This textbook provides a fully up-to-date account of our knowledge of children's social development. It is addressed to students of psychology and other social sciences with no or only limited knowledge of child development, and covers an age up to and including adolescence. The content is organised according to themes, but these themes follow an approximated developmental progression.
1. The Study of Social Development:. The Questions Posed.
Conceptions and Preconceptions.
Methodological Considerations.
Summary.
2. Biological Foundations:.
Evolutionary Perspective.
The Genetics of Behaviour.
Bases of Individuality.
3. Constructing the First Relationships:.
Early Interactions.
From Non-verbal to Verbal Communication.
Attachment: Nature and Development.
Attachment: Individual Differences.
Summary.
4. Sense of Self: Sense of Other:.
The Self. Knowledge of Others.
Sex-Role Development.
Summary.
5. Families, Parents and Social-Interaction:.
Families as Systems.
The Nature of Parenting.
Socialization Processes.
Summary.
6. From Other-Control to Self-Control:.
Parental Control Techniques and Child Compliance.
Learning Social Rules.
Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour.
Moral Development.
Summary.
7. Extrafamilial Relationships:.
Peer Relationships.
The Child in Society.
Summary.
8. Social Experience and its Aftermath:.
Reversible or Irreversible?.
Multiple Outcomes.
Continuity and Discontinuity.
Summary.
References.
Author Index.
Subject Index.
