The Development of Children

by Lightfoot, Cynthia; Cole, Michael; Cole, Sheila R.

• ISBN13: 9781429202251
• ISBN10: 1429202254
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-12-08
• Publisher: Worth Publishers

Summary

Like no other text,The Development of Childrentells the story of how biological and cultural processes intertwine over the course of childhood. Building on the legacy of Michael and Sheila Cole, and now under the lead authorship of Cynthia Lightfoot, this acclaimed textbook enters an exciting new era, bringing an integrated biocultural perspective to the teaching and learning of childdevelopment.Within the chronological organization of the book, you will find a continued emphasis on contemporary research, biology and the brain, the linking of theory to practice, and the emphasis on cultural issues that have earned the textbook enthusiastic support edition after edition. But you will also find a fresh new vision and voice. This thoroughly revised text guides students through the latest scholarship on the biological and cultural processes that frame the interacting physical, cognitive, social, and emotional domains of development.

Author Biography

Cynthia Lightfoot is Professor and Head of Human Development and Family Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, Brandywine. Her published works focus on the sociocultural contexts of child and adolescent development, most recently, on teen pregnancy, identity development, and youth culture. Lightfoot has served on the editorial boards of Culture and Psychology and Cognitive Development, and as Vice President of the Jean Piaget Society. Her interest in children and adolescents was fueled by experiences working with emotionally disturbed and autistic children in schools and as a child development specialist in a program for teenage mothers.

Michael Cole is an all-University of California Professor of Psychology, Communication, and Human Development. His home base is University of California, San Diego, where he is the Director of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition. For many years he spent his afternoons participating with children and undergraduates in development-enhancing after-school programs. He is an editor of the journal Mind, Culture and Activity. He has published widely on the role of culture and schooling in development for which he has been awarded honorary degrees at Copenhagen University and the University of Helsinki. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academies of Education (of the United States and Russia).

Sheila Cole is a former journalist who specialized in writing about families, children, development, and education. She is also a children's writer. Her most recent book offers a history of American childhood and is written for young people. She has also authored picture books, historical fiction, and novels for young adults. She participates in literacy programs for homeless adolescents.

Table of Contents

The Study of Human Development

Developmental Science Children, Society, and Science

The Central Issues of Developmental Science

Theories of Development Methods for Studying

Development Looking Ahead

Box: High-Tech Research on Brain Function

Box: Understanding the Causes and Correlations of Children’s Behavior and Development

In the Field

Probing the Mysteries of Learning

Part I

Biocultural Foundations

Inheriting Culture Biological Inheritance

The Coevolution of Culture and Biology Retracing the Laetoli Footsteps

In the Field: Doctor of Plain People

Box: Genetic Counseling

Prenatal Development and Birth

Periods of Prenatal Development

Environmental Conditions and Prenatal Development Teratogens

Environmental Sources of Birth Defects Birth

The Newborn's Condition Beginning the Parent–Child Relationship

In the Field: Reclaiming Birth—Midwifery in the Inuit Villages of Northern Canada

Infancy

The First Three Months

Physical Growth

Brain Development Sensing the Environment

The Organization of Behavior Temperament

Becoming Coordinated with the Social World Summing Up the First 3 Months

In the Field: Baby-Friendly Hospitals

Box: Sleeping Arrangements

Box: Sudden Infant Death

Physical and Cognitive Development in the First Two Years

Physical Growth

Brain Development

Motor Development

Cognitive Development

The Great Debate Sensorimotor Development

Conceptual Development

The Growth of Attention and Memory Summary and Implications

Box: Brainy Babies

In the Field: The Diaper-Free Movement

Emotional and Social Development

During Infancy

The Nature of Infant Emotions and Emotional Expressions

The Infant–Caregiver Emotional Relationship

The Changing Nature of Communication

A Sense of Self Developing

Trust and Autonomy

Summary and Implications

Box: Attachment to Fathers

Box: Out-of-Home Care

A Threat to Attachment?

In the Field: Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder

Early Childhood

Language Acquisition

The Power of Language Keys to the World of Language

The Basic Domains of Language Acquisition

Explanations of Language Acquisition

Reconsidering the Keys of Language

Box: Children Creating a Language

Box: Bilingual Language Acquisition

In the Field: A Speech-Language Pathologist in Vietnam

Physical and Cognitive Development of Early Childhood

Physical and Motor Development Preoperational

Development Information-Processing Approaches to Cognitive Development

Cognitive Development in Privileged Domains

Cognitive Development and Culture Reconciling

Alternative Approaches

Box: Bearing Witness

Can Young Children Tell the Truth?

In the Field: Supporting Siblings of Children with Autism

Social and Emotional Development in Early Childhood

Acquiring a Social and Personal Identity

A New Moral World Developing Self-Regulation

Understanding Aggression Developing Prosocial Behaviors

Taking One’s Place in the Social Group

In the Field: Coping with Illness

Box: Spanking

Contexts of Development

The Family Context

Nonparental Child Care

Neighborhoods and Communities Media Contexts

Contexts, Risks, and Resilience

Box: Fathers

In the Field: Swamp Nurse

Box: Children and War

Middle Childhood

Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

Physical and Motor Development

Concrete Operational Development Information-Processing

Approaches to Cognitive Development

The Role of Social and Cultural Contexts

Individual Differences in Cognitive Development

Reconsidering the Cognitive Changes in Middle Childhood

In the Field: The Edible Schoolyard

Thinking Outside the Lunchbox

School as a Context for Development

The Co

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