David F. Bjorklund

Only when we fully appreciate the origins and foundations of child and adolescent behaviors will we succeed in uncovering why they do what they do. By emphasizing evolutionary viewpoints of human psychological development, this textbook explains the fundamental underpinnings of young minds and how they grow. New chapters on the biological basis and cultural context of development introduce students to dynamic new debates in the field. The integrative, topical approach incorporates the perspectives that guide today's practitioners and gives students a holistic and up-to-date understanding of development. Box features highlight key debates, Section Reviews reinforce essential points, and “Ask Yourself” questions and end-of-chapter exercises encourage engagement and extend learning, supporting and enhancing student understanding. Revised and updated throughout, this comprehensive, topical textbook uniquely integrates the central themes of modern developmental theory – developmental contextualism, sociocultural perspective, and evolutionary theory – in a strong, theoretical introduction to child and adolescent development.

Only when we fully appreciate the origins and foundations of child and adolescent behaviors will we succeed in uncovering why they do what they do. By emphasizing evolutionary viewpoints of human psychological development, this textbook explains the fundamental underpinnings of young minds and how they grow. New chapters on the biological basis and cultural context of development introduce students to dynamic new debates in the field. The integrative, topical approach incorporates the perspectives that guide today's practitioners and gives students a holistic and up-to-date understanding of development. Box features highlight key debates, Section Reviews reinforce essential points, and “Ask Yourself” questions and end-of-chapter exercises encourage engagement and extend learning, supporting and enhancing student understanding. Revised and updated throughout, this comprehensive, topical textbook uniquely integrates the central themes of modern developmental theory – developmental contextualism, sociocultural perspective, and evolutionary theory – in a strong, theoretical introduction to child and adolescent development.

Children’s Thinking: Cognitive Development and Individual Differences, Seventh Edition by David Bjorklund remains the most comprehensive and current topical textbook available in cognitive development. The text presents up-to-date, thorough research studies and data throughout. Bjorklund expertly introduce readers to the concept of developmental function, which explains that healthy children can individually vary in their cognition as they develop. This concept is discussed throughout the text within the context of the typical progression of cognitive development through infancy and childhood. In addition, the text includes framework showing that, although some traits are established at birth, children’s cognitive development is also shaped by the physical and social environments that surround them throughout their formative years. The seventh edition has been updated to include current and extensive research, sociocultural coverage, evolutionary coverage of memory development, children’s development of prosocial cognition, moral development, and the concept of overimitation.

Children's Thinking: Cognitive Development and Individual Differences, Seventh Edition by David Bjorklund remains the most comprehensive and current topical textbook available in cognitive development. The text presents up-to-date, thorough research studies and data throughout. Bjorklund expertly introduce readers to the concept of developmental function, which explains that healthy children can individually vary in their cognition as they develop. This concept is discussed throughout the text within the context of the typical progression of cognitive development through infancy and childhood. In addition, the text includes framework showing that, although some traits are established at birth, children's cognitive development is also shaped by the physical and social environments that surround them throughout their formative years. The seventh edition has been updated to include current and extensive research, sociocultural coverage, evolutionary coverage of memory development, children's development of prosocial cognition, moral development, and the concept of overimitation.

Infants and children are the often-ignored heroes when it comes to understanding human evolution. Evolutionary pressures acted upon the young of our ancestors more powerfully than on adults, and changes over the course of development in our ancestors were primarily responsible for the species and the people we have become. This book takes an evolutionary developmental perspective, emphasizing that developmental plasticity--the ability to change our physical and psychological selves early in life--is the creative force in evolution, with natural selection serving as a filter, eliminating novel developmental outcomes that did not benefit survival. This book is about becoming--of becoming human and of becoming mature adults. Bjorklund asks, "How can an understanding of human development help us better understand human evolution?" Then, turning the relation between evolution and development on its head, Bjorklund demonstrates how an understanding of our species' evolution can help us better understand current development and how to better rear successful and emotionally healthy children.

Natural selection has operated as strongly or more so on the early stages of the lifespan as on adulthood. One evolved feature of human childhood is high levels of behavioral, cognitive, and neural plasticity, permitting children to adapt to a wide range of physical and social environments. Taking an evolutionary perspective on infancy and childhood provides a better understanding of contemporary human development, predicting and understanding adult behavior, and explaining how changes in the early development of our ancestors produced contemporary Homo sapiens.

Peter Gray's evolutionary perspective and emphasis on critical thinking have made his rigorous yet accessible introduction to psychology a widely respected classroom favourite, edition after edition.

Peter Gray's evolutionary perspective and emphasis on critical thinking have made his rigorous yet accessible introduction to psychology a widely respected classroom favourite, edition after edition. Now thoroughly revised, with the help of new co-author David Bjorklund, the seventh edition of Psychology invites and stimulates students to investigate the big ideas in psychological science. Psychology can be purchased with the breakthrough online resource, LaunchPad, which offers innovative media content, curated and organised for easy assignability. LaunchPad's intuitive interface presents quizzing, flashcards, animations and much more to make learning actively engaging.

Why Youth is Not Wasted on the Young examines the nature of childhood through an evolutionary lens and argues that childhood is an essential stage of development with its own unique purposes, separate from those of adulthood; a time of growth and discovery that should not be rushed. Written by a renowned developmental psychologistExamines the role that our period of immaturity plays on the social, emotional, and educational needs of today’s childrenChallenges common perceptions of children as simply "adults in training"

Why Youth is Not Wasted on the Young examines the nature of childhood through an evolutionary lens and argues that childhood is an essential stage of development with its own unique purposes, separate from those of adulthood; a time of growth and discovery that should not be rushed. Written by a renowned developmental psychologistExamines the role that our period of immaturity plays on the social, emotional, and educational needs of today’s childrenChallenges common perceptions of children as simply "adults in training"