Developmental Psychology

Book excerpt: The fourth edition of Developmental Psychology: *illuminates substantive phenomena in development; *applies to the entire life span; *has relevance to everyday life; and *is comprehensively revised and updated. This textbook has been updated from the third edition to include the current status of scholarly efforts in all aspects of developmental psychology. Its purposes are to furnish inclusive developmental perspectives on major substantive areas in psychology and the substantial differences that underscore the dynamic and exciting status of contemporary developmental psychology. Developmental psychology is a major subdiscipline in its own right, with its own history and systems, perspectives, and methodologies. These perspectives, traditions, and approaches are thoroughly introduced and reviewed. In addition, many aspects of developmental psychology have obvious and immediate relevance to real-world issues and problems. Each chapter in this book exemplifies the relevance of developmental psychology through reviews of the history, theory, and substance of the subdiscipline.