Late Adulthood Stage: the ages of 65 to the very last year of life. This stage can reach up to 120 years for those who have a longer lifespan. The late adulthood stage has features of physical decline due to aging and a host of emotions about death and dying. Aside from these changes, this period is also marked by a decrease in cognitive abilities, affecting short-term memory and the ability to acquire new information. are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written The organizational structure and flow of the text are consistent throughout and what one would expect in a text within the field of human development. The material is presented in a way that clearly connects to the material presented earlier, and there are no surprise sections or sections that seem out of place, as the table of contents clearly identifies what the reader should expect to find within each chapter. However, I believe a glossary/subject/author type index presented as a last chapter would be helpful for students looking for a specific concept or citation.

Erikson proposed that we are motivated by a need to achieve competence in certain areas of our lives. According to psychosocial theory, we experience eight stages of development over our lifespan, from infancy through late adulthood. At each stage there is a conflict, or task, that we need to resolve. Successful completion of each developmental task results in a sense of competence and a healthy personality. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy. Positive Youth Development holds the belief that all youths have the potential to become productive, contributing members of society. PYD emphasizes the strengths of youth, promoting their development physically, personally, socially, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Interventions must be conducted with the needs and preferences of the participants kept in mind, however the individuals’ choice, values, and culture must always be considered. Plasticity denotes intrapersonal variability and focuses heavily on the potentials and limits of the nature of human development. The notion of plasticity emphasizes that there are many possible developmental outcomes and that the nature of human development is much more open and pluralistic than originally implied by traditional views; there is no single pathway that must be taken in an individual’s development across the lifespan. Plasticity is imperative to current research because the potential for intervention is derived from the notion of plasticity in development. Undesired development or behaviors could potentially be prevented or changed. What's here is accurate. The authors take a contextual perspective to development which results in consideration of many influences on development, which makes it less biased at least. (It's impossible to make an unbiased text.) However, the list of topics is limited as I noted above.The content is accurate and current and provides a strong overview of development. It is error-free and unbiased. Once children reach the preschool stage (ages 3–6 years), they are capable of initiating activities and asserting control over their world through social interactions and play. According to Erikson, preschool children must resolve the task of initiative versus guilt. By learning to plan and achieve goals while interacting with others, preschool children can master this task. Those who do will develop self-confidence and feel a sense of purpose. Those who are unsuccessful at this stage—with their initiative misfiring or stifled—may develop feelings of guilt. How might over-controlling parents stifle a child’s initiative?

While I would say most of the information is relevant, this source focuses on timeless, general concepts, which are not likely to change. While there is merit in that approach, in this particular course, it is important and very challenging to keep up with trends and statistics of development. Many of the sources cited are dated. Up-to-date statistics and newly published research is sparse. Easily updated stats are a selling-point some make for OERs. Reviewed by Lorilene Cuevas, Psychology Department Instructor, Northeastern Illinois University on 5/5/23Are we who we are because of nature (biology and genetics), or are we who we are because of nurture (our environment and culture)? This longstanding question is known in psychology as the nature versus nurture debate. It seeks to understand how our personalities and traits are the product of our genetic makeup and biological factors, and how they are shaped by our environment, including our guardians, peers, and culture. For instance, why do biological children sometimes act like their parents—is it because of genetics or because of early childhood environment and what the child has learned from the parents? What about children who are adopted—are they more like their biological families or more like their adoptive families? And how can siblings from the same family be so different? This strategy entails collecting data from people of various ages simultaneously. Cross-sectional studies are beneficial for comparing features among people of different ages in a community or obtaining data for future studies and research. This research method is less time-consuming than longitudinal research because no participant follow-up is required. It is also less costly. Cohort-Sequential Research The text includes examples that are relevant to child development today and college students specifically. It also includes links to videos and supplementary material that are very current. That said, this text could benefit from including more current research to show that our understanding of development is an ongoing process, with new developments arising all the time.

What is meant by the word “context”? It means that we are influenced by when and where we live. Our actions, beliefs, and values are a response to the circumstances surrounding us. Sternberg describes contextual intelligence as the ability to understand what is called for in a situation (Sternberg, 1996). The key here is to understand that behaviors, motivations, emotions, and choices are all part of a bigger picture. Our concerns are such because of who we are socially, where we live, and when we live; they are part of a social climate and set of realities that surround us. Important social factors include cohort, social class, gender, race, ethnicity, and age. Let’s begin by exploring two of these: cohort and social class. Format is highly organized and flows logically from one topic to the next in each developmental section. This text is organized similar to a traditional text book which can be beneficial to students who are new to OER learning materials or to those who may wish to print the PDF version for study review.Later in this chapter, you will learn about several experiments in which toddlers and young children observe scenes or actions so that researchers can determine at what age specific cognitive abilities develop. For example, children may observe a quantity of liquid poured from a short, fat glass into a tall, skinny glass. As the experimenters question the children about what occurred, the subjects’ answers help psychologists understand at what age a child begins to comprehend that the volume of liquid remained the same although the shapes of the containers differs. Assignable video (available with SAGE Vantage) is tied to learning objectives and curated exclusively for this text to bring concepts to life. Watch a sample video now. The text maintains cultural relevance through all ten units. This is evidenced through the variety of videos, cultural examples, and research findings included in both the main sections of the text, as well as the supplementary materials.