- How do we get from helpless baby to knowing teenager?
- What impact do television, computers and iPads, the internet, video games and evolving technology have on the way children's minds develop?
- Is cognition a question of learning and environment or of heredity?
How we learn to think, perceive, remember, talk, reason and learn is a central topic in psychology - and one that sees constant new research. In this very readable book, David Cohen discusses the latest studies and covers all the controversies that have dogged the subject for nearly 150 years. He examines the work of the 'greats' like Piaget, Freud and Vygotsky and shows how the issues that have intrigued psychologists relate to any child growing up today.
This book is for everyone who lives with, works with or studies children. David Cohen examines the fundamental issues of how children learn to read and write, of how their intellectual abilities are measured and the development of their morality. He examines child crime and looks at how modern media affect the way the child's mind develops.
This fully updated new edition of How the Child's Mind Develops, which incorporates new extracts from a mother’s weekly diary, is an integrated and thought-provoking account of the central issues in child development. Parents, professionals and students will find it an invaluable introduction.
Contents
List of illustrations
Introduction
1 – The developing brain
2 - The logical child: Piaget's theory of cognitive development
3 - Egocentric or social animals? The work of Lev Vygotsky
4 - The development of a moral sense
5 – Shared sweetness: the mother child diary
6 - Other people and other minds
7 - The development of memory
8 - Measuring children's cognitive development
9 - Nature or nurture?
10 - Cognitive development in the classroom: Reading, writing and arithmetic
11 - Toys are so yesterday: Computers, mobiles, ipads and the child as consumer
References
Index
Biography
David Cohen is a psychologist, film maker and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. His film on the Soham murders, When Holly Went Missing, was nominated for a BAFTA award.
"This book serves a number of varied audiences, including education professionals, academic audiences and all those connected with early years activities. It also provides a sound introduction for those working in health care contexts and would be ideal for individuals working in Children’s Centres. The book is equally of use to all primary school teachers and all those working in early years contexts. For academic audiences, the book could be used as a foundation and undergraduate level text ." (Kagari Shibazaki, University of Huddersfield)
"David Cohen's readable and stimulating waltz through the history of child psychology provides anecdotes, exercises, and ideas for parents and educators alike. The author covers major controversies, theories and debates in a friendly and outspoken manner and, in doing so, shows us the broad range and also the limitations of the classic explanations of, and research into, children's mental development." (Dr Nicky Hayes, psychologist and author, University of the Highlands and Islands)
