Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction to Cognitive Development
Basic Concepts in Cognitive Development
Six Truths of Cognitive Development
Goals of Cognitive Developmentalists
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 2. Biological Bases of Cognitive Development
Evolution and Cognitive Development
Models of Gene-Environment Interaction
Development of the Brain
Developmental Biology and Cognitive Development
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 3. Social Construction of Mind: Sociocultural Perspectives on Cognitive Development
Role of Culture in Cognitive Development
Cognitive Artifacts That Support and Extend Thinking: Tools of Intellectual Adaptation
Social Origins of Early Cognitive Competencies
Sociocultural Theory and Cognitive Development
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 4. Infant Perception and Cognition
Basic Perceptual Abilities of Young Infants
Methodologies Used to Assess Infant Perception
Development of Visual Perception
Auditory Development
Combining Senses
Perceptual Narrowing
How Do We Know What Babies Know? The Violation-of-Expectation Method
Core Knowledge
What Is Infant Cognition Made Of?
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 5. Thinking in Symbols: Development of Representation
Learning to Use Symbols
Piaget’s Theory
Everyday Expressions of the Symbolic Function
Causal Representation
Fuzzy-Trace Theory
The Symbolic Species
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 6. Development of Folk Knowledge
Theory Theories of Cognitive Development
Folk Psychology: Developing a Theory of Mind
Folk Biology: Understanding the Biological World
Folk Physics: Understanding the Physical World
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 7. Learning to Think on Their Own: Executive Function, Strategies, and Problem Solving
Assumptions of Information-Processing Approaches
Development of Basic-Level Processes: Executive Function
Development of Strategies
Learning to Solve Problems
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 8. Memory Development
Representation of Knowledge
Memory Development in Infancy
Infantile Amnesia
Implicit Memory
Development of Event Memory
Children as Eyewitnesses
Remembering to Remember
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 9. Language Development
What Is Language?
Describing Children’s Language Development
Some Theoretical Perspectives of Language Development
Bilingualism and Second-Language Learning
Sex Differences in Language Acquisition
Language and Thought
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 10. Social Cognition
Social Learning
Social Information Processing
Development of a Concept of Self
Cognitive Bases of Gender Identity
How Special Is Social Cognition?
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 11. Schooling and Cognitive Development
Development of Reading Skills
Children’s Number and Arithmetic Concepts
Schooling and Cognitive Development
Evolutionary Educational Psychology
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 12. Approaches to the Study of Intelligence
Psychometric Approach to the Study of Intelligence
Information-Processing Approaches to the Study of Intelligence
Sternberg’s Theory of Successful Intelligence
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Chapter 13. Origins, Modification, and Stability of Intellectual Differences
Transactional Approach to the Study of Intelligence
Behavioral Genetics and the Heritability of Intelligence
Experience and Intelligence
Stability of Intelligence
Key Terms and Concepts
Suggested Readings
Glossary
References
Index

About the Author

David F. Bjorklund is a Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University where he teaches courses in developmental and evolutionary psychology. He received a BA degree in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1971), an MA degree in Psychology from the University of Dayton (1973), and a Ph.D. degree in Developmental Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1976). He received an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor philosophiae honoris causa) in 2015 from the University of Bern, Switzerland. He served as Associate Editor of Child Development (1997-2001) and is currently serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology (since 2007). He has published widely on the topics of cognitive development and evolutionary developmental psychology. His most recent books include How Children Invented Humanity: The Role of Development in Human Evolution (Oxford); Child Development in Evolutionary Perspective (Cambridge); Evolutionary Perspectives on Infancy (Springer, co-edited with Sybil Hart); and The Development of Children’s Memory: The Scientific Contributions of Peter A. Ornstein (Cambridge, co-edited with Lynne Baker-Ward and Jennifer Coffman). He lives in Jupiter, Florida with his wife Barbara and enjoys traveling, cooking, playing basketball, and kayaking.