Terms such as "communication," "perception," "creation," and "valuation" are coming into prominence in social science research. They signify a stage in the development of the social sciences which is worth explicit recognition. This development appears to be following a pattern which one would expect from his general knowledge of how intellectual maturation progresses in the life pattern of individuals when conditions are favorable to such maturation. Four general stages can be noted in the full maturation process as it extends from childhood to old age. 1. In children, the tendency is to take each experience in its turn for what it seems to be at the time-each arithmetic problem as it is given, each song as it is sung, each thought as it occurs. Tho generalizing is necessarily under way, the emphasis, in contrast to later stages of maturation, is upon the specific experience, taken within its immediate limits.