea-
their reality. This has to include how earlier expe- tures of the species, including species-­ specific
riences influence later ones and how individual action patterns. In all cases, within this world
differences in temperament may affect these con- view, the organism is acted on and the causes of its
structions. Thus individual differences in tem- action (including its development) are external to
perament not only affect how a child may respond it. Thus, for example, the major determinant of
to an event but in addition affect the nature of the sex-role behavior is thought to be biological, that
construction of the event and memories of it. is, determined by sex and in this case by the effects
of hormones. Alternatively, sex-role behavior can
be determined externally by the shaping of effect
 odels of Developmental
M of the social environment, either the differential
Psychopathology rewards of conspecifics (Fagot, 1973). Examples
of the former are already well known (e.g., paren-
Models of development always represent world tal praising or punishing of specific sex-role-
views about human nature and environments that appropriate actions, such as playing with particular
create a human life course. Models of abnormal toys; see Goldberg & Lewis, 1969; Rheingold &
development also reflect these different world Cook, 1975). Examples of determinism by the
views. So, for example, the trait notion of person- social world include giving the child a male or
ality (Block & Block, 1980) and the invulnerable female name or specific toys to play with. This
child (Anthony, 1970; Garmezy, 1974; Rutter, view does not have to imply reinforcement control
1981) both share the view that some fixed pattern but structural control. In all such external control
of behavior may be unaffected by environmental paradigms, we need not infer a self or conscious-
factors. Likewise, information in regard to the ness and with it a will, intention, or plans.
1 Toward the Development of the Science of Developmental Psychopathology 5

In contrast with this passive or reactive view is in the study of developmental psychopathology
the relational developmental systems perspective (Gardner, 1985).
based on the world view that the organism is Models of development have been considered
inherently active, acting on, and being acted on by many writers, and the interested reader is
the biological, physical, and social environment referred to Overton (2006) and as well as
in a bidirectional fashion (Lewis, 2010; Lewis & Sameroff (2014). I particularly like Riegel’s
Rosenblum, 1974). Within this perspective the (1978) scheme for considering models that
organism has a self and consciousness and as involve the child and the environment. In this
such has desires and plans (Lewis, 1979). These scheme, each of these elements can be active or
desires and goals are constructed, as are most of passive agents. The passive child-passive envi-
the actions enabling the organism to behave ronment model is of relatively less interest
adaptively. This view does not necessitate dis- because it arose from John Locke and David
carding either biological imperatives or social Hume and now receives little attention. In such a
control as potential determinants of behavior, model, the environment does not try to affect
because from this relational perspective, humans behavior, and the child is a passive “blank tablet”
are both biological and social creatures, and both upon which is received information from the
must impact on behavior. I prefer to think of world around it. Such models originally had
these biological and social features as nothing some use, for example, in our understanding of
more than the raw materials or resources for the short-term memory where memories were lik-
construction of cognitive structures subsumed ened to a small box that was sequentially filled.
under a self and consciousness, which include When a new memory was entered and there was
goals and desires, plans, and action. Taking the no more room, the first (or oldest) memory
example of sex-role behavior, I have argued that dropped out. Although such a view of memory is
hormones and social control become material for no longer held, other views, especially in percep-
the construction of self-cognitive structures. tion, share many of the features of this model.
These structures might take the form “I am male Gibson’s (1969) notion of affordance, for exam-
or female,” “Males or females behave this way or ple, suggests such a model because innate fea-
that way,” or “To receive the praise of others (a tures of the child extract the given features of the
desired goal) I should act either this way or that” environment. Such models are by their nature
(Lewis, 1985). Cognitions of this sort and their mechanistic although the infant has to have loco-
accompanying goals and desires, together with motion in its world in order for it to occur.
cognitions concerning information about the The passive child-active environment model is
world, enable the child to intentionally act, that an environmental control view because here the
is, to consciously construct a plan as described. environment actively controls, by reward and
These two world views are present in all psy- punishment, the child’s behavior. The characteris-
chological inquiry. The reactive organism mech- tics of this environment may differ, as may the
anistic model receives support in the case of the nature of the different reinforcers, but the child’s
biological study of action (e.g., T cells tracing behavior is determined by its environment. We are
foreign proteins that have entered the body). most familiar with this model in operant condi-
Relational developmental systems views are sup- tioning. It is a model much favored by many ther-
ported by theories of the mind. It should not go apists and is used in diverse areas, such as behavior
unnoticed that with the growth of cognitive sci- modification treatment to alter maladaptive
ence, the idea of constructing mental representa- behavior or in the treatment of autism, as well as
tions, in particular of the self (that do not in theories that explain normal sex-role learning
correspond in any one-to-one fashion with the by parental or peer reinforcement (Bem, 1987).
“real” world) and with it plans and intentions, The third model is that of an active person and
had become more acceptable to psychology a passive environment. These models have in
proper by the 1980s but is still somewhat lacking common an active child extracting and constructing
6 M. Lewis

its world from the material of the environment. act on the child. On the other hand, both active
Piaget’s theory fits well within this framework child models must be interactive because organ-
(Piaget, 1952), although some have argued that isms almost always interact in some way with
Piaget may be a preformationalist—passive child- their environment, which, given its structure
passive environment—in that all the structures (whether active or passive), affects the ongoing
children create are identical (Bellin, 1971). Given interaction. In the models of development as they
the active organismic view of Piaget, it is easy to are related to maladaptive and abnormal behav-
see that although the child needs the environment ior, we use a combination of approaches.
to construct knowledge, the environment itself With this in mind, three models of develop-
plays little role in the knowledge itself (Lewis, ment psychopathology have been suggested:
1983). Linguistic theories, such as those held by these include a trait model, a contextual or envi-
Chomsky (1957, 1965), suggest that biological ronmental model, and an interactional model.
linguistic structures are available for children to Although each of these models has variations, the
use in their construction of language in particular interactional model is the most variable. Because
environments. More recently, we have suggested attachment theory remains central to normal and
that innate early action patterns in interaction with maladaptive development, it is used often as an
the environment produce the different feeling example in our discussion. These three models,
states which we call emotions, such as fear and which are prototypes of the various views of
happiness (Lewis, 2014). Whether such views are development and developmental psychopathol-
better placed in the passive child-passive environ- ogy, make clear how such models diverge and
ment model can be questioned, although the criti- how they can be used to understand the etiology
cal feature of this model should not be lost. In of pathology. Unfortunately, by describing sharp
psychopathology and therapy, we often employ distinctions, we may draw too tight an image and,
such a model when we attempt to help patients as such, may make them caricatures. Nevertheless,
alter their behavior—active p­ erson—but discount it is important to consider them in this fashion in
the role of the environment outside the therapeutic order to observe their strengths and weaknesses.
environment.
The last model is most familiar to those study-
ing development because of its interactive nature. Trait or Status Model
An active person and an active environment are
postulated as creating, modifying, and changing The trait or status model is characterized by its
behavior. These interactive models take many simplicity and holds to the view that a trait, or the
forms, varying from the interactional approach of status of the child at one point in time, is likely to
Lewis (Lewis, 1972; Lewis & Feiring, 1991), to predict a trait or status at a later point in time. A
the transactional models of Sameroff and trait model is not interactive and does not provide
Chandler (1975), to the epigenetic models of for the effects of the environment. In fact in the
Zhang and Meaney (2010). They also include most extreme form, the environment is thought to
Chess and Thomas (1984) and Lerner’s (1984) play no role either in affecting its display or in
goodness-of-fit model and, from a developmental transforming its characteristics. A particular trait
psychopathology point of view, the notion of vul- may interact with the environment but the trait is
nerability and risk status (Garmezy, Masten, & not changed by that interaction.
Tellegen, 1984; Rutter, 1979). Traits are not easily open to transformation and
Even though Riegel’s (1978) approach is use- can be processes, coping skills, attributes, or ten-
ful, other systems of classification are available. dencies to respond in certain ways. Traits can be
For example, both passive child and passive and innate features, such as temperament or particular
active environment models are mechanistic in genetic codes. More important from our point of
that either biological givens within the organism view is that traits can also be acquired through
or environmental structures outside the organism learning or through more interactive processes.
1 Toward the Development of the Science of Developmental Psychopathology 7

However, once a trait is acquired, it remains rela-

tively unaffected by subsequent interactions. The
trait model is most useful in many instances, for
example, when considering potential genetic or
biological causes of subsequent psychopathology.
A child who is born with a certain gene or a set of
genes is likely to display psychopathology at
some later time. This model characterizes some of
the research in the genetics of mental illness.
Fig. 1.1 Trait model using the attachement construct
Here, the environment, or its interaction with the
genes, plays little role in the potential outcome.
The early work of Kallman (1946), for example,
on heritability of schizophrenia supports the use of the first year of life is the result of the early
of such a model, as does the lack or presence of interaction between the mother and the child.
certain chemicals on the development depression Once the attachment is established, it acts as a
(see Puig-Antich’s early work, 1982). In each of trait affecting the child’s subsequent behavior.
these cases, the presence of particular features is Attachment as a trait is established through the
hypothesized as likely to affect a particular type interaction of the child with his/her mother but,
of pathology. Although a trait model is appealing once established, acts like any other trait: that is,
in its simplicity, there are any number of problems it may interact with the environment at any time
with it; for example, not all people who possess a but is not altered by it (see Ainsworth, 1989).
trait or have a particular status at one point in time Figure 1.1 presents the trait model using the
are all likely to show subsequent psychopathol- traditional attachment construct. Notice that the
ogy or the same type of psychopathology interaction of the mother and child at T1 produces
(Saudino, 1997). Another example is the genetic the intraorganism trait, Ct1 in this case, a secure
traits related to breast cancer (BRCA). While or an insecure attachment. Although attachment
some with such a trait develop cancer, most will is the consequence of an interaction, once estab-
not do so. lished, it is the trait (Ct1) residing in the child that
That all children of schizophrenic parents do leads to Ct2. There is no need to posit a role of the
not themselves become schizophrenic or that not environment except as it initially produces the
all monozygotic twins show concordance vis-a-­ attachment. The problems with a trait view of the
vis schizophrenia suggests that other variables attachment model have been addressed by many
need to be considered (Gottesman & Shields, (Lamb, Thompson, Gardner, & Charnov, 1985;
1982; Kringlon, 1968). We return to this point Lewis et al., 2000) nevertheless; it is a widely
again; however, it is important to note that the held view that the mother–child relationship in
failure to find a high incidence of schizophrenic the first year of life can affect the child’s subse-
children of schizophrenic parents leads to the quent socio-emotional life as well as impact on
need to postulate such concepts as resistance to its mental health. Interestingly, more recently
stress, coping styles, and resilience. Each of these Sroufe, Coffino, and Carlson (2010) in their lon-
terms has a trait-like feature to them. gitudinal study of early attachment also have
This model is also useful when considering found that attachment at 1 year of life does not
traits that are not genetically or biologically predict later psychopathology without taking the
based. For example, the attachment model as pro- subsequent environment into account (see Lewis
posed by Bowlby (1969) and Ainsworth (1973) et al., 2000, for a similar view).
holds that the child’s early relationship with his/ Moreover, there is the belief that this attach-
her mother in the first year of life will determine ment trait can act as a protective factor in the face
the child’s adjustment throughout life. The secu- of environmental stress. Secure attachment is
rity of attachment that the child shows at the end often seen as a resiliency factor. The concept of
8 M. Lewis

Fig. 1.2 Invulnerability

model from point of view
of an acquired trait

resilience is similar to a trait model, since there applies not only for intensity but also for dura-
are aspects of children that appear to protect them tion; that is, invulnerability may represent the
from subsequent environmental stress. These ability to sustain one or two stress events but not
resiliency traits serve to make the child stress prolonged stress, or, alternatively, it may protect
resistant. Such a mechanism is used to explain the child against long-term stress. Specific to
why not all at-risk children develop psychopa- secure attachment, it is increasingly clear that it
thology. Garmezy (1989) and Rutter (1979) have is not a protective factor in terms of the child’s
mentioned factors that can protect the child reaction to subsequent stress (Lewis et al., 2000;
against stress and, therefore, psychopathology. Sroufe et al., 2010). There are, however, newer
The problem here is that besides intellectual abil- findings on Romanian children in orphanages
ity and an easy temperament, it is not clear what which suggests a critical period effect such that
other factors on an a priori basis we can say are attachment failures after a year or so lead to per-
protective factors unless we wish to consider that manent psychopathology including such biologi-
early positive social experiences are themselves cal differences as in cortisol regulation (see
protective factors. In that case, the protective fac- Rutter, 2013). While these data are impressive
tors reside in the environment rather than in the and support a trait-like model, only continued
person, which now starts to resemble an environ- study of these children will reveal how these fail-
mental model. ures interact with environmental differences. To
Figure 1.2 presents the invulnerability or resil- date across many areas of inquiry, the idea of
ience model from the point of view of an acquired critical periods in development, unaltered by sub-
trait. Notice that at t1 the environment is positive, sequent environmental forces, has received only
so the child acquires a protective attribute. At t2, mixed findings (Lewis, 1997). Even psychoana-
the environment becomes negative (stress lytic theory, while postulating critical periods on
appears); however, the attribute acquired at t1 the one hand, also suggests that environmental
protects the child (the child remains positive). At forces such as psychoanalytic treatment can alter
each additional point in time (t3, t4,…, tn), the the past’s effect on the future.
environment may change; however, it has little Trait models in personality theory are not new
effect on the child because the intraorganism trait (Allport & Allport, 1921), and the problems iden-
is maintained. tified in personality research apply here as well.
Of some question is the prolonged impact of a The major problem related to trait models is the
stress given the protective factor. It is possible to recognition that individual traits are likely to be
consider such a factor in several ways. In the first situation specific (Mischel, 1965). As such, they
place, a protective factor can act to increase the can only partially characterize the organism. For
threshold before a stress can affect the child. example, a child may be securely attached to his/
Stress will have an effect, but it will do so only her mother but insecurely attached to his/her father
after a certain level is past. A threshold concept or his/her older sibling. It would therefore be hard
1 Toward the Development of the Science of Developmental Psychopathology 9

to characterize the child as insecurely attached ments throughout the life span. In fact, the stron-
simply because he/she was insecurely attached to gest form of the environmental or contextual
one family member but not to the others (Fox, model argues that adaptation to current environ-
Kimmerly, & Schafer, 1991). Accurate prediction ment, throughout the life course, is a major influ-
from an insecure attachment trait to subsequent ence in our socioemotional life. As environments
psychopathology would be difficult without know- change, so too does the individual (Lewis, 1997;
ing the child’s complete attachment pattern. Such Sroufe, Egeland, Carlson, & Collins, 2005). This
data might dilute attachment from a trait located dynamic and changing view of environments and
within the individual to a set of specific relation- adaptation is in strong contrast to the earlier mod-
ships. Thus, to characterize the child in a simple els of environments as forces acting on the indi-
way, such as secure or insecure, may miss the vidual and acting on the individual only in the
complex nature of traits, especially those likely to early years of life. Let us consider them in detail,
be related to subsequent psychopathology. recognizing that the nature or the classification of
Equally problematic with the trait notion is the types of environments lags far behind our mea-
fact that such models leave little room for the surement of individual characteristics.
impact of environment on subsequent develop- In the simplest environmental model, the
mental growth or dysfunction. Environments child’s behavior, normal or maladaptive, is pri-
play a role in children’s development in the open- marily a function of the environmental forces act-
ing year of life and continue to do so throughout ing on it at any point in time. In such a model, a
the life span (Lewis, 1997). The idea of a secure child shows behavior x but not behavior y because
attachment trait as a protection from environmen- behavior x is positively rewarded by his/her par-
tal stress or of an insecure attachment trait as vul- ents while y is punished. Notice that in this model,
nerability factor, while undergoing modification the environmental forces act on the organism,
within attachment theory, is still widely held (see who is passive to them, and the behavior emitted
Steele & Steele, 2014). is a direct function of this action. Although this
model may apply for some behavior, it is more
likely the case that environmental forces act on
The Environmental Model the child directly at one point in time and indi-
rectly at later points in time. Our hypothetical
The prototypic environmental model holds that child may later do behavior x, not because of the
exogenous factors mostly influence development. immediate reward value but because the child
There are several problems in using this model. remembers that x is a rewarded behavior. Clearly,
To begin with there is considerable problems in much of our behavior is controlled by this indirect
defining what environments are. They might be form of environmental pressure acting on our
the physical properties of the world around the constructed models of how the world works.
child. So, for example, the HOME Scale to char- Many other forms of indirect reward and punish-
acterize the physical characteristics, including ment have been observed. For example, consider
the number of books or toys in the home, has the situation in which a child is present when the
been used and meets this definition. Environments mother scolds the older sibling for writing on the
may be defined as the parental behaviors or the walls of the house. The younger child, although
emotional tone in which the child lives. These not directly punished, does learn that writing on
problems of defining environments have recently walls is not an action to be performed (Lewis &
been considered by Mayes and Lewis (2013), in Feiring, 1981). Unfortunately, these indirect
whose book the wide range of possible forms of reward and punishment have received
­environmental factors likely to influence the child little attention, although there is some current
are presented. interest in triadic interaction where indirect
A more serious problem for testing this model effects can be considered (Feiring, Lewis, & Starr,
is the failure to consider the impact of environ- 1984; Repacholi, Meltzoff, & Olsen, 2008).
10 M. Lewis

There are many different types of environ- recognize that environments can cause distur-
mental forces. For example, we see an advertise- bance and abnormal behavior, we prefer to treat
ment for a product “that will make other people the person—to increase coping skills or to alter
love us.” We purchase such a product in the hopes specific behaviors—rather than change the envi-
that others will indeed love us. We can be ronment (Lewis, 1997). Yet we can imagine the
rewarded or punished in many direct and indirect difficulties that are raised when we attempt to
ways; however, it is important to note that the alter specific maladaptive behaviors in environ-
more the organism has to construct the nature or ments in which such behaviors are adaptive—a
purpose of the environmental forces, the more we point well taken years ago by Szasz (1961).
move from the passive child-active environment Our belief that the thrust of development
to the active child-active environment model. The resides in the organism rather than in the environ-
social-cognitive theories of personality are exam- ment, in large part, raises many problems. At cul-
ples of this active-active model (Bandura, 1986; tural levels, we assume that violence (and its
Mischel, 1965). In all cases, the environment cure) must be met in the individual—a trait
supplies the information that the child uses. Thus, model—rather than in the structure of the envi-
in some sense the environment is passive, while ronment. The murder rate using handguns in the
the child is active in constructing meaning. Here USA is many times higher than in most other
we can see again that it is the children’s construc- Western societies. We seek responsibility in the
tion of meaning which influences their behavior nature of the individual (e.g., XYY males, or the
and that their construction and the reality as seen genetics of antisocial behavior), when the nature
by another may be quite different. of the environment is also likely to be involved.
Because other people make up one important In this case, murders in the USA may be more
aspect of our environment, the work on the struc- due to the nonrestriction of automatic guns than
tures of the social environment is particularly rel- to people characteristics. Thus, we can either
evant, and attempts have been made to expand the conclude that Americans are by nature more vio-
numbers of potentially important people in the lent than Europeans or that because other Western
child’s environment (Lewis, 2013), as well as to societies do not allow handguns or automatic
create an analysis of the structure of the social weapons, they therefore have lower murder rates
environment itself (Lewis, 2014). Although con- (Cairns & Cairns, 2000).
siderable effort has been focused on the impor- A general environmental model suggests that
tance of the mother on the child, other persons, children’s behavior is a function of the environ-
including fathers, siblings, grandparents, and ment in which the behavior occurs, because the
peers, clearly have importance in shaping the task of the individual is to adapt to its current
child’s life (Bronfenbrenner & Crouter, 1983). environment. As long as the environment appears
Given these diverse features of environments and consistent, the child’s behavior will be consis-
the important roles attributed to them, it is surpris- tent: if the environment changes, so too will the
ing that so little systematic work has gone into child’s behavior. If a more active organism model
their study. For the most part, mothers and, to is used, it is still the case that maladaptive envi-
some extent, families have received the most atten- ronments produce abnormal behavior; however,
tion, and we therefore use them in our examples; the abnormal behavior is produced by the child’s
however, without a more complete theory about perception and construction of his/her reality.
the role of the social nexus, our work on the devel- From a developmental psychopathology point of
opment of psychopathology will be incomplete. view, maladaptive behavior is caused by mal-
The role of environments in the developmen- adaptive environment; if we change those envi-
tal process has been underplayed because ronments, we alter the behavior.
most investigators seek to find the structure and Figure 1.3 presents this model. The environment
change within the organism itself. Likewise, in (E) at t1, t2, and t3 all impact on the child’s behav-
the study of psychopathology, even though we ior at each point in time. The child’s behavior at
1 Toward the Development of the Science of Developmental Psychopathology 11

quent depression in children (Zahn-Waxler,

Cummings, McKnew, & Radke-Yarrow, 1984).
What is not considered is the fact that depressed
mothers at t1 are also likely to be depressed at t2 or
t3. What role does the mother’s depression at these
points play in the child’s subsequent condition?
We can only infer the answer given the limited
data available. The question that needs to be asked
Fig. 1.3 Model of change as a function of the is what would happen to the child if the mother
environment
was depressed at t1 but was not depressed at t2 or
t3? This type of question suggests that one way to
observe the effect of the environment on the
Ct1, Ct2, and Ct3 appears consistent, and it is, as child’s subsequent behavior is to observe those
long as E remains consistent. In other words, the situations in which the environment changes.
continuity in C is an epiphenomenon of the con- The environmental change can occur in two
tinuity of E across time. Likewise, the lack of ways: a positive environment can become nega-
consistency in C reflects the lack of consistency tive or a negative environment can become posi-
in the environment. The child’s behavior changes tive. In each case, the change in the child’s
over t1 to t3 as the environment produces change. behavior should inform us as to the role of the
Even though it appears that C is consistent, it is environment in affecting behavior. In the former
so because E is consistent. Consistency and case, we would expect an increase in the child’s
change in C are supposed by exogenous rather maladaptive behavior, whereas in the latter, we
than by endogenous factors. would expect to see a decrease. There are severa1
Such a model of change as a function of the studies that can be of help in answering this ques-
environment can be readily tested but rarely is it tion. Thompson, Lamb, and Estes (1982), for
done. This failure reflects the bias of the trait example, examined children’s attachment
model. Again, consider the case of the attach- between 1 year and 18 months. They found that
ment model. Although it is recognized that the the change in the child was related to the moth-
environment affects the attachment at t1, the er’s going back to work. When the child’s envi-
child’s status or trait at t1 (Ct1) is hypothesized to ronment changed by going from less to more
determine the child’s other outcomes, Ct2, Ct3, and stress, there was an increase in the negative
so forth. Rarely is the environment and the con- behavior of the child. When there was no change
sistency of the environment factored into the in the stress environment, there was little change
model as a possible cause of subsequent child in the child’s behavior. The Romanian study, in
behavior. Consider that poor parenting produces particular the Bucharest Early Intervention
an insecure child at Ct1 and this parenting remains Program, shows what may happen when the envi-
poor at t2 and t3. Without considering the contin- ronment changes from high to low stress.
ued effects of poor parenting, it is not possible to Children who were placed in foster care rather
make such a conclusion. That most research in than being in the orphanage showed that the posi-
this area fails in this regard constitutes evidence tive environment resulted in increased cortical
for the lack of interest in the environmental white matter as well as cognitive capacity relative
model. It should be pointed out that the recent to the children who remained in the orphanage
longitudinal study of Sroufe and colleagues has (see Nelson et al., 2007; Sheridan, Fox, Zeanah,
begun to alter this model in light of their findings McLaughlin, & Nelson, 2012; Sheridan, Sarsour,
(Sroufe et al., 2005). Jutte, D’Esposito, & Boyce, 2012).
Other forms of maladaptive behavior develop- Abused children are found not to be securely
ment have a similar problem. Depressed women attached and also have poor peer relationships
are assumed to cause concurrent as well as subse- (Schneider-Rosen & Cicchetti, 1984). The trait
12 M. Lewis

model holds that the insecure attachment pro- Prior Experience

duces subsequent poor peer relationships.
Alternatively, an environmental model would The environmental model also raises again the
state that abusive parents also are likely not to issue of the nature and degree of prior experi-
encourage or promote good peer relationships; ence, that is, the notion of a critical period.
thus, both insecure attachment and poor peer Certain environmental influences may have a
relationships are due to poor parenting at both greater effect at some points in time but not oth-
points in time. Moreover, if peer relationships ers. For example, a responsive environment in the
could be encouraged by placing these children in first year and a less-responsive environment in
supervised day care, then peer relationships the second year should lead to better conse-
should improve even though the attachment char- quences than a nonresponsive environment in the
acteristic did not change. Such findings would first year and a responsive environment in the
support an environmental model and at the same second year. Although critical periods suggest
time suggest that social behavior, especially to some organismic characteristics, the effects of
peers, is not a function of the mother–infant the environment as a function of past experience
attachment (see also Harlow & Harlow, 1965, for remain relevant here. In its simplest form, when a
a similar view about the independence of the peer series of positive events is followed by a negative
and parent relationships). In an earlier study we event, it is important to know whether the impact
reported that although initial peer behavior in of the negative event depends on the number or
abused children was different than that in a non-­ the timing of the preceding positive ones. In simi-
abused group, after 1 month in a day care setting lar fashion, the same question applies for a series
the behavior of the two groups could not be dis- of negative events.
tinguished even though the child–mother rela- For example, Child A has four positive envi-
tionship remained poor (Lewis & Schaeffer, ronmental events prior to the negative one,
1981). Findings such as these suggest that not whereas Child B has only two. Is the negative
only past but also concurrent environmental event more negative for Child B than for Child
influences need to be given more attention. A? The simplest environmental model would
Although the environmental model can be suggest no difference because such models argue
made more complex, this general model sug- for a passive child and, given such, past experi-
gests, in all cases, that the child’s concurrent ences have little effect. On the other hand, mem-
mental health status is determined by the current ory systems are likely to be ones in which past
environment as well as past ones (Lewis, 1997). experiences are registered and processed. Given
Should the environment change, then the child’s this fact, the four positive past experiences for
status is likely to change. The degree to which the Child A might dilute the effects of the negative
environment remains consistent, and in our case event. A more complex model provides for a
psychopathogenic, is the degree to which psy- more active child, and here the child’s memory
chopathology will be consistently found within and construction of all the past positive events
the subject. Therefore, the environmental model allow for a reconstruction of the negative one.
can be characterized by the view that the con- The effect of the past events might serve to buffer
straints, changes, and consistencies in children’s the effect of the next event.
psychopathology rest not so much with intrinsic Besides the effects of past experiences on the
structures located in the child as in the nature behavior of the child, particular time periods may
and structure of the environment of the child. be critical for some environmental events some-
The caveat is that the construction of children’s thing which the Romanian orphanages data sug-
belief about the nature of the current environment gests. For example, a limited number of negative
and memories of the past should also be taken events in early life may have a greater impact
into account. than the same number of events later in life.
1 Toward the Development of the Science of Developmental Psychopathology 13

Attachment theory suggests that the failure of the These models have some general features and
child to securely attach in the first year may pre- while Sameroff (2014) has called them transac-
dispose him/her to serious maladaptive behavior, tional we have called them interactional (Lewis,
even though the environment thereafter is altered 1972). Both transactional and interactional mod-
in the positive direction. The data for this posi- els have in common the belief that we need to con-
tion are mixed and suggest that, at least for socio- sider both child and environment in determining
emotional development, ongoing poor the course of development. Such models usually
environments may be more critical than just the require an active child and an active environment;
early ones. Nevertheless, the models of the effect however, they need not be so. What they do require
of past experience, critical periods, and current is the notion that behavior is shaped by its a­ daptive
environments are in need of continued testing ability and that this ability is related to environ-
over a long period of years if we are to under- ments. Maladaptive behavior may be misnamed
stand the importance of an environmental model because the behavior may be adaptive to a mal-
of developmental psychopathology. We need adaptive environment. The stability and change in
long-term observation since we do not have any the child need to be viewed as a function of both
developmental theory which informs us of when factors, and as such, the task of any interactive
in development the effects of early negative expe- model is to draw us to the study of both features.
riences can be altered by new positive ones. In our attachment example, the infant who is
Whatever model we choose, it is clear that the securely attached, as a function of the responsive
study and treatment of maladaptive behavior environment in the first year, will show compe-
require that the environment across the life span tence at a later age as a function of the earlier
be considered. Although some maladaptive events as well as the nature of the environment at
behavior of the child may be altered within the later ages (see Lewis, 1997; Sroufe et al., 2005).
therapeutic situation, the child usually returns to One of the central issues of the developmental
the same environment in which these maladap- theories that are interactive in nature is the ques-
tive behaviors were formed. If such behavior is to tion of transformation. Two models of concurrent
be modified, we have to modify the environment. behavior as a function of traits and environment
A strong environmental model suggests that, in can be drawn. In the first, both trait and environ-
many cases, this may be sufficient. ment interact and produce a new set of behaviors.
However, neither the traits nor the environment
are altered by the interaction.
The Child by Environment Models From a developmental perspective, this is an
additive model because new behaviors are
Interactional Model derived from old behaviors and their interaction
with the environment, but these new behaviors
While both the trait and the environmental mod- are added to the repertoire of the set of old behav-
els continue to receive support from research, it is iors (Lewis, 1997). For example, an insecurely
the interactional models—which incorporate attached child (−ATT) can interact with a positive
characteristics of the child, be they attachment environment (+E) so that a positive outcome
status, genetic factors, or temperament as they (+O) occurs:
interact with the environment—which have for
the most part captured our attention in the study ( − ATT ) × ( + E ) → +O
of development in general and developmental
psychopathology in particular. The number and In this case, the trait of (−ATT) remains unaf-
diversity of these models and the ways of mea- fected by the interaction and (+O) is added to the
suring these are considerable (see, for example, set of behaviors including (−ATT). Likewise,
Sterba, 2014). (+E) is not altered by the interaction. This model
14 M. Lewis

is very useful for explaining such diverse phe- to maternal overstimulation which in turn leads to
nomena as regression, vulnerability, and good- insecure attachments (Lewis & Feiring, 1989).
ness of fit. However, this analysis still gives us two relatively
separate measures of C and E and thus is interac-
tional rather than transformational.
Transformational Model On the other hand, an insecure attachment at 1
year can be transformed given the proper environ-
A transformational model can be contrasted to the ment, and an insecure attachment can transform a
interactional model, but having already discussed positive environment into a negative one.
one we can be more brief here. This type of model Consider the irritable child who interacts with a
requires that all features that make up an interac- positive environment and produces a negative
tion are themselves comprised of all features and environment that subsequently produces a nega-
are transformed by their interaction. These are tive, irritable child. The causal chain does not
called transactional models (see Sameroff, 2014). simply pass in a continuous fashion either through
For example, if we believe in Fig. 1.3 that the the environment or through the irritable child as a
child’s characteristics at Ct1 interact with the envi- trait or environmental model would have it. In
ronment Et1 to produce a transformed Ct2 and Et2, fact, it is a circular pattern of child causes affect-
then it is likely that Ct1 and Et1 also were trans- ing the environment and the environmental causes
formed from some earlier time t(n−1) and that, affecting the child. Such models have intrinsic
therefore, each feature is never independent of the appeal but are by their nature difficult to test.
other. The general expression of this then is However, as Sterba (2014) shows, the new statis-
tical procedures may be able to address this type
( Ct1 × Et1 ) → Ct 2 , Et 2 , where of problem. Nevertheless, the problems of colin-
earity and high correlations found in environmen-
Ct1 = ∫ ( Ctn −1 × Etn −1 ) and tal and child measures continue to make the
testing of such models difficult. Most of the mod-
Et1 = ∫ ( Etn −1 × Ctn −1 ) . els employ regression-like analyses which in gen-
eral require linear functions. The use of linear
Such models reject the idea that child or envi- function themselves may be open to question
ronmental characteristics are ever independent or given that linearity may be a limit function in
exist as pure forms; there is here an ultimate human behavior. Even so, it is difficult not to treat
regression effect. Moreover, these features inter- a child or an environmental characteristic as a
act and transform themselves at each point in “pure” quantity, though we might know better. As
development. The linear functions that character- such, we tend to test the interactive models that
ize the other models are inadequate for the trans- require less transformation.
formational view. The parent’s behavior affects
the child’s behavior; however, the parent’s behav-
ior was affected by the child’s earlier behavior. Goodness-of-Fit Model
An example of this is a study where we found
that intrusive mothers of 3-month-olds are likely to According to the goodness-of-fit model, pathol-
have insecurely attached children at 1 year. ogy arises when the child’s characteristics do not
However, their overstimulation appears to be match the environmental demand, or, stated
related to their children’s earlier behavior. Children another way, the environmental demand does not
who do not appear socially oriented at 3 months, match the child’s characteristic (Lerner, 1984;
preferring to play with and look at toys rather than Thomas & Chess, 1977). Notice that maladjust-
people, become insecurely attached. These chil- ment is the consequence of the mismatch. It is not
dren have mothers who are over stimulating. Thus, located in either the nature of the child’s character-
earlier child characteristics—non-­sociability—lead istic or in the environmental demand. Some might
1 Toward the Development of the Science of Developmental Psychopathology 15

argue that certain environmental demands, by school adjustment, as rated by the teacher, was
their nature, will cause pathology in the same way dependent on neither the mother’s belief nor the
that certain child characteristics, by their nature, child’s sex-role play. Rather, adjustment was
will cause them. Although this may be the case in dependent upon the goodness of fit between the
extremes, the goodness-of-fit model suggests that child’s play and the mother’s belief. For example,
psychopathology is the consequence of the mis- boys showed subsequently better adjustment if
match between trait and environment, and, as their mothers were androgynous in belief, and
such, it is an interactive model. they played equally with boy and girl toys, as
Consider the case of the temperamentally well as if mothers were traditional and the boys
active child. If such a child is raised in a house- played more with boy than girl toys. Adjustment
hold where activity and noise are valued and at 6 years was worse if there was no fit, for exam-
where there is a match between the active child ple, if the mothers were traditional and the boys
and the environment, no maladaptive behavior were androgynous, or if the mothers were androg-
results. However, if this same child is raised in a ynous and the boys were more male-toy oriented.
household where quiet behavior and inhibition The same was true for girls. The goodness of fit
are valued, we would expect to see more adjust- between the individual and its environment rather
ment problems. Similarly, for the quiet, lethargic than the nature of the child’s behavior itself may
child, again, dependent on the match between the be more important for the development of mal-
behavior and the environment, different degrees adaptive behavior (Lewis, 1987). One therapeutic
of maladjustment would occur. solution, then, is to alter the maladaptive behav-
In terms of transformation, such a model is ior of the individual: the other is to alter the nature
relatively silent. Even so, it would seem reason- of the fit. Matching children by their characteris-
able to imagine that new behaviors arise due tics to teachers’ traits reduces educational mis-
either to the match or mismatch, but these new match and may increase academic achievement.
behaviors do not require the old behaviors to be The non-transformational feature of the
transformed. The active child may learn to move goodness-­of-fit model is particularly relevant for
more slowly, but the trait of activity is not lost or the development of psychopathology in two areas:
transformed. The environment, too, may change, the phenomenon of regression and the vulnerable
because less is required of the child, but the val- child. Regression is a problem for any transac-
ues or goals underlying the requirement remain tional model in which old behaviors are trans-
and are not changed. formed and become new behaviors (Piaget, 1952).
An example of this goodness-of-fit model can If old behaviors are transformed, they should dis-
be seen in one of our studies of sex-role behavior. appear from the child’s repertoire and should be
We obtained early sex-role behavior in children unavailable for use once the new behaviors
as well as maternal attributes about sex role and appear. This should be the case for the growth of
asked how these two factors might affect subse- intellectual or social behaviors. Nevertheless, it is
quent adjustment. A goodness-of-fit model clear that regression is a common occurrence in
appeared to best explain the data. The sex-role all domains and, as such, challenges the transfor-
behavior of 2-year-olds in terms of how much the mational model. It is not possible to use old
children played with male and female sex-role behaviors if they were transformed. The appear-
toys were observed. There were large individual ance of regression requires that old behaviors do
differences: some boys played more with boy not disappear but are retained when new behav-
toys than girl toys, and some boys played more iors develop. New behaviors may have a greater
with girl toys than boy toys. The same was true likelihood of being elicited; however, old behav-
for the girls. Mothers were given the Bem Scales, iors will occur, especially under stress.
and we were able to determine their sex-role ori- The vulnerable or resilient child is another
entation. Some mothers showed traditional sex-­ example of the usefulness of a non-transforma-
role beliefs, whereas others were more tional or interactive model. A vulnerable child
androgynous in their beliefs. We found that possesses some characteristics that place him/her
16 M. Lewis

at risk. If the environment is positive, the at-risk Although not often discussed, there seems to
features are not expressed and the child appears to be some indication that when the environ-
be adjusted. Over repeated exposures to the posi- mental perturbation stops, the gene expression
tive environment, the child appears adjusted; how- may change back to a more normal state
ever if given an instant or two of a negative (Masterpasqua, 2009). The finding that placing
environment, the child will appear maladjusted, pups of low-licking/-grooming mothers in a
showing abnormal behavior. For example, Sroufe high-licking/-grooming situation suggests that
(1983) once wrote that “even when children environment change can change the gene
change rather markedly, the shadows of the earlier expression in both a negative and positive way.
adaptation remain, and in times of stress, the pro- These findings are also relevant for a discussion
totype itself may be clear” (p. 74). It is obvious of critical periods since they indicate that path-
from this example that the positive environmental ological behaviors (even at the gene level) can
experiences were unable to transform the at-risk right themselves when environments change.
features that remained independent of their inter-
action with the environment. Likewise, if the child
is resilient, then nonnegative experiences are likely Defining Maladaptive
to change this. This may be likely, however in the
extreme may not be so (Rutter, 2012). If the at-risk In this section I will raise a number of issues hav-
features remain independent of the environment ing to do with defining maladaptive behavior and
and are displaced as positive or negative adjust- include the issues of (1) discrete versus continu-
ment only as the environment changes, then a ous behavior, (2) who defines maladaptive behav-
goodness-of-­fit model, rather than a transforma- ior, (3) changes in maladaptive behavior with
tional model, best explains the data. It is possible development, (4) predictions and the notion of
that at-risk features are influenced by the environ- sudden change, and finally (5) the construction of
ment such that repeated positive exposures make reality and maladaptive behavior.
the response to a negative event less severe—a
type of threshold view. Under such conditions, we
approach a transformational model. Discrete Versus Continuous Behavior

We have little trouble in defining psychopathol-

Epigenetic Model ogy when we observe psychoses, since behaviors
such as hallucinations or deeply disturbed think-
Of particular interest and one receiving consid- ing patterns indicate a clear pattern.
erable recent attention are the epigenetic mod- On the other hand, there are behaviors we
els. While they are interactional they are not label as maladaptive. In deciding whether we
necessarily transactional; since the child char- wish to call the behaviors psychotic or disturbed,
acteristics may change, the environment usually our classification system becomes more of a
remains consistent as does the child’s DNA. problem (see Achenbach, 2000). The issue here
The epigenetic model explores the effect of is whether all classes of psychopathology should
experience on gene expression and then gene be thought of as a yes-no, has or has not the dis-
expression and both brain and behavior. For the order, or considered as a continuum. Psychotic
most part, the work has focused on how envi- disorders are usually thought of as yes-no: one
ronmental stress impacts on the HPA axis which cannot be a little psychotic. How about depres-
in turn modifies gene transcription. These sion? It can be considered a yes-no disturbance,
models and data that support them can be seen especially if we use a DSM-like classification
in the recent work by Meany and associates system. On the other hand, it can be considered
(see Bush & Boyce, 2014, for more details). as a continuum, with the pathology classification
1 Toward the Development of the Science of Developmental Psychopathology 17

representing one end of the continuum. Such care, none of the day-care groups had levels
problems continue to cause difficulties in the above the cutoff for this scale. The low level of
study of developmental psychopathology because psychopathology in the population leads to these
of these sampling and classification issues. The types of difficulty, and one wonders how many
classification issues have to do with many prob- findings reported which use the continuous mea-
lems, including what should be considered an sure to study the development of psychopathol-
outcome measure. ogy can be replicated.
Sampling issues arise when we use a yes-no
classification system given the relatively low
base rate of most clinical disorders. In order to  ho Defines Maladaptive
W
study the development of these disorders, very or Psychopathology?
large samples need to be collected. Select sub-
jects, who are at high risk for a disorder, can be Still another problem related to the outcome
used, but the likelihood of obtaining a high rate measures is the issue of not only what the classi-
of disorder, though increased, does not give us a fication of children should be but also who classi-
very large number of subjects. Moreover, the fies them. Typically, children themselves do not
selection of unique samples of high-risk children determine that they are disordered. Rather, a par-
has its own problem. For example, the selection ent or teacher usually identifies signs of disorders
of a large schizophrenia sample for a study of its and refers a child to a clinician. An examination
development requires the examination of schizo- of childhood disorder must include parents’ and
phrenic mothers (Garmezy & Rutter, 1983; teachers’ perceptions of the child as well as the
Sameroff & Seifer, 1981). We know that the child’s own perceptions. However, studies of
number of children showing early disorders, but child disorder, for example, depression, show
not schizophrenia, is relatively lower than would that different people’s assessments of the same
be expected (Garmezy et al., 1984). child do not agree (Jensen, Salzberg, Richters, &
Parenthetically, this finding is related to our inter- Watanabe, 1993; Stavrakaki, Vargo, Roberts, &
est in resilience and the issue of invulnerability Boodoosingh, 1987). Patterns of agreement are
(Garmezy, 1981, 1989). no more consistent when outside raters such as
Perhaps of greatest concern is the use of rat- clinicians, teachers, or peers are employed.
ings such as the CBCL (Achenbach, 1991). Kazdin, French, Unis, and Esveldt-Dawson
While the validity of the scales were established (1983), for example, found that parents and clini-
by a cutoff value which differentiated a clinical cians were in stronger agreement than children
from a nonclinical sample, there have been no and clinicians, but Moretti, Fine, Haley, and
validations of pathology in values below the cut- Marriage (1985), Poznanski, Mokros, Grossman,
off levels. Nevertheless, a large number of studies and Freeman (1985), and Stavrakaki et al. (1987)
do not use the cutoff values but instead use the reported the opposite. Research examining agree-
scales as a continuum. The reasons for this are, as ment between teachers and children also shows
we have pointed out, the low level of pathology in low levels of agreement (Achenbach, 1991;
a sample as defined by the cutoff values. Even in Jacobsen, Lahey, & Strauss, 1983; McConaughy,
large samples there are few subjects who qualify Stanger, & Achenbach, 1992; Saylor, Finch,
as having a maladaptive behavior. To solve this Baskin, Furey, & Kelly, 1984). Peer ratings
sampling problem, the maladaptive scales are sometimes correlate with children’s self-reported
used in a continuous fashion. In one highly depression (Jacobsen et al., 1983; Lefkowitz &
reported study of the effects of day care, it was Testiny, 1980; Saylor et al., 1984) but only in nor-
reported that while those in all day infant care mal samples. This raises the general issue of
had subsequently higher scores on the aggression whether the assessment of the child’s characteris-
subscale of the CBCL than those either not in tics is consistent across raters or different mea-
infant day care or those with fewer hours of day sures. If this is not so, then factors that impact on
18 M. Lewis

individual differences may vary depending on situation, context, and other people. The second
who measures the outcome. idea is that from a developmental point of view,
Raters may disagree about the same child for the idea of predicting individual differences in
a number of reasons. First, different instruments psychopathology over time may be difficult if
are usually used to obtain ratings from different there is low agreement in terms of the classifica-
people, and the instruments might not be compat- tion of children and adults in terms of their
ible (Achenbach, 1991; McConaughy et al., psychopathology.
1992; Stanger, McConaughy, & Achenbach,
1992). Second, low rates of agreement about
child disorder also may be due to the fact that  rediction and the Notion
P
some raters might not know the child well enough of Sudden Change
to draw clinical conclusions. This is particularly
important for syndromes such as depression, Predictability in the study of developmental psy-
which may reflect a child’s “inner state.” A third chopathology constitutes an important aspect of
reason for low rates of agreement may be due to our definition (Sroufe & Rutter, 1984). Such a
the rater’s own problems. For example, mothers focus on prediction as a central feature is under-
who are more depressed perceive their children standable because the origins of maladaptive
as more depressed (Richters, 1992). behavior require an understanding of continuity
Finally, it is likely that people’s perceptions are and change. Even so, it is surprising that such a
based on the child’s behavior in different situa- focus is required. Freud (1920/1955) doubted the
tions. Teachers and parents experience the child in ability of prediction. In truth, he appeared to be
different circumstances that require different cop- cognizant of the fact that retrospective prediction
ing skills. That children are seen in different situ- was much easier than prospective predication (see
ations that elicit different behaviors is likely to be also Freeman, 1984). His belief about the com-
an important factor. Situationally determined plexity involved in the development of maladap-
behavior has been well documented. There is evi- tive as well as normal behavior made him skeptical
dence that different observers base their judg- about the ability to predict outcome. Even more
ments on different characteristics of the child important for our discussion is the recognitions
(Routh, 1990). For example, as long ago as 1985, that elaborate debate exists within the domain of
Kazdin, Moser, Colbus, and Bell showed that par- normal development to question the issue of conti-
ents and children emphasize different facets of the nuity and therefore of prediction. It would be a
child’s functioning. Children focused on internal mistake to assume that prediction is always possi-
feelings and expectancies for the future, while ble or even a desired goal. The relationship between
parents focused on the child’s overt social behav- continuity and prediction allows us to view this
ior and outward manifestations of affect. Mischel problem from a developmental perspective. Much
(1990) has suggested that while behavior differs has been written on this topic over the last 50 years
across situations, it may be consistent within situ- (Lewis, 1997; Reese & Overton, 1970).
ations. While parents, teachers, and children may The idea of continuity also involves the idea of
disagree about the child, they may provide accu- gradualism. As espoused by Darwin (1871),
rate assessments within particular contexts. gradualism assumes that a series of small changes
These problems support two ideas that need can account for the development of complex out-
attention in any study of psychopathology. The comes. Gradualism in evolution has been ques-
first idea is that of an individual having character- tioned by Eldredge and Gould (1972), who
istics that are enduring across situations and time. propose a theory of gradual change punctuated
In general, while there may be some consistency by sudden change. When applied to individual
across raters or scales and situations, the variance development, notions of continuity and gradual-
accounted for remains rather low considering the ism take several forms, the most common form
power of the idea of personality transcending assuming that a person’s development is an intra-
1 Toward the Development of the Science of Developmental Psychopathology 19

individual process. Such theories assume that This is an interesting question since in attach-
what the person is like now will determine what ment theory both of these views are measured.
the person will be like in the future, the “trait” Consider that in infancy we measure the child’s
notion of development which predominates, behavior toward the mother once she returns. In
especially in theories of social development. the AAI we measure the grown child’s construc-
Of course, general interactive models assume tion of the attachment model. While we assume
that an individual’s development is the result of these are the same, the first causing the second,
the continuing interactive process in which peo- this has not proven always to be the case (Lewis
ple adapt to their changing environments, which et al., 2000).
in turn affect the environments themselves. Such J.J. Gibson, in a wonderful article on the
models by their nature make prediction difficult, nature of the stimulus, raised this issue over 50
since if the environment changes by some pro- years ago (Gibson, 1960). Clearly, what we mea-
cesses, they are in many cases random. Consider sure in the environment may not be what the
the effect of wars and military service on men’s child perceives or even constructs about the envi-
lives. Wars are exogenous (and presumably ran- ronment. In some sense, then, our measurement
dom) and yet profoundly affect lives, altering of the environment reflects a perspective which
them in ways not readily predicted even if we may not be reflected by the child we study. So,
were to have an accurate historical record of lives for example, we measure the level of depression
before the war (Elder, 1986). We could consider that the child’s mother reports about herself;
less dramatic events, such as death, illness, however we do not measure the children’s per-
floods, and fires, all of which are random to lives ception or even their construction of their moth-
and may profoundly alter them. er’s depression. Children may differ in their
Any model that depicts development of psy- perceptions or constructions of reality for many
chopathology as a trajectory undisturbed by sur- reasons, including the mixed messages of the
rounding events, although created from the events environment, such as the mother’s saying “I am
earlier in time, needs reconsideration. As we have tired,” rather than that she is depressed. We know,
suggested, individuals develop in the presence of for example, that Chinese and American cultures
random events and their development may be differ in the degree of somatization versus psy-
more characterized by zigs and zags than by chological explanations used and this is likely to
some predetermined connected and linear pat- exist on an individual family basis. Child charac-
tern. It is only when we understand how organ- teristics may also affect the child’s perception
isms are influenced by their environments now and construction of its environment. The same
and how people’s ideas for their future can affect parental punishment for a temperamentally fear-
their desires and behaviors that we can under- ful child may be expressed as quite different from
stand the nature of pathology. a child who is not temperamentally fearful.
A particular case of some interest is related to
how the child comes to experience one parent
The Construction of Reality from the comments of the other. For example, a
father who is absent, that is, has few interactions
Any discussion of the interaction of the child’s with his child, can be perceived in two different
characteristics with the environment raises an ways depending on how the child’s mother
important issue in the study of developmental explains his absence; in one case, “He is working
psychopathology which has to do with the ques- hard to earn extra money for your education” ver-
tion raised about the difference between attach- sus “He is doing what he wants to do.” In both
ment and psychoanalytic theories which we cases the measurement of the time spent in inter-
characterized at the beginning of this chapter, action with his daughter is the same; however,
that is, the question of the importance of the envi- the child’s construction of her model of the
ronment itself or the child’s construction of it. father–child relationship is likely to be different.
20 M. Lewis

While our measures of the environment become Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1.
Attachment. New York: Basic Books.
more complex, without considering the child’s
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Crouter, A. C. (1983). The evolu-
perspective of the nature of their environment, tion of environmental models in developmental
we assume that the nature of the structure (or research. In W. Kessen & P. H. Mussen (Eds.), History,
environment) is what we measure rather than theory, and methods: Handbook of child psychology
(Vol. 1, pp. 357–414). New York: Wiley.
what the child perceives or constructs. However,
Bush, N. R., & Boyce, W. T. (2014). The contributions of
before we even start our study of the child’s per- early experience to biological development and sensi-
ceptions and constructs, we need to recognize tivity to context. In M. Lewis & K. Rudolph (Eds.),
that children, certainly by the end of the second Handbook of developmental psychopathology (3rd
ed.). New York: Springer.
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Cairns, R. B., & Cairns, B. D. (2000). The natural history
tem, a self system, which is active in creating and developmental functions of aggression. In A.
plans and has intentionality and that their percep- J. Sameroff, M. Lewis, & S. M. Miller (Eds.),
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Chess, S., & Thomas, A. (1984). Origins and evolution of
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may center in this constructed self-system. Chomsky, N. (Ed.). (1957). Syntactic structures. The
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Chomsky, N. (Ed.). (1965). Aspects of the theory of syn-
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 DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
 FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
 Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
 The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

 This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
 “We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
 Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
 BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

 FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

 LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
 Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

 BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN