This new text contains parts of Bornstein and Lamb’s Developmental Science, 6th edition, along with new introductory material, providing a cutting edge and comprehensive overview of social and personality development. Each of the world-renowned contributors masterfully introduces the history and systems, methodologies, and measurement and analytic techniques used to understand the area of human development under review. The relevance of the field is illustrated through engaging applications. Each chapter reflects the current state of knowledge and features an introduction, an overview of the field, a chapter summary, and numerous classical and contemporary references. As a whole, this highly anticipated text illuminates substantive phenomena in social and personality developmental science and its relevance to everyday life.

Students and instructors will appreciate the book’s online resources. For each chapter, the website features: chapter outlines; a student reading guide; a glossary of key terms and concepts; and suggested readings with hotlinks to journal articles. Only instructors are granted access to the test bank with multiple-choice, short-answer, and essay questions; PowerPoints with all of the text’s figures and tables; and suggestions for classroom discussion/assignments.

The book opens with an introduction to social and personality development as well as an overview of developmental science in general—its history and theory, the cultural orientation to thinking about human development, and the manner in which empirical research is designed, conducted, and analyzed. Part 2 examines personality and social development within the context of the various relationships and situations in which developing individuals function and by which they are shaped. The book concludes with an engaging look at applied developmental psychology in action through a current examination of children and the law. Ways in which developmental thinking and research affect and are affected by practice and social policy are emphasized.

Intended for advanced undergraduate and/or graduate level courses on social and personality development taught in departments of psychology, human development, and education, researchers in these areas will also appreciate this book’s cutting-edge coverage.