HALL, G. STANLEY (1844–1924), was an American psychologist and educator. Granville Stanley Hall was born in western Massachusetts, in a conservative Protestant environment. He was educated at Williams College, at Union Theological Seminary (New York), at several institutions in Germany, and finally at Harvard, where he studied under William James. Hall was a significant figure in the early period of American psychology. He is remembered primarily as an organizer, teacher, and editor, and as the president of Clark University. He founded North America's first formally accepted university psychology laboratory, the continent's first psychology journal, and its first professional organization for psychologists.

Early in his career, Hall was influential in promoting experimental over "philosophical" methods in psychology. He was a key figure in the "child study" movement, which was influential in introducing questionnaire techniques and the direct observation of children into psychology, and which also spurred...