Synopsis
This topically organized, research-based text covers the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial aspects of human development, with attention to all periods of the life span. Its topical organization makes this text a truly unique alternative to traditional, chronologically organized development texts. By combining the best of the topical and chronological approaches, the authors are able to present life-span development as a motion picture rather than as a series of individual snapshots, thus preserving the integrity of the life-span development concept. Although in the Second Edition the basic perspective remains unchanged, the authors have sharpened the focus on themes such as the importance of the fit between person and environment, and added emphasis on cultural and subcultural diversity in development. Because of the complexity of many of the issues in human development, Sigelman and Shaffer have aimed for a book that is highly readable and yet scholarly. Through careful organization, real life examples, a clear and straightforward writing style, apt use of concrete examples and analogies, and a focus on the relevance of materials to students lives, the authors have made even the most complex topics accessible to their readers.
About the Authors
Carol K. Sigelman (Ph.D., George Peabody College for Teachers at Vanderbilt University) is professor of psychology at The George Washington University and until recently associate vice president for research and graduate studies and then graduate studies and academic affairs there. She earned her bachelor's degree from Carleton College and a double-major doctorate in English and psychology from George Peabody College for Teachers. She has also been on the faculty at Texas Tech University, Eastern Kentucky University (where she won her college's Outstanding Teacher Award), and the University of Arizona. She has taught courses in child, adolescent, adult, and life-span development and has published research on such topics as the communication skills of individuals with developmental disabilities, the development of stigmatizing reactions to children and adolescents who are different, and children's emerging understandings of diseases and psychological disorders. Through a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, she and her colleagues studied children's intuitive theories of AIDS and developed and evaluated a curriculum to correct their misconceptions and convey the facts of HIV infection. With a similar grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, she explored children's and adolescents' understandings of the effects of alcohol and drugs on body, brain, and behavior. For fun, she enjoys hiking, biking, discovering good movies, and communing with her cats.
David Shaffer is a professor of psychology, chair of the Social Psychology program, and past chair of the Life-Span Developmental Psychology program at the University of Georgia, where he has taught courses in human development to graduate and undergraduate students for the past 30 years. His many research articles have concerned such topics as altruism, attitudes and persuasion, moral development, sex roles and social behavior, self-disclosure, and social psychology and the law. He has also served as associate editor for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Bulletin, and Journal of Personality. In 1990, Dr. Shaffer received the Josiah Meigs award for Excellence in Instruction, the University of Georgia's highest instructional honor.
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