Infancy

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Since its first publication in 1988, Infancy has established itself as a leading introduction to the field, However, the past five years have seen a rapid expansion in research, and this new edition has been fully updated and expanded to take account of this new work.

Assuming little or no prior knowledge of the subject, Infancy presents a complete picture of our current understanding of the development of infants, their knowledge and understanding of the world from birth or before to their second birthday. In dealing in turn with motor development, the development of perception and cognition, and social development, the book follows a conventional pattern. At the same time, the author points to the ways in which the distinctions between perceptual, cognitive and social development are to an extent arbitrary and how they stand in the way of evolving an adequate account of infancy. A number of competing theoretical approaches emerge, and the author presents a framework that aims to capture the best elements of these apparently diverse approaches.

This new edition has been considerably expanded and contains discussion of over 260 further studies. Major additions include new sections on self concept theory and theory of mind, on reaching and grasping, on dynamic systems theory, as well as new material on cognitive precursors of language and object knowledge in early infancy.