On the other hand, accommodation is creating space in a body of knowledge to insert new information. A child accommodates new words such as horse and cat and understands that not all animals with four legs and a tail are dogs. New schemas are created in the child's mind to organize this information. Assimilating involves using old knowledge to understand new situations, while accommodation involves redesigning old knowledge and understandings to include new knowledge. Critical Periods in Development The text is very clear and readable. The content and presentation is very clean, which makes it easy to understand.

This strategy entails collecting data from people of various ages simultaneously. Cross-sectional studies are beneficial for comparing features among people of different ages in a community or obtaining data for future studies and research. This research method is less time-consuming than longitudinal research because no participant follow-up is required. It is also less costly. Cohort-Sequential Research The most important aspect of contextualism as a paradigm is that the three systems of influence work together to affect development. Concerning adolescent development, the age-graded influences would help to explain the similarities within a cohort, the history-graded influences would help to explain the differences between cohorts, and the nonnormative influences would explain the idiosyncrasies of each adolescent’s individual development. When all influences are considered together, it provides a broader explanation of an adolescent’s development. Other Contextual Influences on Development: Cohort, Socioeconomic Status, and Culture It is important to realize that even those people who have the most sophisticated, post-conventional reasons for some choices may make other choices for the simplest of pre-conventional reasons. Many psychologists agree with Kohlberg’s theory of moral development but point out that moral reasoning is very different from moral behavior. Sometimes what we say we would do in a situation is not what we actually do in that situation. In other words, we might “talk the talk,” but not “walk the walk.” Erikson proposed that we are motivated by a need to achieve competence in certain areas of our lives. According to psychosocial theory, we experience eight stages of development over our lifespan, from infancy through late adulthood. At each stage there is a conflict, or task, that we need to resolve. Successful completion of each developmental task results in a sense of competence and a healthy personality. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy.According to Erikson (1963), trust is the basis of our development during infancy (birth to 12 months). Therefore, the primary task of this stage is trust versus mistrust. Infants are dependent upon their caregivers, so caregivers who are responsive and sensitive to their infant’s needs help their baby to develop a sense of trust; their baby will see the world as a safe, predictable place. Unresponsive caregivers who do not meet their baby’s needs can engender feelings of anxiety, fear, and mistrust; their baby may see the world as unpredictable. Kohlberg identified three levels of moral reasoning: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional: Each level is associated with increasingly complex stages of moral development. In Piaget’s view, around the same time children develop object permanence, they also begin to exhibit stranger anxiety, which is a fear of unfamiliar people. Babies may demonstrate this by crying and turning away from a stranger, by clinging to a caregiver, or by attempting to reach their arms toward familiar faces such as parents. Stranger anxiety results when a child is unable to assimilate the stranger into an existing schema; therefore, she can’t predict what her experience with that stranger will be like, which results in a fear response. SAGE Vantage is an intuitive digital platform that delivers this text’s content and course materials in a learning experience that offers auto-graded assignments and interactive multimedia tools, all carefully designed to ignite student engagement and drive critical thinking. Built with you and your students in mind, it offers simple course set-up and enables students to better prepare for class. Learn more.

There are ten (10) units to this text, and each unit includes sub-sections highlighting major concepts within the specific developmental stage/topic. Overall, the text within each unit is internally consistent in terms of the use of terminology and the frameworks that are explored. As you go through each stage of development, the terminology and frameworks continue to be consistent with what was mentioned in previous units, while building on the stages of development. For example, the theories of Freud, Erikson, Piaget, and Kohlberg are mentioned throughout the units. The text covered all areas and ideas appropriately. Although several concepts and terms were defined, inclusion of a glossary would be more informative. The text covers most areas of subjects effectively and appropriately. Content is accurate and cites current literature. Important topics relating to each age group are used to exemplify theory and applications. The chapters are condensed, but the material seems up-to-date and relevant. Research is mainly current, or at least within the past few years. Much of the material is consistent with a publisher textbook.

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Understand the three major issues in development: continuity and discontinuity, one common course of development or many unique courses of development, and nature versus nurture

Plasticity denotes intrapersonal variability and focuses heavily on the potentials and limits of the nature of human development. The notion of plasticity emphasizes that there are many possible developmental outcomes and that the nature of human development is much more open and pluralistic than originally implied by traditional views; there is no single pathway that must be taken in an individual’s development across the lifespan. Plasticity is imperative to current research because the potential for intervention is derived from the notion of plasticity in development. Undesired development or behaviors could potentially be prevented or changed.

Please take a few minutes to view this brief video demonstrating different children’s ability to understand object permanence. This textbook follows a typical flow for it’s type. All of the content is relevant and is predicted to remain relevant for years to come. It’s nice to see an updated version (2021) with updated materials. Early Childhood Stage: the preschool years from birth to six years old. Experts say that this phase is crucial in human development since it can determine overall life outcomes. This source covers most of the essentials, including historically significant theory and concepts. However, it does not have the detail in newly published statistics, etc. that I am used to in the textbooks I have used for this course. It is especially weak in coverage of the physical aspects of development and factors related to them, except in certain age groups (i.e. infancy, puberty, late adulthood). It has a long section on gender covered in middle childhood, though I noticed few citiations of newly published research sources; did have some article links.

Middle Childhood Stage: Children between the ages of six to 12 display greater control and mastery of body movements and motor skills. They learn how to reason better and adapt their thoughts to different situations. The organization of the book is clear with a consistent flow. The table of contents helps students understand specifically what will be covered, compared to the more general developmental stage. History of Developmental Psychology: Socialization and Personality Development through the Life Span The textbook does well in highlighting various lifespan developmental methodologies, while staying relevant with the intended audience by providing case studies and examples. Each unit contains links to videos, PDFs, journal articles, and other interactive elements. This appears to be one of the strengths of this text, as it allows for ongoing updates and additions to each unit.

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A contextual perspective emphasizes how individual factors combined with the places, sociocultural environments, and ways in which we are raised influence who we become and how we grow and change throughout the lifespan. Impactful Career Connections featuring 35 careers rooted in developmental science, cover career pathways for students and highlight career contexts to consider at every stage of life.