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Book Details
Abstract
From career development to retirement, and from marriage to bereavement, psychological development is a never-ending process. Adulthood is a time of change and transformation, and presents many unique challenges and opportunities. Combining classic studies and cutting-edge research, Oliver Robinson's Development through Adulthood will guide you through this rich and rewarding subject.
Key features:
* Uniquely covers qualitative as well as quantitative research;
* Individual voices bring theories to life by providing insight into real life experiences;
* Cross-cultural perspectives and alternative perspectives provide examples from beyond the UK and US, offering an important counterbalance to western research;
* Real-world application features highlight important intervention strategies.
Development through Adulthood provides a unique interdisciplinary approach, making it invaluable reading for anybody studying human development, gerontology or an applied social science. Academically rigorous and elegantly written, it's the perfect guide to classic and current research in adult development.
"The best evidence-based account I have read about what it is like to develop through adulthood." - Dan P. McAdams, the Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Psychology, Northwestern University
"This book should be read by everyone who would like to get a comprehensive view of modern psychological theories of adult development." – Dr. Eeva Kallio, University of Jyväskylä and University of Tampere, Finland, and President of the European Society for Adult Development
"This book is a refreshing new addition to the texts currently available in the area. It fills a much needed gap and will allow tutors and students to cover important and non-traditional aspects of development in an accessible and interesting way. It has been a pleasure to read." – Dr Christopher Barnes, University of Derby, UK
"An excellent book, superb in places…This could become the best lifespan book on the market." – Dr John Lambie, Anglia Ruskin University, UK
Oliver Robinson is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology and Counselling at the University of Greenwich, UK. His research focuses on how life transitions, crises and relationships are involved in shaping personality, values and identity, and his work has attracted media interest from The Times, the BBC, the New Scientist and The Guardian.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Contents | V | ||
| List of Tables | X | ||
| List of Figures | XII | ||
| List of Boxes | XV | ||
| Preface | XVIII | ||
| Acknowledgements | XXII | ||
| Publisher's Acknowledgements | XXIII | ||
| 1 Adulthood, Development and the Biopsychosocial Paradigm | 1 | ||
| Ways of defining adulthood | 2 | ||
| Defining adult development | 6 | ||
| Three kinds of change in development | 12 | ||
| The biopsychosocial paradigm of development | 13 | ||
| Concluding comments | 25 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 25 | ||
| Summary points | 26 | ||
| 2 Research Methods in Adult Development | 28 | ||
| Description, understanding, explanation and prediction | 28 | ||
| Developmental research designs | 31 | ||
| Quantitative methods in adult development | 35 | ||
| Qualitative methods in adult development | 39 | ||
| Concluding comments | 44 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 45 | ||
| Summary points | 46 | ||
| 3 Cognitive Development | 48 | ||
| The Neo-Piagetian paradigm | 49 | ||
| The psychometric paradigm of cognitive ageing | 60 | ||
| Individual differences in cognitive ageing in older adults | 72 | ||
| Who improves, who maintains, who declines in cognitive ability? | 72 | ||
| Ways of enhancing cognitive ability in older adults | 74 | ||
| Concluding comments | 76 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 77 | ||
| Summary points | 77 | ||
| 4 Emotional Development | 79 | ||
| The functionalist theory of emotions | 80 | ||
| Emotional developments in childhood: A very brief review | 81 | ||
| Adult emotional development | 82 | ||
| Developments in emotional complexity and emotional integration | 83 | ||
| Changes in happiness and subjective wellbeing with age | 85 | ||
| The positivity effect in older adults | 90 | ||
| Changes in emotional intelligence and emotional regulation across adulthood | 92 | ||
| Emotions within specific contexts in adulthood | 96 | ||
| Concluding comments | 102 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 103 | ||
| Summary points | 103 | ||
| 5 Motivational Development | 105 | ||
| The primary drives across adulthood | 106 | ||
| Classic lifespan goal theories | 110 | ||
| Contemporary lifespan goal theories | 112 | ||
| Selection, Optimisation and Compensation (SOC) Theory | 116 | ||
| Self-efficacy in adulthood | 119 | ||
| Motivational maturity: The importance of intrinsically motivated and integrated goals | 120 | ||
| Purpose and meaning in adulthood: The search for ultimate goals | 122 | ||
| Adult motivation in context: The motive to volunteer | 123 | ||
| Concluding comments | 126 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 126 | ||
| Summary points | 126 | ||
| 6 Psychosocial Life Stages, Transitions and Crises | 128 | ||
| Erik Erikson's model of the life-cycle | 129 | ||
| Transition and crisis | 132 | ||
| Emerging adulthood | 134 | ||
| Early adulthood | 137 | ||
| Early adult crisis ('quarterlife' crisis) | 138 | ||
| The transition to parenthood | 139 | ||
| Midlife: The afternoon of life | 142 | ||
| Midlife transition and crisis | 144 | ||
| Menopause | 145 | ||
| The Third Age | 147 | ||
| The Fourth Age | 149 | ||
| Concluding comments: A critique of psychosocial stage and transition theories | 153 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 154 | ||
| Summary points | 155 | ||
| 7 Personality Development | 157 | ||
| Trait theory | 158 | ||
| Cross-sectional adult age differences in the Big Five traits | 158 | ||
| Four kinds of longitudinal change in traits | 161 | ||
| Longitudinal research on personality trait change | 163 | ||
| Genes and environment in adult trait change | 167 | ||
| The mature personality: Five conceptions | 169 | ||
| Theories of ego development | 177 | ||
| The life story approach to personality development | 181 | ||
| Concluding comments | 185 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 187 | ||
| Summary points | 187 | ||
| 8 Moral Development | 190 | ||
| Lawrence Kohlberg: A pioneer in moral development | 191 | ||
| Kohlberg's six-stage model | 193 | ||
| Longitudinal studies with adults using Kohlberg's method | 195 | ||
| The Minnesota 'Neo-Kohlbergian' approach | 197 | ||
| The moral cognition – moral action question | 199 | ||
| Carol Gilligan and the ethic of care | 200 | ||
| Jonathan Haidt and the Social Intuitionist Model | 203 | ||
| Martin Hoffman and the theory of prosocial morality | 204 | ||
| The pragmatic approach of Krebs and Denton | 206 | ||
| Crime in adulthood: When moral development fails | 207 | ||
| Concluding comments | 210 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 212 | ||
| Summary points | 212 | ||
| 9 Wisdom | 214 | ||
| The Berlin Wisdom Paradigm | 215 | ||
| Sternberg's balance theory of wisdom | 219 | ||
| Practical and transcendent wisdom | 221 | ||
| Self-report questionnaires assessing wisdom | 223 | ||
| Wisdom and age | 224 | ||
| Concluding comments | 226 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 227 | ||
| Summary points | 227 | ||
| 10 Spirituality and Religiosity | 229 | ||
| Spiritual/religious development: Differing empirical approaches | 231 | ||
| Religiosity, spirituality and age | 234 | ||
| Life events and religiosity | 236 | ||
| The directional perspective: Theories of religious or spiritual progress | 239 | ||
| Concluding comments | 246 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 246 | ||
| Summary points | 247 | ||
| 11 Mental Disorder, Age and Adult Life Events | 249 | ||
| Diathesis-stress models | 251 | ||
| George W. Brown and the Bedford method of assessing life events | 252 | ||
| Disorders with typical onset in late adolescence/emerging adulthood | 253 | ||
| Disorders with typical onset in early adulthood | 254 | ||
| Disorders with typical onset in late adulthood | 266 | ||
| Concluding comments | 276 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 276 | ||
| Summary points | 276 | ||
| 12 Social Developments in Adulthood | 279 | ||
| Romantic attachment in adulthood | 280 | ||
| Attachment to parents in adulthood | 282 | ||
| Love | 284 | ||
| Marriage and cohabitation | 286 | ||
| Parenthood and the family life-cycle | 289 | ||
| Divorce | 294 | ||
| Same-sex couples | 297 | ||
| Friendship in adulthood | 299 | ||
| Grandparenthood | 303 | ||
| Disengagement theory and social relationships in old age | 309 | ||
| Concluding comments | 310 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 310 | ||
| Summary points | 310 | ||
| 13 Career Development and Retirement | 313 | ||
| Career decision-making | 314 | ||
| Career change | 320 | ||
| Unemployment and job loss | 321 | ||
| Gender and the changing challenges of work–family balance | 324 | ||
| Retirement | 328 | ||
| Concluding comments | 338 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 339 | ||
| Summary points | 339 | ||
| 14 Dying and Bereavement | 342 | ||
| The process of dying: Coping with terminal illness | 344 | ||
| Bereavement and grief | 350 | ||
| Concluding comments | 361 | ||
| Questions for you to reflect on | 362 | ||
| Summary points | 362 | ||
| Glossary | 365 | ||
| References | 384 | ||
| Index | 439 |