Understanding Developmental Psychology

STEPHANIE THORNTON taught Developmental Psychology for 25 years at the University of Sussex. Her research has covered a broad range of topics in social and cognitive development, with a focus on the processes through which new ideas, new understanding and new behaviours develop in both children and adults: theoretically intriguing topics that also have real practical implications. She is the author of Children Solving Problems (Harvard University Press, 1998) and Growing Minds (Palgrave, 2002) as well as Understanding Human Development (Palgrave, 2008). TEODORA GLIGA joined the School of Psychology at the University of East Anglia in 2018. In her research, she focuses on understanding how young humans succeed in acquiring huge amounts of knowledge despite limited attention and memory. In particular, she investigates the role that caregivers and the children themselves have in actively creating learning experiences.

Studying Human Development
PART I: The Beginning of Life
Bodies and Brains
Infant Minds: Perception, Inference and Understanding in the First 18 Months
Growing Emotions: Social and Personal Development in the First 18 Months
PART II: Cognitive Development from Infancy to Adulthood
Language
Reasoning and Conceptual Understanding
Memory, Problem Solving and Mechanisms of Cognitive Development
Individual Differences in Cognition
PART III: Social and Emotional Development from Infancy to Adulthood
Understanding Other People
Personality and Identity
Social Relationships
Moral Development: Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour
PART IV: Toward a new view of development
Some Final Comments.