Early Experience and Human Development

✍ Scribed by Theodore D. Wachs, Gerald E. Gruen (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 303
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Our goal in writing this book was to fill a perceived gap in the early experi­ ence literature. Most existing volumes on early experience and development can be dichotomized on a basic versus an applied dimension. Volumes falling on the basic side are designed for researchers and theoreticians in the biomed­ ical and behavioral sciences. Most existing basic volumes are either primarily based on infrahuman data or are based on single major human studies. In going over these volumes, we are not convinced of the generality of infrahu­ man data to the human level; in addition, we were concerned about the replicability of findings from single studies, however well designed these studies were. As a result, the relevance of data from these volumes to applied human problems is quite limited. In contrast, volumes falling on the applied side are designed primarily for those involved in intervention work with infants and young children. These applied books generally tend to be vague and nonempirical compilations of the views of experts and the collective "wisdom of the ages. " Rarely in applied volumes do we find conclusions based on solid, consistent, empirical findings.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Introduction....Pages 1-16
The Study of Early Experience....Pages 17-40
The Physical Environment and Its Relationship to Cognitive-Intellectual Development....Pages 41-64
The Social Environment and Its Relationship to Cognitive-Intellectual Development....Pages 65-102
Early Experience and Cognitive-Intellectual Development....Pages 103-120
The Earliest Social Experiences and Their Effect on Social Development....Pages 121-144
The Socialization of Young Children....Pages 145-166
The Relationship between Social and Cognitive Development....Pages 167-183
The Nature of Early Environmental Action....Pages 185-208
Early Experience and Development....Pages 209-250
Back Matter....Pages 251-297

✦ Subjects

Humanities, general