The Development of Children’s Thinking: Its Social and Communicative Foundations

The Development of Children’s Thinking offers undergraduate and graduate students in psychology and other disciplines an introduction to several core areas of developmental psychology. It examines recent empirical research within the context of longstanding theoretical debates. In particular, it shows how a grasp of classic theories within developmental psychology is vital for a grasp of new areas of research such as cognitive neuroscience that have impacted on our understanding of how children develop.

The focus of this book will be on infancy and childhood, and it looks at:

Theories and context of development
How developmental psychology attempts to reconcile influences of nature and nurture
Communication in infancy as a precursor to later thinking
Language development in primates and young children
Cognitive and social development, including the child’s understanding of the mind
How studies of moral reasoning reflect upon our understanding of development