First Published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

`This is a beautifully written account of the most important ways in which developmental psychologists go about their business, illustrated with carefully chosen articles which are carefully described in order to make the designs, methodologies, analysis and interpretation of the results readily accessible to a non-expert readership. This will become the preferred textbook for those who want an up-to-date, interesting and accessible introduction to developmental psychology research′ - Alan Slater, University of Exeter A wide range of techniques is used to investigate children′s development. This book, which is aimed at advanced undergraduates and postgraduate students in psychology and related areas, provides a guide to key theories and methods used by researchers. Carefully chosen articles are accompanied by a commentary from the author that, among other things, helps students to understand the rationale for a study, the choice of design and assessment measures, use of statistics and the interpretation of results. A wide range of recent research papers is included to cover observational and experimental methods from infancy to adolescence. The research papers are introduced by two chapters that consider the relationship between theory and methods, explaining how models of development differ from one another and how they can be tested through experimental studies.

Child Development: Theories and Critical Perspectives provides an engaging and perceptive overview of both well-established and recent theories in child and adolescent psychology. This unique summary of traditional scientific perspectives alongside critical post-modern thinking will provide readers with a sense of the historical development of different schools of thought. The authors also place theories of child development in philosophical and cultural contexts, explore links between them, and consider the implications of theory for practice in the light of the latest thinking and developments in implementation and translational science. Early chapters cover mainstream theories such as those of Piaget, Skinner, Freud, Maccoby and Vygotsky, whilst later chapters present interesting lesser-known theorists such as Sergei Rubinstein, and more recent influential theorists such as Esther Thelen. The book also addresses lifespan perspectives and systems theory, and describes the latest thinking in areas ranging from evolutionary theory and epigenetics, to feminism, the voice of the child and Indigenous theories. The new edition of Child Development has been extensively revised to include considerable recent advances in the field. As with the previous edition, the book has been written with the student in mind, and includes a number of useful pedagogical features including further reading, discussion questions, activities, and websites of interest. Child Development: Theories and Critical Perspectives will be essential reading for students on advanced courses in developmental psychology, education, social work and social policy, and the lucid style will also make it accessible to readers with little or no background in psychology.

Through the evaluation and integration of developmental theories, this volume proposes a new structural/behavioral model of development. Dr. Horowitz’s model helps account for both the behavioral development of children (with extensions across the life-span) and for the universal and non-universal characteristics in human behavioral development. Exploring Developmental Theories also sheds a new and different light on the nature- nurture or heredity-environment controversy and on the topic of continuity and discontinuity in development. Exploring Developmental Theories: *examines the concepts of stage, structure, and systems; organismic theory; and general system theory; *analyzes open and closed systems as well as organismic and mechanistic world views; *integrates the concepts associated with organismic and mechanist world views; *examines learning mechanisms and processes that foster the acquisition of behavior, and *discusses the strengths and weaknesses of Gessel, Piaget, and behaviorism in accounting for behavioral development.

An Introduction to Theories of Human Development provides a comprehensive view of the primary theoretical models of human development including those from the biological, psychoanalytic, behavioral, and cognitive developmental perspectives. Along with a brief discussion of a historical background for each of these approaches, this book examines the application of these theories to various aspects of human development, such as the effectiveness of early intervention, individual differences, adolescence, and sociobiology.

Researchers and students in developmental psychology have pointed out that the numerous findings from research about human development seem disconnected and that it is difficult to fit fragmented bits of information together. Studies of separate domains of functioning (e.g., cognition, emotion, language, social relationships, identity) divide the field and there are increasing calls for integrative conceptions of human development. In Exploring the Dynamics of Human Development, Dr. Catherine Raeff constructs a theoretical framework that enables readers to reconcile seemingly disparate information by thinking systematically about dynamic developmental processes. This approach integrates systems theory, organismic-developmental theory, and sociocultural theory, as well as research across cultures and the life span. Raeff brings developmental processes into coherence by building a unified theoretical framework that is organized around the following questions: What develops during development?; What happens during development?; and How does development happen? Using a wide range of illustrative empirical examples, Raeff conceptualizes what happens during development in terms of differentiation and integration and explains how development happens through individual, social, and cultural processes. The framework helps to overcome confusion in the field and explore issues such as individual and cultural variability, looking beyond age-based changed to understand development, and resolving fragmentation by starting with whole person functioning. The framework also opens up new directions for research. This book will be useful to developmentalists, graduate students, upper level undergraduates, and others who seek an integrative understanding of the field as a whole and a systematic way of thinking about and investigating human action and development.

* The text is organized in seven parts, each consisting of two chapters: * Part I covers the field of child development, including overviews of historical foundations, general theories, and the scientific method. * Part II contains two chapters on the genetic and environmental bases for prenatal development, birth, and neonatal development. * Parts III-VII each integrate a chapter on physical and cognitive development and a chapter on social and emotional development. * Part III covers development during infancy and toddlerhood. * Parts IV and V have two chapters each on early childhood and late childhood. * Parts VI and VII have two chapters each on early adolescence and late adolescence. * Unit part openers provide a personal vignette, unit overview, and set of learning objectives. * Part closures, called Grasping The Whole, include a Benchmarks chart that summarizes developmental changes in terms of the four developmental domains (physical, cognitive, social, and emotional). * Grasping The Whole also contains a For More Info section with annotated recommended readings, relevant organizations, and websites. * In Research Focus features in every chapter report in-depth on cont