Developmental Cascades
Building the Infant Mind
Published on 13. August 2019
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-19-539189-3 (ISBN)
Description
Children take their first steps, speak their first words, and learn to solve many new problems seemingly overnight. Yet, each change reflects previous developments in the child across a range of domains, and each change provides opportunities for future development. Developmental Cascades proposes a new framework for understanding development by arguing that change can be explained in terms of the events that occur at one point in development, which set the stage or cause a ripple effect for the emergence or development of different abilities, functions, or behavior at another point in time. It is argued that these developmental cascades are influenced by different kinds of constraints that do not have a single foundation: they may originate from the structure of the child's nervous system and body, the physical or social environment, or knowledge and experience. These constraints occur at multiple levels of processing, change over time, and both contribute to developmental cascades and are their product. Oakes and Rakison present an overview of this developmental cascade perspective as a general framework for understanding change throughout a lifespan, although it is applied primarily to cognitive development in infancy. Issues on how a cascade approach obviates the dichotomy between domain-general and domain-specific mechanisms and the origins of constraints are addressed. The framework is illustrated utilizing a wide range of domains (e.g., attachment, gender, motor development), and is examined in detail through application to three domains within infant cognitive development (looking behavior, object representations, and concepts for animacy).
Reviews / Votes
The freshest approach to child development since Piaget's monumental works nearly a century ago. * Choice * This book on developmental cascades concerns a timely topic of great importance to the field of cognitive development. The ideas in this book will enlighten those who are new to the idea of developmental cascades and will be valuable to those who are incorporating these ideas into their research program. * Amy Needham, Professor of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University * Beautifully written examination of development and how experiencesboth enhance and constrain trajectories and outcomes resulting in 'cascading' impacts. This book is a must read for those interestedin understanding the delicate and complexprocess of development. * Lisa S. Scott, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Florida * The whole child is finally coming into focus. In this volume, Oakes and Rakison lay out the deep and thoroughgoing application of cascades in human development. These authors make the bold and supported claim that a cascade framework has heuristic value in understanding developmental change across the lifespan. Moreover, they fill the pages of this volume with rich descriptions of compelling supportive experiments. When the next generation of researchers has read and embraced their message, they will work more diligently to overcome the main impediments to application of cascade analyses-causality, temporality, and implementation-to the enormous benefit of our developmental science. * Marc H. Bornstein, Editor, Parenting: Science and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies * In a field typically filled with 'just-so' stories that side-step developmental process, this book offers a clear and compelling path for readers interested in how development happens, not just when. In short, Developmental Cascades is a manifesto for a systems approach to development. * Karen E. Adolph, Professor of Psychology and Neural Science, New York University *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
599 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-539189-3 (9780195391893)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2019
OUP eBook
€39.49
Available for download
E-Book
07/2019
OUP eBook
€39.49
Available for download
Persons
Lisa M. Oakes received her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin in 1991 under the direction of Professor Leslie B. Cohen. Oakes joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at the University of Iowa in 1991. In 2006, Oakes moved her lab and her family to begin her present position as Professor of Psychology and Faculty Researcher at the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis. Here she continues her work examining many aspects of infant cognition, including attention, visual short-term memory, and visual perception. Oakes has published three books and many research articles. Her work is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
David H. Rakison received his D.Phil. at the University of Sussex, England in 1997 under the direction of Professor George Butterworth. Rakison joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in 2000 where he has engaged in research on various aspects of
infant perception and cognition, including causal perception and causal reasoning, the development of concepts for animacy, fear learning, and the relationship between motor skills and cognitive development. Rakison has published two books and one SRCD monograph in addition to many empirical research articles. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
David H. Rakison received his D.Phil. at the University of Sussex, England in 1997 under the direction of Professor George Butterworth. Rakison joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in 2000 where he has engaged in research on various aspects of
infant perception and cognition, including causal perception and causal reasoning, the development of concepts for animacy, fear learning, and the relationship between motor skills and cognitive development. Rakison has published two books and one SRCD monograph in addition to many empirical research articles. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
Author
Professor of Psychology and Faculty Researcher, Center for Mind and BrainProfessor of Psychology and Faculty Researcher, Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
Lab Director, Infant Cognition Lab, Carnegie Mellon UniversityLab Director, Infant Cognition Lab, Carnegie Mellon University
Content
1. Introduction: Why Understanding Development is Hard
2. Developmental Mechanisms: Eliminating the Dichotomy
3. The "Humpty-Dumpty Problem" In the Study of Development
4. The Role of Constraints in Development
5. Developmental Cascades: A New Framework to Understand Change
6. The Development of Looking Behavior in Infancy
7. Cascades and Object Knowledge
8. The Development of Knowledge of Animates and Inanimates in Infancy
9. Conclusions: Applications, Generalizations, Challenges, and a Call to Action
References
Index
2. Developmental Mechanisms: Eliminating the Dichotomy
3. The "Humpty-Dumpty Problem" In the Study of Development
4. The Role of Constraints in Development
5. Developmental Cascades: A New Framework to Understand Change
6. The Development of Looking Behavior in Infancy
7. Cascades and Object Knowledge
8. The Development of Knowledge of Animates and Inanimates in Infancy
9. Conclusions: Applications, Generalizations, Challenges, and a Call to Action
References
Index