Berk’s signature storytelling style invites students to actively learn beside the text’s “characters” who share their influential experiences and developmental milestones. Students are provided with an exceptionally clear and coherent understanding of child development, emphasizing the interrelatedness of all domains—physical, cognitive, emotional, and social—throughout the text narrative and in special features. Focusing on education and social policy as critical pieces of the dynamic system in which the child develops, Berk pays meticulous attention to the most recent scholarship in the field. Berk helps students connect their learning to their personal and professional areas of interest and their future pursuits as parents, educators, heath care providers, social workers, and researchers.

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

Development of Temperament

Development of Attachment

Self-Understanding

IV. Early Childhood: Two to Six Years

8. Physical Development in Early Childhood

Body Growth

Brain Development

Factors Affecting 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

Motor Development, Sports Participation, and Physical Activity

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. From Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood

A Period of Unprecedented Exploration

Cultural Change and Emerging Adulthood

Development in Emerging Adulthood

Risk and Resilience in Emerging Adulthood

This textbook is also sold in the various packages listed below. Before purchasing one of these packages, speak with your professor about which one will help you be successful in your course.

Package ISBN-13: 9780205534364

$139.93 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Infants, Children, and Adolescents, 6th Edition
Laura E. Berk | ©2008 | Cloth; 800 pages
MyDevelopmentLab CourseCompass with E-Book Student Access Code Card (for valuepacks)
Allyn & Bacon | ©2006 | Access Code Card

Package ISBN-13: 9780205764969

$139.93 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Package ISBN-13: 9780205580163

$139.93 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Package ISBN-13: 9780205677221

$146.60 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Package ISBN-13: 9780205627011

$139.93 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Package ISBN-13: 9780205648863

$139.93 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Current Directions in Developmental Psychology, 2nd Edition
Association for Psychological Science (APS), Lynn S. Liben | ©2009 | Paper; 256 pages

Package ISBN-13: 9780205440511

$172.53 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Current Readings in Child Development, 3rd Edition
Judy S. Deloache, Sarah C. Mangelsdorf, Eva Pomerantz | ©1998 | Paper; 280 pages

Package ISBN-13: 9780205742998

$143.93 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Explorations in Child Development DVD Guide for Infants, Children, and Adolescents, 6th Edition
Laura E. Berk | ©2010 | Paper; 88 pages

Package ISBN-13: 9780205662401

$139.93 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Grade Aid for Infants, Children, and Adolescents, 6th Edition
Laura E. Berk, Sara Harris, Trisha Mann, Judy Ashkenaz, Mark Seidl | ©2008 | Paper; 392 pages

Package ISBN-13: 9780205830244

$197.47 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Theories of Human Development: A Comparative Approach, 2nd Edition
Michael Green, John A. Piel | ©2010 | Paper; 464 pages

Package ISBN-13: 9780205603824

$143.93 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Package ISBN-13: 9780205622375

$143.93 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Current Directions in Developmental Psychology, 2nd Edition
Association for Psychological Science (APS), Lynn S. Liben | ©2009 | Paper; 256 pages

Package ISBN-13: 9780205716388

$143.93 | Add to Cart

This package contains:

Grade Aid for Infants, Children, and Adolescents, 6th Edition
Laura E. Berk, Sara Harris, Trisha Mann, Judy Ashkenaz, Mark Seidl | ©2008 | Paper; 392 pages

Package ISBN-13: 9780205823642

$143.93 | Add to Cart

This package contains: