Synopsis:
This book uses a chronological approach to present development across the life span, drawing on the psychosocial theory of Erik Erikson to provide a conceptual framework. The authors address physical, intellectual, social, and emotional growth in all life stages, focusing on the idea that development results from the interdependence of these areas at every stage, and placing special emphasis on optimal development through life.
About This Edition
New Features
- Retaining the basic structure and positive developmental emphasis of previous editions, the Eleventh Edition is fine-tuned to be even more clear, readable, and thought-provoking, while still capturing the complexities and novel concepts that make the study of human development so fascinating.
- New research findings and recent census data are integrated throughout this completely updated edition.
- Many new discussions have been added, including technology's influences on the societal system, evolutionary theory and William James's theory of consciousness, adoption as an alternative to childbearing, the fact that toddlers aren't getting enough physical activity to support optimal physical development, the relationship between playing violent video games and moral development, the reduction in unstructured child-initiated play time, how sibling relationships influence social development, and ways to help socially anxious children increase their sense of closeness to friends.
- Other new discussions cover early adolescence as a time of positive strides toward maturity, the interaction of cognition and emotion and how the brain processes emotions, how hostile and aggressive parenting can lead to increased feelings of alienation for early adolescent children, four contexts for predicting alcohol misuse (parents, peers, school, neighborhood), the concept of career decision-making self efficacy, the rationale for calling the stage later adolescence rather than emerging adulthood, and role experimentation as a cycling of commitment formation and commitment reevaluation.
- Additional new content explains how the transition into adulthood has changed, speed dating and online dating as new ways of finding a partner, the communal norm and the exchange norm as explanations for how relationships are sustained in the early years of marriage, workers who experience hostility from their supervisors, an international comparison of poverty rates in 21 countries (noting the relatively limited resources dedicated to workers in the United States), online social networking, and, in a new section, the benefits of sleep in early adulthood.
- Coverage of middle adulthood includes new discussions of sex discrimination, age discrimination, race discrimination, and sexual harassment; and elder-hood coverage includes new discussions of insomnia, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis.
Additional Features
- Two chapters are devoted to the theories of development: one focuses on the major theorists such as Piaget and Vygotsky, and a second is devoted to the psychosocial theories of Erikson and Havighurst that are used in the rest of the book.
- Every chapter helps to guide student study with a chapter-opening outline and brief list of objectives, an integrated case study with accompanying analysis and critical-thinking questions, an Applied Topic, a chapter-ending summary organized by learning objectives, Questions for Further Reflection, and specific references to the optional Life-Span Development: A Case Book that is available with the main text.
- The authors' organizing conceptual framework of psychosocial theory highlights the continuous interaction and integration of individual competencies with the demands and resources of culture. Psychosocial theory attempts to explain human development across the life span, especially patterned change in ego development, which is reflected in self-understanding, social relationships, and worldview.
- One or more case studies in each chapter, accompanied by Critical Thinking and Case Analysis questions, illuminate concepts.
- A strong multicultural perspective--including discussions of cultural practices and reviews of cross-national and interethnic research--is interwoven throughout the text in the narrative, in application boxes, and in first-person accounts. The multicultural aspect of the text is a result of the psychosocial point of view, in which the social-cultural context of development is fundamental to the process of development.
Explore this title's supplements:
Study Guide for "Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach" (11th Edition)
Life-Span Development: A Case Book
Barbara M. Newman (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Rhode Island. She has also been on the faculty at Russell Sage College and The Ohio State University, where she served as department chair in Human Development and Family Science and as associate provost for Faculty Recruitment and Development. She teaches courses in life-span development, adolescence, family theories, and the research process. Also an active researcher, Dr. Newman's interests focus on parent-child relationships in early adolescence, factors that promote success in the transition to high school, and the use of the cohort sequential design as an approach to the study of development. Her research includes an analysis of the role of family, peer, and school support in the transition to high school (funded by the University of Rhode Island's Research Foundation). For fun, Newman enjoys reading, making up projects with her grandchildren, taking walks along Narragansett Bay and Block Island Sound, and spending time with her family.
Philip R. Newman (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is involved in research on the transition to high school as well as on group identity and alienation. His projects include an analysis of issues related to disrupted transitions in adolescence and early adulthood, and a book about how high schools can meet the psychosocial needs of adolescents. He has taught courses in introductory psychology, adolescence, social psychology, developmental psychology, counseling, and family, school, and community contexts for development. He served as the director for Research and Evaluation of the Young Scholars Program at The Ohio State University and as the director of the Human Behavior Curriculum Project for the American Psychological Association. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), and the American Orthopsychiatric Association. For fun, Newman enjoys photography, reading mysteries, attending concerts and Broadway plays, and watching baseball. He home schooled his three children through elementary and middle school. Together, the Newmans have worked on programs to bring low-income minority youths to college and to study the processes involved in their academic success. They are coauthors of 13 books, including a book on theories of human development, and numerous articles in the field of human development.
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