Understanding Human Development

Studying Human Development.- PART A: THE BEGINNING OF LIFE Bodies and Brains.- Infant Minds: Perception, Inference and Understanding in the First 18 Months.- Growing Emotions: Social and Personal Development in the First 18 Months.- PART B: COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT FROM INFANCY TO ADULTHOOD Language.- Reasoning and Conceptual Understanding.- Memory, Problem-Solving and Mechanisms of Cognitive Development.- Individual Differences in Cognition.- PART C: SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT FROM INFANCY TO ADULTHOOD Overview.- Understanding Other People.- Personality and Identity.- Social Relationships.- Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour.- A FINAL COMMENT .- Toward a New View of Development.

STEPHANIE THORNTON, formerly Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex, UK, has researched and taught on developmental psychology for over 25 years. Her research has covered a broad range of topics in social and cognitive development, with a particular focus on the mechanism through which new ideas and new understanding develop in children's minds. She is the author of Children Solving Problems (Harvard 1995) and Growing Minds (Palgrave 2002).

'Thornton deftly draws us into the many intellectual puzzles that confront developmental psychologists. She communicates a vivid sense of the discipline's major achievements, but without neglecting the complexities and caveats that a sophisticated understanding of the field requires.' - Mark Bennett, Professor of Development Psychology, University of Dundee, UK, Editor of Infant and Child Development 'This refreshing introduction successfully integrates a wide variety of literatures. Thornton has done an excellent job framing this text in terms of broad developmental questions, and has created a text that is both engaging and provocative.' - Jessica Giles, Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, USA 'A thorough and truly accessible review of developmental psychology as it has unfolded over past two centuries. This text is a remarkable achievement.' - Catherine O'Hanlon, Lecturer in Developmental Psychology, Newcastle University, UK '...a comprehensive and rigorous review covering not only the classic issues of cognitive and social development, but many more pragmatic topics...' - Pete Henshaw, SecEd (The Voice for Secondary Education) 'Given the range, scope and complexity of child and human psychological development, any textbook on this subject is a massive undertaking...Stephanie Thornton is to be congratulated on tackling this as a single author. Understanding Human Development covers topics in more depth, and more recent research is included. In addition, the style is more thoughtful, intelligent comments are made, and the complexities and uncertainties are made apparent to the reader. I think Understanding Human Development is a much better buy for UK students who want to produce better-informed essays.' - Times Higher Education Textbook Guide, May 2008