Children’s Thinking: Cognitive Development and Individual Differences (with InfoTrac)

A comprehensive book supported by extensive research studies and data, Bjorklund's text presents the broadest coverage of topics in cognitive development. Unlike other books, Bjorklund shows readers how developmental function can help explain individual differences in cognition by covering both the typical pattern of change in thinking observed over time and the individual differences in children's thinking in infancy and childhood. A major theme of this book is the continuous transaction between the child embedded in a social world: although a child is born prepared to make some sense of the world, his or her mind is also shaped by forces in the physical and social environment.

David F. Bjorklund is Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University, where he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in developmental psychology since 1976. He received a B.A. degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts in 1971, an M.A. degree in psychology from the University of Dayton in 1973, and a Ph.D. degree in developmental psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976. He has received numerous teaching and research awards from Florida Atlantic University, and is the recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award. He has co-authored several books. Bjorklund has served as Associate Editor of CHILD DEVELOPMENT, published by the Society for Research in Child Development, has served on the editorial boards of DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW, COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW, JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY, JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT, JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY, and SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY QUARTERLY, and has served as a contributing editor to PARENTS MAGAZINE. He has published more than 100 scholarly articles on various topics relating to child development and has received financial support for his research from the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the German Research Foundation. His current research interests include children's cognitive development, cognitive developmental primatology, and evolutionary developmental psychology.