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The Developing Person Through the LifeSpan [with LaunchPad 1-Term Access Code]

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Edition after edition, Kathleen Berger's acclaimed bestseller, "The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence," re-establishes itself as the ideal chronologically organized textbook on child development. Exceptionally current, with a broad cultural perspective, the new edition is unmatched. It connects an evolving field shaped by fascinating new research and an evolving classroom shaped by powerful new media. But under the new findings and new media tools, the text's deepest connection with students comes from the captivating, compassionate, authorial voice of Kathleen Berger, which makes the core concepts of developmental psychology clear, compelling, and relevant to the full range of students taking the course. DSM 5 Updates
Available for Fall 2014 classes, this update version features new content from Kathleen Berger in response to the release of the DSM-5. This new content is integrated into the text without changing pagination or the structure of the chapters. A special DSM 5 Supplement by Berger is available for Fall 2013 and Spring and Summer 2014 courses. View the Page-Referenced Guide to the DSM-5 updates for "The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence."

787 pages, Unbound

First published August 1, 1983

89 people are currently reading
427 people want to read

About the author

Kathleen Stassen Berger

142 books9 followers

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
Profile Image for Roy Madrid.
163 reviews2 followers
April 5, 2021
Wow, a readable textbook. Covered all the make psychology topics they got the lifetime. I would find myself lost in the forest of examples and stories that didn’t always support the male learning objectives. Wouldn’t have it any other way though!
Profile Image for Sarah (TheLibrarysKeeper).
561 reviews13 followers
October 4, 2014
I read this book for my developmental psychology class. The book was really enjoyable to read and I actually didn't mind sitting down for a while with the book to read. I liked the authors writing style, because normally text books are bland and not fun to read, but this one was very entertaining.
Profile Image for Andy Cantrell.
456 reviews1 follower
December 3, 2024
I decided to read this textbook as I was teaching Human Development Across the Life Span at a college. Specifically, I read the 12th Edition, which includes the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic across all age cohorts.

Having read MANY textbooks and not always finishing them, I was surprised by just how readable and relateable this textbook is/was. The annecdotes and statistics were fascinating and got me to think about my own life and development, and ultimately, my death.

The instructor resources included many excellent activities that fostered seemingly endless class discussions about a wide variety of topics. Needless to say, the class was a hit, but more importantly, the textbook was actually useful!
111 reviews53 followers
June 20, 2020
No longer using this website, but I'm leaving up old reviews. Fuck Jeff Bezos. Find me on LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/profile/...

I read a good deal of this book for PY203 Human Growth and Development at Montgomery College, as a prerequisite for Nursing school.

The content of the book is geniunely interesting because it involves all of us. It is how we live and why we are the way we are at various chronological and developmental times. The content contained a ridiculous amount of in-paragraph sources, plenty of relevant anecdotes to ensure you could relate to the text, and well organized information.

The edition of the book that I had, however, was an enormous paperback book. 9 inches wide. 11 inches tall. An inch and a half thick, and perhaps 5 pounds. And not just five pounds of book, but five pounds of squirmy, bendy, annoying book. The book would wriggle its way into a roll at the bottom of my bookbag, making it uncomfortable to walk with. Also, because it was floppy and unsturdy, I had to have 18+ inches of space wherever I wanted to read it. Forget reading it while walking or on the crowded Metro on the way to class. For that matter, it was difficult to read on my desk. Why on earth would you make this a softcover book? It wasn't even cheap, but it sure did feel cheap.
Profile Image for Beatrice.
2 reviews
February 3, 2019
It's a psych book for my class there isn't much else to it

It's a class textbook, I needed it for my class or else I'm going to drop out and just die.
850 reviews88 followers
April 9, 2020
2015.06.01–2015.06.12

Contents

Berger KS (2008) Developing Person Through the Life Span, The (7e)

Preface

Part I: The Beginnings

01. Introduction
• Defining Development
• • Science
• • Diversity
• • Connections Between Change and Time
• Five Characteristics of Development
• • Multidirectional
• • Multicontextual
• • Multicultural
• • Issues and Applications: "My Name Wasn't Mary"
• • Multidisciplinary
• • Plasticity
• • A Case to Study: My Nephew David
• Developmental Study as a Science
• • Steps of the Scientific Method
• • Ways to Test Hypotheses
• • Studying Change over Time
• Cautions from Science
• • Correlation and Causation
• • Quantity and Quality
• • Ethics in Research

02. Theories of Development
• What Theories Do
• Grand Theories
• • Psychoanalytic Theory
• • Behaviorism
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: What's a Mother For?
• • Cognitive Theory
• Emergent Theories
• • Sociocultural Theory
• • Epigenetic Theory
• • In Person: My Beautiful, Hairless Babies
• What Theories Contribute
• • The Nature–Nurture Controversy
• • No Answers Yet

03. Heredity and Environment
• The Genetic Code
• • What Genes Are
• • The Beginnings of Life
• • Issues and Applications: Too Many Boys?
• From One Cell to Many
• • New Cells, New Functions
• • Gene–Gene Interactions
• • More Complications
• • In Person: "I Am Not Happy With Me"
• From Genotype to Phenotype
• • Addiction
• • Visual Acuity
• • Practical Applications
• Chromosomal and Genetic Abnormalities
• • Not Exactly 46 Chromosomes
• • Dominant-Gene Disorders
• • Recessive-Gene Disorders
• • Genetic Counseling and Testing
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: Who Decides?

04. Prenatal Development and Birth
• From Zygote to Newborn
• • Germinal: The First 14 Days
• • Embryo: From the Third Through the Eighth Week
• • Fetus: From the Ninth Week Until Birth
• Risk Reduction
• • Determining Risk
• • Protective Measures
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: On Punishing Pregnant Drinkers
• • Benefits of Prenatal Cure
• • A Case to Study: What Do People Live to Do?
• • A Case to Study: What Does That Say About Me?
• The Birth Process
• • The Newborn's First Minutes
• • Variations
• • Birth Complications
• • Social Support
• • A Case to Study: "You'd Throw Him in a Dumpster"
• • Postpartum Depression

Part II: The First Two Years

05. The First Two Years: Biosocial Development
• Body Changes
• • Body Size
• • Sleep
• Brain Development
• • Connections in the Brain
• • Necessary and Possible Experiences
• • Implications for Caregivers
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: Plasticity and Orphans
• Senses and Motor Skills
• • Sensation and Perception
• • Motor Skills
• • Ethnic Variations
• • In Person: The Normal Berger Babies
• Public Health Measures
• • Immunization
• • Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
• • Issues and Applications: Back to Sleep
• • Nutrition

06. The First Two Years: Cognitive Development
• Sensorimotor Intelligence
• • Stages One and Two: Primary Circular Reactions
• • Stages Three and Four: Secondary Circular Reactions
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: Object Permanence Revisited
• • Stages Five and Six: Tertiary Circular Reactions
• • Piaget and Research Methods
• Information Processing
• • Affordances
• • Memory
• Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?
• • The Universal Sequence
• • The Naming Explosion
• • Theories of Language Learning

07. The First Two Years: Psychosocial Development
• A Case to Study: Parents on Autopilot
• Emotional Development
• • Specific Emotions
• • Self-Awareness
• Theories About Infant Psychosocial Development
• • Psychoanalytic Theory
• • Behaviorism
• • Cognitive Theory
• • Epigenetic Theory
• • Sociocultural Theory
• • A Case to Study: "Let's Go to Grandma's"
• The Development of Social Bonds
• • Synchrony
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: The Still-Face Technique
• • Attachment
• • Social Referencing
• • Infant Day Care
• Conclusions in Theory and Practice

Part III: The Play Years

08. The Play Years: Biosocial Development
• Body Changes
• • Growth Patterns
• • Eating Habits
• Brain Development
• • Speed of Thought
• • Connecting the Brain's Hemispheres
• • Planning and Analyzing
• • Emotions and the Brain
• • Motor Skills
• Injuries and Abuse
• • Avoidable Injury
• • In Person: "My Baby Swallowed Poison"
• • Child Maltreatment
• • A Case to Study: A Series of Suspicious Events

09. The Play Years: Cognitive Development
• Piaget and Vygotsky
• • Piaget: Preoperational Thinking
• • Vygotsky: Social Learning
• Children's Theories
• • Theory-Theory
• • Theory of Mind
• Language
• • Vocabulary
• • In Person: "Mommy the Brat"
• • Grammar
• • Learning Two Languages
• Early-Childhood Education
• • Child-Centered Programs
• • Teacher-Directed Programs
• • Intervention Programs
• • Costs and Benefits

10. The Play Years: Psychosocial Development
• Emotional Development
• • Initiative Versus Guilt
• • Psychopathology
• • Empathy and Antipathy
• Parents
• • Parenting Style
• • Issues and Applications: Planning Punishment
• • The Challenge of Media
• Becoming Boys and Girls
• • Theories of Gender Difference
• • In Person: Berger and Freud
• • Gender and Destiny

Part IV: The School Years

11. The School Years: Biosocial Development
• A Healthy Time
• • Size and Shape
• • Physical Activity
• • Chronic Illness
• Brain Development
• • Advances in Brain Functioning
• • Measuring the Mind
• Children with Special Needs
• • A Case to Study: Billy: Dynamo or Dynamite?
• • Developmental Psychopathology
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: Overdosing and Underdosing
• • Educating Children with Special Needs

12. The School Years: Cognitive Development
• Building on Theory
• • Piaget and School-Age Children
• • Vygotsky and School-Age Children
• • Information Processing
• Language
• • Vocabulary and Pragmatics
• • Second-Language Learning
• • Issues and Applications: SES and Language Learning
• Teaching and Learning
• • Curriculum
• • The Outcome
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: International Achievement Tests
• • Education Wars and Assumptions
• • A Case to Study: When Did You Learn Tsunami?
• • Culture and Education

13. The School Years: Psychosocial Development
• The Peer Group
• • The Culture of Children
• • Children's Moral Codes
• • Social Acceptance
• • Bullies and Victims
• Families and Children
• • Shared and Nonshared Environment
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: "I Always Dressed One in Blue Stuff. . . "
• • Families Function and Dysfunction
• • Family Trouble
• The Nature of the Child
• • Psychoanalytic Theory
• • Self-Concept
• • Coping and Overcoming

Part V: Adolescence

14. Adolescence: Biosocial Development
• Puberty Begins
• • Hormones
• • When Will Puberty Start?
• • Too Early, Too Late
• • Nutrition
• The Transformations of Puberty
• • Growing Bigger and Stronger
• • Sexual Maturation
• • Brain Development
• • A Case to Study: What Were You Thinking?
• • Issues and Applications: Calculus at 8. A.M.?
• Possible Problems
• • Sex Too Soon
• • Drug Use and Abuse
• • Learning from Experience

15. Adolescence: Cognitive Development
• Adolescent Thinking
• • Egocentrism
• • In Person: Bethany and Jim
• • Formal Operational Thought
• • Intuitive, Emotional Thought
• • Better Thinking
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: Teenage Religion
• Teaching and Learning
• • Middle School: Less Learning
• • Technology and Cognition
• • Transition and Translations
• • Teaching and Learning in High School
• • Issues and Applications: Diversity of Nation, Gender, and Income

16. Adolescence: Psychosocial Development
• Identity
• • Not Yet Achieved
• • Four Arenas of Identity Achievement
• Relationships
• • Adults and Teenagers
• • Peer Support
• • In Person: The Berger Daughters Seek Peer Approval
• Sexuality
• • Before Committed Partnership
• • Learning About Sex
• • Sexual Behavior
• Sadness and Anger
• • Depression
• • Suicide
• • A Case to Study: He Kept His Worries to Himself
• • More Destructiveness
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: A Feminist Looks at the Data

Part VI: Emerging Adulthood

17. Emerging Adulthood: Biosocial Development
• Growth, Strength, and Health
• • Ages and Stages
• • Strong and Attractive Bodies
• • Bodies Designed for Health
• • Issues and Applications: Who Should Get the Bird Flu Shot?
• • Sexual Activity
• Habits and Risks
• • Exercise
• • Eating Well
• • A Case to Study: "Too Thin, As If That's Possible"
• • Taking Risks
• • Issues and Applications: What's Wrong with the Men?

18. Emerging Adulthood: Cognitive Development
• Postformal Thought
• • The Practical and the Personal: A Fifth Stage?
• • Cognitive Flexibility
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: Reducing Stereotype Threat
• • Dialectical Thought
• Morals and Religion
• • Which Era? What Place?
• • Issues and Applications: Clear Guidelines for Cheaters
• • Measuring Moral Growth
• • Stages of Faith
• • In Person: Faith and Tolerance
• Cognitive Growth and Higher Education
• • The Effects of College
• • Changes in the College Context
• • Evaluating the Changes

19. Emerging Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
• Identity Achieved
• • Ethnic Identity
• • Vocational Identity
• Intimacy
• • Friendship
• • Romance and Relationships
• • In Person: Changing Expectations About Marriage
• • What Makes Relationships Work
• • Issues and Applications: Domestic Violence
• • Family Connections
• Emotional Development
• • Well-Being
• • Psychopathology
• • Continuity and Discontinuity

Part VII: Adulthood

20. Adulthood: Biosocial Development
• The Aging Process
• • Senescence
• • The Sexual-Reproductive System
• The Impact of Poor Health Habits
• • Tobacco and Alcohol Use
• • Lack of Exercise
• • Overeating
• • Preventive Medicine
• • Issues and Applications: Responding to Stress
• Measuring Health
• • Mortality and Morbidity
• • Disability and Vitality
• • Issues and Applications: QALYs and DALYs
• Variations in Aging
• • Gender Differences
• • Socioeconomic Status
• • Conclusion

21. Adulthood: Cognitive Development
• What Is Intelligence?
• • Research on Age and Intelligence
• • A Case to Study: "At Very Different Levels"
• • Components of Intelligence: Many and Varied
• • Diversity and Intelligence
• • A Case to Study: Jenny: "Men Come and Go"
• Selective Gains and Losses
• • Optimization with Compensation
• • Expert Cognition
• • Expertise and Age
• • In Person: An Experienced Parent

22. Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
• Ages and Stages
• • A Case to Study: She "Began to Make a New Life on Her Own"
• • The Social Clock
• • Personality Throughout Adulthood
• Intimacy
• • Friends
• • Family Bonds
• • In Person: Childhood Echoes
• • Marriage
• • Homosexual Partners
• • Divorce
• Generativity
• • Caregiving
• • Employment
• • A Case to Study: Linda: "A Much Sturdier Self"

Part VIII: Late Adulthood

23. Late Adulthood: Biosocial Development
• Prejudice and Predictions
• • Ageism
• • Gerontology
• • The Demographic Shift
• • Dependents and Independence
• Senescence
• • Aging and Disease
• • Selective Optimization with Compensation
• • Health Habits
• • Issues and Applications: Getting from Place to Place
• • The Brain
• • Physical Appearance
• • Dulling of the Senses
• • Compression of Morbidity
• Theories of Aging
• • Wear and Tear
• • Genetic Adaptation
• • Cellular Aging
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: Can the Aging Process Be Stopped?
• The Centenarians
• • Other Places, Other Stories
• • The Truth About Life After 100

24. Late Adulthood: Cognitive Development
• The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65
• • Sensing and Perceiving
• • A Case to Study: "That Aide Was Very Rude"
• • Memory
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: John, Paul, Ringo, and . . .
• • Control Processes
• • Thinking Like a Scientist: Neuroscience and Brain Activity
• • Staying Healthy and Alert
• • Ageism
• The Impaired: Dementia
• • Alzheimer's Disease
• • Many Strokes
• • Subcortical Dementias
• • Reversible Dementia
• • A Case to Study: Is It Dementia or Drug Addiction?
• • Prevention and Treatment
• The Optimal: New Cognitive Development
• • Aesthetic Sense and Creativity
• • The Life Review
• • Wisdom

25. Late Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
• Theories of Late Adulthood
• • Self Theories
• • Issues and Applications: Thinking Positively
• • Stratification Theories
• • A Case to Study: Doing Just Fine?
• • Dynamic Theories
• Coping with Retirement
• • Deciding When to Retire
• • Retirement and Marriage
• • Aging in Place
• • Continuing Education
• • Volunteer Work
• • Religious Involvement
• • Political Activism
• Friends and Relatives
• • Long-Term Marriages
• • Losing a Spouse
• • Relationships with Younger Generations
• • Friendship
• The Frail Elderly
• • Activities of Daily Life
• • Issues and Applications: Buffers Between Fragile and Frail
• • Caring for the Frail Elderly

Epilogue: Death and Dying
• Death and Hope
• • Death Throughout the Life Span
• • Many Religions, Many Cultures
• Dying and Acceptance
• • Attending to the Needs of the Dying
• • A Case to Study: "Ask My Son and My Husband"
• • Choices and Controversies
• • Issues and Applications: Let Terry Schiavo Live/Die/Live/Die
• Bereavement
• • Normal Grief
• • In Person: Blaming Martin, Hitler, and Me
• • Complicated Grief
• • Diversity of Reactions

Appendix A: Supplemental Charts, Graphs, and Tables
Appendix B: More About Research Methods
Appendix C: Suggestions for Research Assignments

Glossary
References
Name Index
Subject Index
1 review
June 1, 2024
This book is a complete disaster. Riddled with errors from cover to cover. Stassen Berger either does not at all understand the articles she cites or willfully misrepresents the content of them to mean the exact opposite of what they conclude. Empty phrases like "many think that", "people speak about", "Piaget would probably have thought" and full of misleading anechdotal evidence. Also full of cultural stereotypes, contradictions and home-made theories.

There seems to have been no fact checking and no editing.

Avoid this book at all cost if you actually want to learn something.

Read it if you enjoy an extremely long and boring account of Stassen Bergers friends, family and students.
Profile Image for Matthew.
53 reviews2 followers
May 11, 2022
I had to read this for my Developmental Psychology class. It had useful information and, to the best of my knowledge, very up to date. Most importantly I actually found it very readable. It can be hard to read, understand, and retain information from a lot of text books but I did not have that problem here. Maybe that is due to it having one author. I also found it interesting that the author includes their own experiences in raising a child and how it has interacted their own beliefs in some of the developmental theories taught.
2 reviews
December 7, 2024
I had the chance to read this textbook for my Human Growth and Development class, and I'm really glad I did. The content connected well with current events, like the impact of COVID-19, and showed how technology and recent research are changing the world. The book made complex ideas easy to understand and linked them to real-life examples. Overall, I really enjoyed reading it and found it to be a helpful resource.
Profile Image for Kristen.
61 reviews
February 20, 2019
I read this for Lifespan Psychology. It is interesting and engaging textbook. Sometimes I felt she was off on tangent that did't really pertain to the stage of development especially in adulthood and late adulthood. I hate reading textbooks cover to cover but this one was doable.
Profile Image for Jeanette Porcaro.
254 reviews5 followers
August 16, 2022
Loved this book mostly because if I read it before bed it puts me right to sleep. I didn’t have trouble falling asleep for 6 weeks because of it so thank you!
Profile Image for Blake.
91 reviews4 followers
December 7, 2022
Read for PSYCH-25-25460 at Chaffey, Fall 2022.

Very readable text, plenty of information and examples to illustrate.
Profile Image for Crystal.
Author 3 books2 followers
November 7, 2014
This should be mandatory reading for all high school students. This was part of my college reading material for my developmental psychology class, and although it was a lot of info to take in each week, I learned a lot. So much of the information covered would help everyone. I liked how each stage of life was divided into three sections: Cognitive, biosocial, and psychosocial. It made it easier to understand rather than having everything blended together. Wish everyone would read this book. I will definitely keep this book and use it for my own future reference as well as for teaching my homeschooled child in the future.
Profile Image for Broodingferret.
343 reviews11 followers
June 3, 2009
I really liked how this book was structured. Dividing the lifespan up into 7 parts and then subdividing each part into the three major categories of development kept each given section a readable length and made the concepts easier to understand. Well written and approachable, anyone interested in studying human development should read this book.
Profile Image for Dawn.
778 reviews66 followers
December 21, 2011
This was a rather interesting text book on why humans do the things that they do. The chapters on toddler and child development were particularly interesting to me, and I feel that I have a deeper insight into how they function. I did think that the author, a mother of four children, was slightly biased, but this did not come across too strongly.
Profile Image for Julie.
2,464 reviews34 followers
August 12, 2014
This is the text used for my psychology class, "Human Development Over the Lifespan", at McHenry County College. I thoroughly enjoyed learning the material and became easily immersed in each life stage. The author writes in a very engaging way including personal anecdotes. She evidently loves her subject and invites her readers to join her in marveling at the diversity of the human lifespan.
Profile Image for Maera.
66 reviews4 followers
August 4, 2014
I had to read this textbook basically from cover to cover for a class. While there were quite a few parts that made me think "Huh. That's interesting," it's clear the author has a strong bias not n favor of the generation of people who are most likely to be reading her book (aka traditional college students).
Profile Image for Erin.
185 reviews
May 13, 2010
Interesting, but the language came off as a little bit stuffy & arrogant. I felt like the author was sometimes more interested in giving credit to who came up with which theory than on the theory itself.
Profile Image for Leah.
136 reviews11 followers
May 22, 2013
I enjoyed reading this book, I took a Developmental Psychology class and this was required reading.
I found physiology quite interesting, however I do not believe a lot of what was discussed in this book.
Profile Image for Lauren Mccusker.
45 reviews3 followers
May 18, 2015
I've had this book for years (an earlier edition than the one listed here) and it's continually fascinating. I loved it as a teenager and now I enjoy reading all the parts on child development as a parent (particularly around my children's birthdays).
Profile Image for Brandi.
55 reviews
June 15, 2015
I had to read this through adolescence for my Psychology of Child & Adolescent Development class. I did not like the author's style or choice of presentation. I am beyond glad that I won't need to use this book again.
Profile Image for Jay Brand.
132 reviews4 followers
March 26, 2016
Great textbook/reference/resource introducing & reviewing the massive scientific literature on human development, spanning developmental psychology, social anthropology, sociology, biology & genetics, with socio-cultural & sociopolitical perspectives.
Profile Image for Nami.
7 reviews1 follower
January 22, 2008
I'm reading this book right now for a class and I'm really enjoying it, it's so easy to understand, comprehensive, and helpful! Highly recommended!
Profile Image for Ammie.
54 reviews1 follower
December 4, 2008
Pretty interesting....wish I could just read it instead of read and write....read and write...read and write...aaagghhh!
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