Bestselling author Laura Berk is joined by new coauthor Adena Meyers. “Our distinct areas of specialization make us a great team for coauthoring,” says Berk. Berk and Meyers’ teaching, research and practical experience bring tremendous expertise and insight to this new edition.

Berk and Meyers are faculty colleagues in the Department of Psychology at Illinois State University. They have collaborated on numerous projects, most recently coauthoring the chapter on make-believe play and self-regulation for the Sage Handbook of Play and Learning in Early Childhood.

Laura E. Berk is a distinguished professor of psychology at Illinois State University, where she has taught child, adolescent, and lifespan development for more than three decades. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and her master’s and doctoral degrees in child development and educational psychology from the University of Chicago.

Berk has been a visiting scholar at Cornell University, UCLA, Stanford University, and the University of South Australia. She has published widely on effects of school environments on children’s development, the development of children’s private speech, and the role of make-believe play in development. She has been featured on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and in Parents Magazine, Wondertime, and Readers’ Digest, and has contributed to Psychology Today and Scientific American.

In addition to Infants, Children, and Adolescents, Berk's best-selling texts include Child Development, Development Through the Lifespan, and Exploring Lifespan Development, published by Pearson. Her other books include Private Speech: From Social Interaction to Self-Regulation; Scaffolding Children’s Learning: Vygotsky and Early Childhood Education; Awakening Children’s Minds: How Parents and Teachers Can Make a Difference; and A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Presenting the Evidence.

Berk is active in work for children’s causes. She recently completed nine years of service on the national board of Jumpstart for Young Children and currently serves on the governing board of the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, Division 7: Developmental Psychology.

Adena B. Meyers is a professor of psychology and member of the school psychology faculty at Illinois State University. She received her bachelor’s degree in women’s studies from Brown University and her doctoral degree in clinical-community psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is a licensed clinical psychologist.

Meyers' areas of specialization include contextual influences on child and adolescent development, with an emphasis on family-, school-, and community-based interventions that promote children’s social and emotional functioning. She has served as a consultant to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), and as a supervisor of mental health consultants working in Head Start preschool settings. She also supervises clinicians providing mental health services to elementary and secondary school students.

Meyers' publications have focused on school-based consultation; adolescent pregnancy, parenthood, and sexual development; school-based preventive interventions; and the role of pretend play in child development. Her clinical interests include therapeutic interventions related to stress and trauma and mindfulness-based stress reduction. She has taught a wide variety of courses, including introductory psychology, child and adolescent development, human sexuality, introduction to women’s studies, and statistics for the social sciences.

I. THEORY AND RESEARCH IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT

1. History, Theory, and Research Strategies
The Field of Child Development
Basic Issues
Historical Foundations
Mid-Twentieth-Century Theories
Recent Theoretical Perspectives
Comparing Child Development Theories
Studying the Child

II. FOUNDATIONS OF DEVELOPMENT

2. Biological and Environmental Foundations
Genetic Foundations
Reproductive Choices
Environmental Contexts for Development
Understanding the Relationship Between Heredity and Environment

3. Prenatal Development
Motivations for Parenthood
Prenatal Development
Prenatal Environmental Influences
Preparing for Parenthood

4. Birth and the Newborn Baby
The Stages of Childbirth
Approaches to Childbirth
Medical Interventions
Birth Complications
Precious Moments After Birth
The Newborn Baby's Capacities
The Transition to Parenthood

III. INFANCY AND TODDLERHOOD: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

5. Physical Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood
Body Growth
Brain Development
Influences on Early Physical Growth
Learning Capacities
Motor Development
Perceptual Development

6. Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood
Piaget's Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Information Processing
The Social Context of Early Cognitive Development
Individual Differences in Early Mental Development
Language Development

7. Emotional and Social Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood
Erikson's Theory of Infant and Toddler Personality
Emotional Development
Temperament and Development
Development of Attachment
Self-Development

IV. EARLY CHILDHOOD: TWO TO SIX YEARS

8. Physical Development in Early Childhood
Body Growth
Influences on Physical Growth and Health
Motor Development

9. Cognitive Development in Early Childhood
Piaget's Theory: The Preoperational Stage
Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory
Information Processing
Individual Differences in Mental Development
Language Development

10. Emotional and Social Development in Early Childhood
Erikson's Theory: Initiative vs. Guilt
Self-Understanding
Emotional Development
Peer Relations
Foundations of Morality
Gender Typing
Child Rearing and Emotional and Social Development

V. MIDDLE CHILDHOOD: SIX TO ELEVEN YEARS

11. Physical Development in Middle Childhood
Body Growth
Common Health Problems
Health Education
Motor Development and Play

12. Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood
Piaget's Theory: The Concrete Operational Stage
Information Processing
Individual Differences in Mental Development
Language Development
Children's Learning in School

13. Emotional and Social Development in Middle Childhood
Erikson's Theory
Self-Understanding
Emotional Development
Understanding Others: Perspective Taking
Moral Development
Peer Relations
Gender Typing
Family Influences
Some Common Problems of Development

VI. ADOLESCENCE: THE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD

14. Physical Development in Adolescence  
Conceptions of Adolescence
Puberty: The Physical Transition to Adulthood
The Psychological Impact of Pubertal Events
Health Issues

15. Cognitive Development in Adolescence
Piaget's Theory
An Information-Processing View of Adolescent Cognitive Development
Consequences of Abstract Thought
Sex Differences in Mental Abilities
Language Development
Learning in School
Vocational Development

16. Emotional and Social Development in Adolescence
Erikson's Theory: Identity versus Identity Confusion
Self-Understanding
Moral Development
Gender Typing
The Family
Peer Relations
Problems of Development
At the Threshold

17. Emerging Adulthood
A Period of Unprecedented Exploration
Cultural Change, Cultural Variation, and Emerging Adulthood
Development in Emerging Adulthood
Risk and Resilience in Emerging Adulthood

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