Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach

The organizing conceptual framework of psychosocial theory provides a useful approach by presenting a sequence of life stages with the various domains of physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development integrated within each stage. The text highlights the continuous interaction and integration of individual competencies with the demands and resources of culture. Psychosocial theory captures the sense of human development as unfolding and building across the life span, revealing changes in ego development that are reflected in self-understanding, social relationships, and worldview.

A strong multicultural perspective -- including discussions of cultural practices and reviews of cross-national and inter-ethnic research -- is interwoven throughout the text in the narrative, in application boxes, and in first-person accounts. The multicultural aspect of the text is a result of the psychosocial point of view, in which the social-cultural context of development is fundamental to the process of development.

Two chapters are devoted to the theories of development: one focuses on the major theorists such as Freud, Bandura, Mischel, Bronfenbrenner, Piaget, and Vygotsky, among others; a second is devoted to the psychosocial theories of Erikson and Havighurst that are used for the organizational framework of the book.

A chart on the inside cover of the book and at the end of Chapter 3, "Psychosocial Theory," provides a two-page overview of the organization of the text.