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UNIT 1. Conception to Birth
1. The End of Nature Versus Nurture, Frans B. M. de Waal, Scientific American, December 1999
This famed scholar explores the nature-nurture debate, and argues that the two interact to shape human development and behavior. Different psychological theories and historical influences are discussed, as is the author’s prediction that evolutionary psychology will itself evolve to take better account of cultural influences.
2. Making Time for a Baby, Nancy Gibbs, Time, April 15, 2002
Advances in fertility technology are giving couples the chance to have children at later ages. Nancy Gibbs discusses the increased risk of problems such as miscarriage and chromosomal abnormalities of late-in-life babies.
3. The Mystery of Fetal Life: Secrets of the Womb, John Pekkanen, Current, September 2001
John Pekkanen describes the many potential threats to the fetus’s well-being, including the mother’s diet, drug use, caffeine, and environmental hazards. The fetus’s ability to learn and remember is impressive, but the author argues that parents can risk overstimulating the fetus.
UNIT 2. Cognition, Language, and Learning
Part A. Early Cognitive and Physical Development
4. The Quest for a Super Kid, Jeffrey Kluger and Alice Park, Time, April 30, 2001
More than ever, parents seem eager to help their children become smarter and smarter at earlier ages. This article addresses some of the myths of early cognitive development and investigates parental guilt.
5. Long-Term Recall Memory: Behavioral and Neuro-Developmental Changes in the First 2 Years of Life, Patricia J. Bauer, Current Directions in Psychological Science, August 2002
This leading scientist describes research demonstrating that babies have long-term memory to recall past events well before their verbal skills develop. Babies’ memory skills may be based in their brain development.
6. Evolution and Developmental Sex Differences, David C. Geary, Current Directions in Psychological Science, August 1999
David Geary uses an evolutionary framework and Darwinian principles to predict and understand sex differences in childhood in behaviors such as social development, play, and sexual selection. The influence of culture is also considered.
7. Categories in Young Children’s Thinking, Susan A. Gelman, Young Children, January 1998
Susan Gelman’s review of research by several prominent developmentalists describes how children’s thinking about the world is strongly influenced by the categories that they are able to create and use. Children’s thinking is also discussed in terms of the child’s ability to distinguish appearance from reality, to understand the orderliness and naturalness of biological growth, and to use words and names as a guide for making inferences.
8. Do Young Children Understand What Others Feel, Want, and Know?, Angeline Lillard and Stephanie Curenton, Young Children, September 1999
When do children understand the minds of others? The authors describe research showing the emergence of young children’s intuitive or folk psychology, and discuss how parents and the culture can influence children’s understanding of others.
9. Giftedness: Current Theory and Research, Ellen Winner, Current Directions in Psychological Science, October 2000
Gifted children generate interesting questions for us. Are they born that way? If children are gifted in one domain, are they gifted in others? How important is the environment and “practice, practice, practice”? Ellen Winner addresses these issues and concludes that we do not yet know whether nature or nurture matters more in the creation of giftedness.
Part B. Learning in School
10. The First Seven … and the Eighth: A Conversation With Howard Gardner, Kathy Checkley, Educational Leadership, September 1997
Howard Gardner defines intelligence and explains his theory of multiple intelligences. In this interview, he adds a new one—naturalist intelligence—and describes how multiple intelligences are related to teaching and learning.
11. How Should Reading Be Taught?, Keith Rayner, Barbara R. Foorman, Charles A. Perfetti, David Pesetsky, and Mark S. Seidenberg, Scientific American, March 2002
The scientists discuss the long-standing debate between “phonics” and “whole-language” approaches to teaching reading. The authors also discuss issues such as IQ and spelling errors. Their evidence supports the more traditional phonics approach as more effective.
12. Where the Boys Are, Cathy Young, Reason, February 2001
After decades of outcry that “schools shortchange girls,” social scientists, educators, and parents are now considering how boys may get the short end of the educational stick and be at risk in many ways.
UNIT 3. Social and Emotional Development
Part A. The Child’s Feelings: Emotional Development
13. Emotional Intelligence: What the Research Says, Casey D. Cobb and John D. Mayer, Educational Leadership, November 2000
Success in life may have more to do with how we understand ourselves and others, whether we have empathy, and how well we interact with others. This emotional intelligence—EQ—is more important than IQ, some say, and the authors present the debate on whether EQ really exists, how it is measured, and whether it can be taught in schools.
Part B. Entry Into the Social World: Peers, Play, and Popularity
14. What Ever Happened to Play?, Walter Kirn and Wendy Cole, Time, April 30, 2001
Children’s lives—like their parents’—are more structured and more organized than ever. Can the “overscheduled child” suffer from “play deprivation” in a culture where corporate America is marketing edutainment and schools are doing away with recess?
15. Gender and Group Process: A Developmental Perspective, Eleanor E. Maccoby, Current Directions in Psychological Science, April 2002
This prominent psychologist describes how much of children’s gender socialization occurs within same-sex social groups. Interestingly, many sex-related qualities and behaviors emerge within a group setting more than when children are alone.
16. Girls Just Want to Be Mean, Margaret Talbot, The New York Times.com, February 24, 2002
Schoolrooms have different cliques of children, and this article describes girls’ cliques: Queen Bees, Alpha Girls, and the Really Mean Girls. Though boys are often viewed as the more aggressive sex because of their overt physical aggression, research is discussed on verbal and interpersonal aggression that is more common in girls.
17. Bullying Among Children, Janis R. Bullock, Childhood Education, Spring 2002
Bullying begins early in life and is, according to data, a nationwide problem. Janis Bullock discusses research on characteristics of bullies and their victims and the impact of this behavior on children’s development. Recommendations for working with bullies at school are offered.
UNIT 4. Parenting and Family Issues
18. Contemporary Research on Parenting: The Case for Nature and Nurture, W. Andrew Collins, Eleanor E. Maccoby, Laurence Steinberg, E. Mavis Hetherington, and Marc H. Bornstein, American Psychologist, February 2000
This distinguished team of leading developmental psychologists summarizes research on parenting related to the interaction of nature and nurture, children’s temperament, and the roles of peers and the neighborhood.
19. What Matters? What Does Not? Five Perspectives on the Association Between Marital Transitions and Children’s Adjustment, E. Mavis Hetherington, Margaret Bridges, and Glendessa M. Insabella, American Psychologist, February 1998
This review of research addresses children’s adjustment to divorce, life in stepfamilies, and relations to stepparents. The authors also discuss children’s characteristics that influence their adjustments to their parents’ divorces and remarriages.
20. Who’s in Charge Here?, Nancy Gibbs, Time, August 6, 2001
All parents struggle with discipline and control issues. Nancy Gibbs discusses attitudes about children and parenting that may have created monsters in some families, or at least spoiled children in too many. Many parents are rethinking their ways.
21. American Child Care Today, Sandra Scarr, American Psychologist, February 1998
A leading scholar on day care presents extensive information on the socioeconomics and politics of early child care. Sandra Scarr also summarizes research on the effects of child care on children’s social, academic, and emotional development.
22. Do Working Parents Make the Grade?, Ellen Galinsky, Newsweek, August 30, 1999
Ellen Galinsky offers an interesting article on family life from the child’s perspective, asking children about family values and having children grade their mothers and fathers on many aspects of parenting.
23. The Moral Development of Children, William Damon, Scientific American, August 1999
William Damon, a prominent developmental psychologist, discusses the origins of morality, the universality of values, and the key role that parents play in promoting their children’s moral development.
UNIT 5. Cultural and Societal Influences
Part A. Social Issues
24. Tomorrow’s Child, Jerry Adler, Newsweek, November 2, 1998
Jerry Adler presents historical evidence on various aspects of development, from family life, to technology and education, to religion and the media.
25. Getting Stupid, Bernice Wuethrich, Discover, March 2001
Teenagers drink, and their brains suffer because of it. Adolescents’ alcohol consumption has many negative effects, including the loss of brain cells and impaired memory and intellectual functioning.
26. How U.S. Children and Adolescents Spend Time: What It Does (and Doesn’t) Tell Us About Their Development, Reed W. Larson, Current Directions in Psychological Science, October 2001
Children have a lot of free time. Reed Larson analyzes data from different countries to compare the time American youths spend on schoolwork, jobs, leisure, sports, volunteer activities, and media. How children use their time may promote the development of different skills and values.
27. Parents or Pop Culture? Children’s Heroes and Role Models, Kristin J. Anderson and Donna Cavallaro, Childhood Education, Spring 2002
The media offer children countless role models in television programs, music, movies, and comic books. Interesting differences emerged when the authors surveyed African American, Asian American, Latino, and White children on whether children admire people they know—parents, for example—or media figures.
Part B. Special Challenges
28. The Effects of Poverty on Children, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Greg J. Duncan, The Future of Children, Summer/Fall 1997
The authors offer detailed research findings on the relationship between poverty and children’s outcomes in physical, emotional, and cognitive development and in school achievement.
29. Scars That Won’t Heal: The Neurobiology of Child Abuse, Martin H. Teicher, Scientific American, March 2002
Martin Teicher describes evidence on the effects of abuse on the child’s brain development, especially on the hippocampus and amygdala. Long-term effects on the child’s personality and antisocial behavior are also discussed.
30. The Early Origins of Autism, Patricia M. Rodier, Scientific American, February 2000
Autism is a puzzling disorder that includes social withdrawal, language delays, and interpersonal and emotional deficits. Patricia Rodier offers an in-depth discussion on genetic and neurobiological factors in autism.
31. Voices of the Children: We Beat and Killed People, Tom Masland, Newsweek, May 13, 2002
In a tragedy seen around the world, children in many countries carry arms and fight as soldiers. Tom Maslind talked with some of these child soldiers, and also reports on efforts by the United Nations Special Session on Children to take children out of harm’s way.
