Theories of Developmental Psychology

by Patricia H. Miller

Miller offers the most accessible and comprehensive presentation of the main theories of developmental psychology available today. The superb scholarship and thoughtful analyses includes an evaluation of each theory's strengths and weaknesses, as well as excerpts from the theorists' work.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Education, Textbooks, School, Parenting, Grad School

491 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Patricia H. Miller, Ph.D.
Department Head
Professor, Life-Span Developmental Psychology Program

Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1970

Academic Information

Dr. Miller joined the Psychology faculty in Fall, 2001 and became Psychology Department Head in July, 2005; She previously was Director of the Institute of Women's Studies, 2001-2005. Formerly, Dr. Miller was Professor of Psychology at the University of Florida, and also was Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 1995 to 1999. Before that, she was on the faculty at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Miller's research interests center around cognitive development during childhood, social cognitive development, theories of development, and gender. Her specific areas of interest are in the development of strategies of problem solving, memory and attention, theory of mind, metacognition, social attribution, gender and knowledge, and effects of exercise on cognitive functioning. Current research, funded by NIH, focuses on the effects of exercise on children's executive functions and school achievement.

Dr. Miller currently is President-Elect of APA Division 7 (Developmental). She also is Associate Editor of Child Development.

Reviews

[Deniz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book that I started in June and took notes on throughout the summer as I read it. I read the book in Turkish, but I had difficulty translating the concepts of the great developmental theorists and the concepts in developmental psychology. So I tried to read the book in English and Turkish comparatively, and it helped. I recommend you to read the book comparatively.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not quite wretchedly boring. Maybe "slightly numbing."

[Kellerrenate · Rating 4 out of 5]

tedious....

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfassbar umständliche Formulierungen, durch die man Sätze mehrfach lesen muss, aber es hat geholfen, die Klausur gut zu bestehen.

[Qasim Zafar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books is the best intro to the theories which inform the major undercurrents of psychology. It is written in a language which is accessible to the layman. Aside from the major aspects of theories, what I especially liked about this book is how it also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each theory and the current developments in it. Reading and taking notes on the material was really fun.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything you ever wanted to know (and more) about the theories of Freud, Piaget, etc.,etc.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

We come into this world knowing nothing and have to learn everything from scratch. It’s incredible that we’re able to do this, and some theorists—especially Bandura, Erikson, and Gibson—have come up with brilliant theories to explain these processes. Unfortunately, the way that Miller writes about these (and other) developmental theories is unhelpfully abstract. Throughout the book, certain theorists are given lengthy biographies while others aren’t, and certain theorists are compared to each other while others aren’t. Vague descriptions of experiments are provided in an attempt to demonstrate parts of theories, which are also vaguely described. Connections are almost made, then slip away. All of this makes for a tedious reading experience.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoroughly covers the major theorists including Piaget, Frued, Vygotsky, Gibson as well as contemporary counterparts. Helpful in refining my theoretical framework and interesting to consider how children develop. Helpful for teachers and parents to know theories of cogitive stages, assimilation/accommodation, zone of proximal development, scaffolding, observational learning, attachment, sociocultural learning, neuroscience, perceptual learning and differentiation

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

School requirement. First few chapters overlap with Early Childhood Education (general intro) classes, but later in the book, author delves into more complex dissections of theories and how they can be seen today.

[Brandon Prince · Rating 2 out of 5]

textbook survey from a positivist, CBT perspective. Not worthless. Boring af.

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's ok, I mean this isn't my subject area. It's easy enough to read.

[Fatemeh Samiei · Rating 4 out of 5]

به صورت پراکنده کتاب رو خوندم.
کتاب خوبی هست به نظرم. جمع بندی خوبی از نظریه های رشد ارائه میده. دوست دارم که در آینده کامل بخونم.

[nona ★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

solid and easy🙂‍↕️

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid review of the dominating theories and ideas of developmental psychology! (VYGOTSKY!!!!!)

Other notes/reading notes:
p. 49 on Structuralism

1) the structuralist framework and schemes/schema/schemata. "A scheme is an organized pattern of behavior, it reflects a particular way of interacting with the environment...in contrast, the cognitive structures of older children, from roughly age 7 on, are organized abstract mental operations similar to logicomathematical systems. The structuralist framework can be seen in the way these schemes and operations organize themselves into a system that can be applied to various contexts."
That's all very appealing isn't it? But, Piaget constructed these ideas in the 70s, give or take, well into the industrialized era. And isn't it a tad too convenient that the conceptual models of children remarkably imitate libraries and nested folders that we adults are so accustomed to in our lives? What I'm saying is: perhaps there's too much sociocultural bias here, the observer changing the observed. The organization into schema seems to me more a product of children imitating that which they see around them in the Adult world than any consistent evolutionary method of thought distributed to all the children considered in evaluation.

This isn't by any means a critique of the actual text itself though; it's purely a critique (or more accurately, a conceptual extension) of Piaget's ideas. THe text itself is AMAZING. Miller, if you're reading this, your writing is absolutely stellar, and you're making all these concepts fantastically approachable for a human sciences newbie like myself. THANK YOU, MILLER!!

[Sian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sebelum membaca buku ini, saya telah membaca beberapa buku tentang teori psikologi perkembangan, yang memberi wawasan tentang teori-teori itu, dengan penjelasan yang relatif serupa. Ketika membaca buku ini, saya mendapatkan kejelasan tentang posisi dan perbandingan teori-teori tersebut dalam beberapa hal. Pembahasan buku ini dimulai dari sketsa biografi ahli yang mengajukan teori, oientasi umum, deskripsi teori, mekanisme perkembangan, posisi teori dalam isu perkembangan, hakikat teoretikal, dan evaluasi teori. Dimensi-dimensi yang dipakai acuan pembanding posisi teori-teori psikologi perkembangan ini membuat kita memahami "letak" masing-masing teopri dalam keterkaitannya secara global.

[Mert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comparative descriptions of each development theory with other theories and perspectives in an extremely detailed way. Yet, it only provides what the title offers, does not involve more comprehensive and contemporary findings on the field but it lists theoretical background with the evolution of the development psychology paradigms and their evaluations of the author, of course.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dense and encyclopedic, but lots of good stuff about Freud, Piaget and Vygotski, folks my classmates were reading while I jealously bitched that "all they had to do was have discussions and write end of term papers."

The hand on the cover is so little!!

[Saba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very comprehensive, and interesting. It covers major developmental theories in psychology. It seemed a bit boring at the first few chapters but became much more interesting in the remaining ones. Miller explains every theory in complete detail, she uses many references and lots of examples.

[Mary Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it for my graduate studies. Good condensation, but I could tell where her knowledge gaps were.

[Ashley]

absolutely wonderful if you are looking to attain a concise synopsis of developmental theory

[Abed Helo]

i need this book plz

[Heather Leonard]

It was easy to read, which is good because I don't care much for developmental psychology.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the texts for my graduate course in Dev Psych. The author is knowledgeable, but not concise. It was tedious reading.

[Celestino Lopez III · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 5th edition is a disaster. Used in grad school and even professor disliked. Good information just poorly put together.