Developing Minds

Part 1 Introduction - concepts of development. Part 2 Why are people so different from one another?: maturation, genetic influences - person-environment interactions, do genetic influences lessen as we grow older?; why do people differ in their experiences? - effects of people's behaviour in shaping their environment, effects of past experiences in shaping current experiences, effects of social structure in shaping experiences; environmental influences - effects on brain structure and development, shared and non-shared psychosocial experiences, protective and vulnerability mechanisms. Part 3 Change and continuity - some developmental processes: some developmental issues - does development comprise cumulative accretion?, are there sensitive periods for learning?, biological preparedness, self-regulating mechanisms, biological adaptability and compensation, personality growth as a stabilization of traits; change and continuity; brain maturation; genetic influences; environmental influences - biological substrate or psychological structure, learned skills or reactions, cognitive sets and models, interprersonal interactions and indirect chain effects. Part 4 The growth of social relationships: selective attachments - factors influencing attachment; attachment qualities across the life span; disorders associated with attachment - reactions of young children to hospital admission, unusual patterns of attachment insecurity, grief reactions, parental divorce and remarriage; social cognition and social relationships; rivalry, jealousy and compensatory relationships; qualities of social relationships; friends and acquaintances; the importance of peer relationships - peer relationships as an index of emotional disturbance, peer relationships as an influence on personal behaviour, peer relationships as a mediator of social difficulties, poor peer relationships as a predictor of psychiatric problems. Part 5 Anxiety and aggression - fears and delinquency: emotional expression and understanding; fears and anxiety; anger, aggression and conduct disturbance - age trends and continuities, age of onset and individual differences, sex differences, diminution in delinquent activities in adult life; temperamental differences. Part contents.