A Student's Guide to Developmental Psychology

✍ Scribed by Margaret Harris, Gert Westermann

• Publisher: Psychology Press
• Year: 2015
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 333
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This major new undergraduate textbook provides students with everything they need when studying developmental psychology.

Guiding students through the key topics, the book provides both an overview of traditional research and theory as well as an insight into the latest research findings and techniques. Taking a chronological approach, the key milestones from birth to adolescence are highlighted and clear links between changes in behaviour and developments in brain activity are made. Each chapter also highlights both typical and atypical developments, as well as discussing and contrasting the effects of genetic and environmental factors.

The book contains a wealth of pedagogical features to help students engage with the material, including:

Learning objectives for every chapter

Key term definitions

Over 100 colour illustrations

Chapter summaries

Further reading

Suggested essay questions.

A Student’s Guide to Developmental Psychology is supported by a companion website, featuring a range of helpful supplementary resources including exclusive video clips to illustrate key developmental concepts.

This book is essential reading for all undergraduate students of developmental psychology. It will also be of interest to those in education, healthcare and other subjects requiring an up-to-date and accessible overview of child development.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Dedication
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
About the authors
Photo credits
1 Framework and methods
1.1 The big questions in developmental psychology
1.2 Collecting and interpreting psychological data
1.3 Summary
2 Theories and approaches
2.1 Early views
2.2 John Locke
2.3 John-Jacques Rousseau
2.4 Jean Piaget’s constructivism
2.5 Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
2.6 John Bowlby’s attachment theory
2.7 Connectionism
2.8 Dynamic systems
2.9 Neuroconstructivism
2.10 Summary
3 Introduction to infancy
3.1 Prenatal development
3.2 Newborn infants
3.3 Sitting, standing and walking
3.4 Development of hand control
3.5 Hearing, smell, taste and vision
3.6 Summary
4 Cognitive development in infancy
4.1 The development of categorisation
4.2 Object processing
4.3 Understanding numerosity
4.4 Core knowledge
4.5 Summary
5 Early language development
5.1 Development of speech perception
5.2 Development of babbling
5.3 Social context of early language development
5.4 Early vocabulary: understanding words
5.5 Learning to say words
5.6 Summary
6 Social and emotional development in infancy
6.1 Recognising other people
6.2 Imitating other people
6.3 Smiling and social recognition
6.4 Development of attachment
6.5 Development of the self-concept
6.6 Responding to emotions
6.7 Summary
7 Introduction to the preschool years
7.1 Brain development
7.2 Motor development
7.3 Drawing
7.4 Summary
8 Cognitive development in the preschool years
8.1 Piaget’s theory of pre-operational reasoning
8.2 Criticisms of Piaget’s tests of pre-operational thinking
8.3 Problem solving
8.4 Reasoning by analogy
8.5 Appearance, fantasy and reality
8.6 Social cognition and theory of mind
8.7 Summary
9 Language development in the preschool years
9.1 Theoretical accounts of language development
9.2 Early word combinations
9.3 The beginnings of grammar
9.4 Experimental studies of early grammatical understanding
9.5 Specific language impairment
9.6 Language disorder and language disadvantage
9.7 Summary
10 Social and emotional development in the preschool years
10.1 Friendships and peer interaction
10.2 Social problem solving
10.3 Gender development
10.4 Understanding the self
10.5 Play, imagination and pretence
10.6 Development of trust
10.7 Summary
11 Introduction to middle childhood
11.1 Motor skills
11.2 Brain development
11.3 Developmental disorders
11.4 Summary
12 Cognitive development in middle childhood
12.1 Reasoning
12.2 Problem solving
12.3 Working memory
12.4 Learning to do mathematics
12.5 Summary
13 Literacy
13.1 Learning to read
13.2 Learning to write
13.3 Difficulties in learning to read and write
13.4 Summary
14 Social and emotional development in middle childhood
14.1 Interacting with peers
14.2 Moral development
14.3 Emotional development
14.4 Gender development
14.5 Summary
15 Introduction to adolescence
15.1 The paradox of adolescence
15.2 Brain development in adolescence
15.3 Pubertal and maturational changes in adolescence
15.4 A cross-cultural perspective on adolescence
15.5 Summary
16 Cognitive development in adolescence
16.1 Piaget’s theory of formal operational reasoning
16.2 Criticisms of Piaget’s theory
16.3 The development of executive function
16.4 Summary
17 Social and emotional development in adolescence
17.1 Moral reasoning
17.2 Relationships
17.3 Gender differences in adolescent friendships
17.4 Conflict and aggression
17.5 Gender roles in the family
17.6 Summary
References
Key terms
Author index
Subject index