Known for its clear, straightforward writing style, comprehensive coverage, strong and current research-based approach, and excellent visuals and tables, LIFE-SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT offers sections on four life stages: infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Each chapter focuses on a domain of development such as physical growth, cognition, or personality, and traces developmental trends and influences in that domain from infancy to old age. This unique, topical organization helps you comprehend the processes of transformation occurring in each key area of human development. The new edition includes a clear focus on the complex interactions of nature and nurture in development, more integrated coverage of culture and diversity, and an exciting new media package for students.

Carol K. Sigelman (Ph.D., George Peabody College for Teachers at Vanderbilt University) is associate vice president for research and graduate studies, and professor of psychology at The George Washington University. She also has taught at Texas Tech University, Eastern Kentucky University (where she won the Outstanding Teacher Award), and the University of Arizona. She taught courses in child, adolescent, adult, and life-span development for 25 years, and has published extensively on such topics as the communication skills of individuals with developmental disabilities, peer reactions to children and adolescents who are different, and children's developing understanding of diseases and psychological disorders. Through a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, she studied children's intuitive theories of AIDS, and developed and evaluated a curriculum to correct their misconceptions and teach them the basic facts of HIV infection. More recently, through a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, she and her colleagues have conducted similar research on how well children of different ages understand the effects of alcohol and drugs on body, brain, and behavior.Elizabeth (Betty) Rider is professor of psychology at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. After earning her degree in developmental psychology at Vanderbilt University, she taught at the University of North Carolina at Asheville for several years before moving back to her home state of Pennsylvania more than 15 years ago. She regularly teaches Psychology of Women and Developmental Psychology courses to undergraduates at an institution where student learning is the number one priority. She has been awarded exceptional performance distinctions nearly every year for her work in or out of the classroom. When not writing or teaching, this single mom devotes her energies to raising her son and working outdoors.

1. Understanding Life-Span Human Development. 2. Theories of Human Development. 3. Genes, Environment, and Development. 4. Prenatal Development and Birth. 5. Health and Physical Development. 6. Perception. 7. Cognition. 8. Memory and Information Processing. 9. Intelligence and Creativity. 10. Language and Education. 11. Self and Personality. 12. Gender Roles and Sexuality. 13. Social Cognition and Moral Development. 14. Attachment and Social Relationships. 15. The Family. 16. Developmental Psychopathology. 17. The Final Challenge: Death and Dying. Appendix: Careers in Human Development. Glossary. References. Author Index. Subject Index.