To bring to life the colorful, fascinating and sometimes puzzling process of developmental psychology, this text uses the lives of famous individuals to illustrate development in action and introduce each chapter's content. Through an analysis of the young lives of these individuals, students will come to understand how heredity and environment interact to mold development.

Two main themes flow throughout the text: The child within his or her culture and the child within the family. Using these themes this text covers the main theories, research and applications of developmental psychology and illustrates how society, culture and the family interact with heredity to shape physical, cognitive, and social development. An engaging writing style, lots of solid practical information and interesting examples grab the student's interest and further illuminate this subject.