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Child Development

Child Development
Understanding A Cultural Perspective

© 2017 | 616 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Every child is born into a community, a society with a culture, in which he or she will live, grow, and develop. Cultures lead to differences in children’s development, but equally important, culture is an essential component of every child’s psychological development. Child Development takes a chronological approach, from prenatal development to adolescence, in which social, cognitive, emotional, and physical aspects of development are interwoven. Author Martin J. Packer integrates cross-cultural examples from different parts of the world to illustrate how culture plays a constitutive role in children’s development. This book includes an in-depth discussion of human evolution, the history of language, and the human lifespan, as well as the theoretical perspectives of scientific research on children’s development.

Chapter 1: Introduction
1. A Cultural Perspective on Children’s Development  
2. Organization of the Book  
Chapter 2: Theoretical Perspectives in Developmental Psychology
Theoretical Perspectives in Developmental Psychology  
1. Genetic Psychology  
2. Behaviorism  
3. Cognitive Developmental Psychology  
4. Constructivist Psychology  
5. Cultural Psychology  
Chapter 3: Interwoven Lines of Development
1. What is Evolution?  
2. Evolution of Human Beings  
3. Tracing the Origins of Language  
4. Evolution of the Life Cycle  
5. Sociocultural Evolution  
Chapter 4: Prenatal Development, Birth, and the Newborn
1. Prenatal Development of Body and Brain  
2. Birth: The First Developmental Transition  
3. Infant Dependence: What the Newborn Cannot Do  
4. Neonatal Capabilities: What the Newborn Can Do  
Chapter 5: Infancy - A Practical Understanding of the World
1. The Infant’s Practical Understanding  
2. The World of Infancy: The Great-We  
3. Caring for the Infant:  
Chapter 6: Infancy - Towards Biological Differentiation
1. Primary Emotions and their Regulation  
2. Biological Developments During the First Year  
3. The Transition at 1 Year: Biological differentiation  
Chapter 7: Toddlerhood - A World of Irresistible Invitations
1. The World of Toddlerhood: Irresistible Invitations  
2. Caring for the Toddler  
4. Biological Change During Toddlerhood  
Chapter 8: Toddlerhood - Towards Psychological Differentiation
1. The Toddler’s Talk  
2. How Language Changes the World of the Toddler  
3. Understanding Material Representations  
4. Self and Symbol: The Transition at 3 Years  
1. Sociodramatic Play  
2. Talking as both Doing and Understanding  
3. The World of Early Childhood: Breaking from the Visual  
Chapter 10: Early Childhood - Towards Inner and Outer
1. Understanding Other People: Prior Intentions and Conventional Scenarios  
2. Caring for the Young Child  
3. The Origins of Verbal Thinking  
4. Becoming a Kind of Person  
5. Biological Changes During Early Childhood  
Chapter 11: Middle Childhood - Understanding Institutional Reality
1. The Transition at 5-to-7 Years  
2. Learning Through Participation and Apprenticeship  
Chapter 12: Middle Childhood - Towards the Actual and the Possible
1. The Institution of School  
2. Outside School and Work  
Chapter 13: The Teenage Years - Adolescent, or Adult?
1. Biological Changes in the Teenage Years  
2. Constituting Adolescence  
3. Adolescent Reasoning and Decision Making  
Chapter 14: The Teenage Years - Towards Adulthood
1. Who Is The Adolescent?  
2. Peer Culture  
3. Understanding Other People: Ethical and Epistemological Relativism  
Chapter 15: Summing up
1. Stages, Transitions, and Trajectories  
2. Theory of Mind, and the Normative Stances  
3. Embodied, Embedded, and Distributed  


Tamara Rakic
Lancaster University

"Clever, scholarly and approachable explanations of the importance of culture and society in a child’s development. This book makes an important contribution for both students and researchers."

Marek Tesar
University of Auckland


Christine M. Weinkauff
Claremont Graduate University


Robert B. Faux
Duquesne University

An interesting and accessible text to extend students' knowledge and understanding of child development from a cultural perspective, with a wide range of examples to encourage a critical analysis of traditional theory. An impressive accompanying website provides further food for thought.

Mrs Suzi Smale
Psychology, Petroc College
October 16, 2017

Good all round informative assessable information to support ITE

Mrs Mary Stephen
School of Education, Aberdeen University
April 12, 2017
Key features
  • Chronological approach rather than a thematic approach
  • Covers prenatal development up to adolescence
  • Takes a cultural perspective on child development
  • Also covers the key theoretical and foundational approaches to child development
  • Case Study: the Kwara’aeKwara'ae language is spoken in the north of Malaita Island in the Solomon Islands

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 5: Infancy (6 weeks–12 months)

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ISBN: 9781473993372

ISBN: 9781473993365