The Development of the Person

Reviews / Votes

This is the book that developmental psychologists and clinicians have been awaiting for more than 25 years - even if they didn't know it. We finally have a systematic prospective study from birth to young adulthood of nearly 200 people, using state-of-the-art measures and including all the probable variables affecting development. At the same time, the authors keep an eye on the clinical implications of this developmental sweep. This book is a monumental achievement. It not only summarizes a decades-long programmatic study, but will also be the starting point for the next generation of developmental research with clinical relevance. Essential reading for all in the field. - Daniel Stern, MD, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Switzerland, and Department of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University This is the book that developmental psychologists and clinicians have been awaiting for more than 25 years - even if they didn't know it. We finally have a systematic prospective study from birth to young adulthood of nearly 200 people, using state-of-the-art measures and including all the probable variables affecting development. At the same time, the authors keep an eye on the clinical implications of this developmental sweep. This book is a monumental achievement. It not only summarizes a decades-long programmatic study, but will also be the starting point for the next generation of developmental research with clinical relevance. Essential reading for all in the field. - Daniel Stern, MD, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Switzerland, and Department of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Four stars for this remarkable book! It offers a detailed picture of a varied set of children as they move from infancy to adulthood, noting how early interactions between parent and child play out in subsequent social relationships. It shows how each developmental phase adds new relational elements, which nevertheless emerge from, and depend on, what came before. It identifies some of the childhood roots of pathology, while also highlighting the kinds of parent-child interactions that underlie a child's growing competence and emotional well-being. Any serious teacher or student of psychosocial development will want to have this book within arm's reach. - Eleanor E. Maccoby, PhD, Stanford University

The Minnesota Study is one of the classic longitudinal studies in the history of the field of developmental psychology. Moreover, the theoretical approach utilized has been extremely influential in the emergence of the discipline of developmental psychopathology. Developmental and clinical psychologists, developmental psychopathologists, educators, and social policy advocates all will profit from and be interested in this work. Likewise, it is an excellent text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in developmental psychology and psychopathology. - Dante Cicchetti, PhD, Mt. Hope Family Center, Rochester, New York