A Topical Approach to Lifespan Development
by By Santrock, John W.
Category: Psychology , Developmental , Lifespan Development

This accessible, visually appealing undergraduate text offers color photos in a color layout. While most textbooks on life-span development are organized chronologically, this one is organized topically, with sections on the life-span perspective, biological processes and physical development, cognitive processes, socioemotional development, social contexts of development, and death, dying, and grieving. The three main themes are research, applications, and contexts, with sections on each within each chapter. Each chapter begins with a map of main ideas and learning goals, and includes profiles of real professionals, boxes on research and diversity, review and reflection questions, and key terms and people. A companion web site contains research material for case exercises, plus video clips, self-inventories, and other exercises. For this fifth edition, much material has been rewritten and edited for clarity, and there is new and expanded material on numerous areas, such as criticisms of evolutionary psychology, the heredity/environment interaction, and neuroscience insights on intelligence. Santrock is affiliated with the University of Texas-Dallas. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)