Description

For courses in Child Development

 

Demonstrate how research translates into practice.

Organized topically and focused on practice, Children and Their Development, Seventh Edition shows students the way scientists actually conduct research and study the discipline. A well-known and respected researcher in the field of child development, author Robert V. Kail provides a path to explore the theory, research, and application of modern child development from conception through adolescence. The book’s accessible writing, modular format, and application-based features are designed to work together to help students see how research translates into practice.

 

MyPsychLab® is not included. Students, if MyPsychLab is a recommended/mandatory component of the course, please ask your instructor for the correct ISBN and course ID. MyPsychLab should only be purchased when required by an instructor. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information.

MyPsychLab is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment product designed to personalize learning and improve results. With a wide range of interactive, engaging, and assignable activities, students are encouraged to actively learn and retain tough course concepts.

Features

This title is a Pearson Global Edition. The Editorial team at Pearson has worked closely with educators around the world to include content which is especially relevant to students outside the United States.

 

 

An engaging, pedagogically-driven design

• Module Organization. The focus on a student-friendly book begins with the structure of the chapters. Each chapter consists of three or four modules that provide a clear and well-defined organization to the chapter.
• Chapter-opening Introductions. Learning Objectives and Vignettes at the start of each module introduce the topic to be covered, helping to guide students on important subjects in each section.
• Fully integrates Features. Special topics that are set off in other textbooks as feature boxes are fully integrated with the main text and identified by a distinctive icon.
• Self-Testing Material. Test Yourself questions at the end of each chapter confirm and cement students’ understanding of the chapter material.
• Highlights Key Terms. The Key Terms section lists all of the important boldfaced terms appearing in the chapter.
• Chapter-ending Summaries. The Summary is a concise review of the chapter helping students to recall important themes of the chapter.

 

 

Explore research and theory

• Reiterates Foundation Throughout Narrative. Four foundation issues — Continuity, Nature and nurture, Active children, and Connections — are introduced in Chapter 1 and then reappear in subsequent chapters to scaffold students’ understanding. By occurring repeatedly throughout the text, the themes remind students of the core issues that drive child-development science.
• Illustrates Foundational Themes. The Unifying Themes feature links the ideas in the chapter to one of the major foundational themes.
• Connects Theory and Research. Spotlight on Theories examines an influential theory of development and shows how it has been tested in research.
• NEW! Examines Real Research. The Focus on Research feature provides details on the design and methods used in a particular research study. The easy-to-read, question-and-answer formatted feature closely examines specific studies, demystifies research, and shows that scientific work is a series of logical steps conducted by real people. New topics covered include: hereditary bases of peer relationships, links between maternal depression and children’s behavior problems, long-term consequences of temperament, and more.

 

 

Understand culture and development

• Firsthand Views. The See for Yourself feature suggests activities that allow students to observe topics in child development firsthand.
• Examine Culture’s Impact. Cultural Influences shows how culture influences children and illustrates that developmental journeys are diverse. All children share the biological aspects of development, but their cultural contexts differ. This feature celebrates the developmental experiences of children from different backgrounds.
• Influence Children’s Lives. Improving Children’s Lives shows how research and theory can be applied to improve children’s development. These practical solutions to everyday problems show the relevance of research and theory to real life.
• Apply Research. Child Development and Family Policy shows how results from research are used to create social policy that is designed to improve the lives of children and their families.

 

 

MyPsychLab is not included. Students, if MyPsychLab is a recommended/mandatory component of the course, please ask your instructor for the correct ISBN and course ID. MyPsychLab should only be purchased when required by an instructor. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information.

 

Personalize learning with MyPsychLab

 

• MyVirtualChild. Included within MyPsychLab or sold as a standalone product, MyVirtualChild is an interactive simulation that allows students to raise a child from birth to age 18 and monitor the effects of their parenting decisions over time.  By incorporating physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development at several age levels, MyVirtualChild helps students think critically as they apply their course work to the practical experiences of raising a virtual child. The program also provides students with feedback and includes observational videos to illustrate key concepts.
• eText. The Pearson eText lets students access their textbook anytime, anywhere, and any way they want–including listening online or downloading to iPad.
• Personalized Study Plan. A personalized study plan for each student, based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, arranges content from less complex thinking–like remembering and understanding–to more complex critical thinking–like applying and analyzing. This layered approach promotes better critical-thinking skills, and helps students succeed in the course and beyond.
• Assessment with immediate feedback. Assessment tied to every video, application, and chapter enables both instructors and students to track progress and get immediate feedback. With results feeding into a powerful gradebook, the assessment program helps instructors identify student challenges early–and find the best resources with which to help students.

Assignment Calendar. An assignment calendar allows instructors to assign graded activities, with specific deadlines, and measure student progress.

New to this Edition

Examines Real Research. The Focus on Research feature provides details on the design and methods used in a particular research study. The easy-to-read, question-and-answer formatted feature closely examines specific studies, demystifies research, and shows that scientific work is a series of logical steps conducted by real people. New topics covered include: hereditary bases of peer relationships, links between maternal depression and children’s behavior problems, long-term consequences of temperament, and more.

 

 

Chapter-by-Chapter Changes

 

Chapter 1

·    Updated examples of different research methods.

 

Chapter 2

·    A new Focus on Research feature on hereditary bases of peer relationships, extensively revised material on molecular genetics

·    New material about methylation as an epigenetic mechanism.

 

Chapter 3

·    New material on environmental pollutants

·    An updated section on the impact of cocaine

·    Revised material on the impact of epidural analgesia

·    A new Focus on Research feature on links between maternal depression and children’s behavior problems,

·    A revised Child Development and Family Policy feature

 

Chapter 4

·    Revised material on sleep

·    An updated section on ways to encourage young children to eat healthfully

·    Revised material on the impact of timing of maturation on boys’ development

·    A new list of factors that lead to obesity

·    A new Focus on Research feature on evaluating a program for preventing eating disorders

·    A new Child Development and Family Policy feature on teenagers and the law

 

Chapter 5

·    Revised coverage of face perception

·    New coverage of attention

·    A new Focus on Research feature on infants’ grasping

 

Chapter 6

·    contains much-revised coverage of executive function and of naïve psychology (now called folk psychology).

 

Chapter 7

·    New material on the impact of children’s misconceptions on their scientific thinking

·    A new Focus on Research feature on ways to teach children to design experiments

·    Revised coverage of reading and of quantitative reasoning

 

Chapter 8

·    Completely revised coverage of dynamic assessment (formerly, dynamic testing)

·    New Focus on Research feature on making tests less threatening

·    New Spotlight on Theory feature on the nature of impaired reading comprehension

·    Re-organized material on gifted children

 

Chapter 9

·    Contains revised coverage of the role of sentence cues in word learning

·    A new Focus on Research feature on why exposure to parents’ speech increases children’s vocabulary

·    Revised coverage on language acquisition in bilingual children

 

Chapter 10

·    New material on perception of frightening stimuli

·    Revised Spotlight on Theories feature

·    Revised description of the stability of temperament and its links to personality

·    A new Focus on Research feature on the long-term consequences of temperament

 

Chapter 11

·    Reorganized coverage of self-awareness

·    New material on narcissism

·    Revised section on prejudice that includes new material on the impact of discriminatory behavior

·    A new Focus on Research feature on factors that buffer youth from the impact of discriminatory behavior

 

Chapter 12

·    New material on moral thinking as a core domain

·    Revised Cultural Influences feature

·    New material on the role of oxytocin in promoting social behavior

·    Updated Spotlight on Theories feature

·    Revised coverage of victims of aggression, including a new Child Development and Family Policy feature on an antibullying program

 

Chapter 13

·    Extensively revised coverage of gender-related differences including new information on differences in memory and in effortful control

·    New material on the “pink frilly dress” phenomenon and on tomboys

 

Chapter 14

·    New material on genetic influence on parental style, on intervention programs that teach parenting skills, and on grandmothers as co-parents with incarcerated mothers

·    Revised coverage of adopted children, including new material on open adoption

 

Chapter 15

·    New material on children’s play with pets

·    A revised feature on cultural differences in popularity

·    Revised coverage of “new media” (e.g., smartphones, video games) and of day care

·    New material on links between poverty, stress, and children’s health; on the impact of political violence and homelessness on children’s development; and on contributions to school success of programs for mentoring and teacher training

Table of Contents

1. The Science of Child Development  

2. Genetic Bases of Child Development

3. Prenatal Development, Birth, and the Newborn 

4. Growth and Health   

5. Perceptual and Motor Development  

6. Theories of Cognitive Development   

7. Cognitive Processes and Academic Skills 

8. Intelligence and Individual Differences in Cognition

9. Language and Communication   

10. Emotional Development   

11. Understanding Self and Others   

12. Moral Understanding and Behavior  

13. Gender and Development  

14. Family Relationships   

15. Influences Beyond the Family