Life Span Development

Life Span Development

Life-Span Development and Behavior

This volume continues the tradition of the Life-Span Development Series, presenting overviews of research programs on a variety of developmental topics. Research and theory in life-span development have given increased attention to the issues of constancy and change in human development and to the opportunities for, and constraints on, plasticity in structure and function across life. Acknowledging the need for and existence of interconnection between age and developmental periods, it focuses on conditions for possibly discontinuous development that emerge at later periods. Contributors to this series are sensitive to the restrictive consequences of studying only specific age periods, such as old age, infancy, or adolescence. Each scholar attempts to relate the facts about one age group to similar facts about other age groups, and to move toward the study of transformation of characteristics and processes over the life span.

Life-Span Developmental Psychology

Life-Span Developmental Psychology: Personality and Socialization presents papers on personality and socialization. The book discusses the history, theory, and psychological approaches of developmental psychology, with focus on socialization and personality development through the life span; personality dimensions; and theories of socialization and sex-role development. The text also describes the life-span perspective of creativity and cognitive styles; continuities in childhood and adult moral development revisited; and issues of intergenerational relations as they affect both individual socialization and continuity of culture. The interactional analysis of family attachments; social-learning theory as a framework for the study of adult personality development; person-perception research; and the perception of life-span development are also considered. The book further tackles the potential usefulness of the life-span developmental perspective in education; the strategies for enhancing human development over the life span through educational intervention; and some ecological implications for the organization of human intervention throughout the life span. Developmental psychologists, sociologists, gerontologists, and people involved in the study of child development will find the book invaluable.