Children’s Thinking: Cognitive Development and Individual Differences

by David F. Bjorklund

A comprehensive book supported by extensive research studies and data, Bjorklund's text presents the broadest coverage of topics in cognitive development. Unlike other books, Bjorklund shows readers how developmental function can help explain individual differences in cognition by covering both the typical pattern of change in thinking observed over time and the individual differences in children's thinking in infancy and childhood. A major theme of this book is the continuous transaction between the child embedded in a social world: although a child is born prepared to make some sense of the world, his or her mind is also shaped by forces in the physical and social environment.

Genres: Psychology, Education, Parenting, Nonfiction, Linguistics

610 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

David F. Bjorklund, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University, where he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in developmental psychology since 1976. He received a B.A. degree in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts in 1971, an M.A. degree in Psychology from the University of Dayton in 1973, and a Ph.D. degree in Developmental Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976. He has received numerous teaching and research awards from Florida Atlantic University, and is the recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award. He served as Associate Editor of Child Development (1997–2001) and is currently serving as Editor of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. He has served on the editorial boards of Developmental Psychology, Developmental Review, Cognitive Development, Educational Psychology Review, Evolutionary Psychology, Journal of Comparative Psychology, Journal of Cognition and Development, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, and School Psychology Quarterly, and has also served as a contributing editor to Parents Magazine. He has published more than 150 scholarly articles on various topics relating to child development and has received financial support for his research from the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the German Research Foundation. His other books include Children’s Thinking: Cognitive Development and Individual Differences, now in its fifth edition; Why Youth Is Not Wasted on the Young; Looking at Children: An Introduction to Child Development (with Barbara Bjorklund); Parents Book of Discipline (with Barbara Bjorklund); Applied Child Study (with Anthony Pellegrini); The Origins of Human Nature: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology (with Anthony Pellegrini); Children’s Strategies: Contemporary Views of Cognitive Development; False Memory Creation in Children and Adults: Theory, Research, and Implications; and Origins of the Social Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and Child Development (edited with Bruce Ellis). His current research interests include children’s cognitive development and evolutionary developmental psychology.

He lives in Jupiter, Florida, with his wife, Barbara, and enjoys traveling, cooking, playing basketball, and kayaking.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a good textbook. The layout doesn't even make sense. Without colour coding or numbered chapter divisions you find in most Psychology textbooks, it was very difficult trying to figure out which part of the chapter was a subpart of the preceding section. Frequent use of heteronormative and ethnocentric views of relationships and cognitive development disappointed me, especially considering it was published just this year. Only rarely did the author mention the role fathers have in the way children develop. There was also too frequently mention of "traditional" cultures when speaking of cross-cultural similarities in development. People from a psychology background would surely benefit from an introductory course in Anthropology, to understand why that kind of description itself is antiquated and irrelevant.

Also, this is a paper back, black and white textbook that cost $180. :(

[Kendall Davidson · Rating 1 out of 5]

let’s just say I at least skimmed every page

[Alejandra L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather wordy, but it's the best we can do.

[Heli · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is quite comprehensive about child development with some buts. It starts off telling about systems thinking perspective in psychology or cognitive development, however, it fails to keep at it - it doesn't integrate that type of thinking throughout the book and it's just kept as a topic and not a way to look at all of the research that is mentioned. There's a lot more of Vygotsky mentioned than in other books of its time, however, still very briefly covered just some of his works. However Piaget is praised largely and even though later chapters do bring up research from people like Alison Gopnik which prove Piaget wrong, there is no or very little heads up to that in the chapter that takes Piaget so seriously, leaving a wrong impression on his work on someone who would read just that chapter, which is only so normal with textbooks.
A sage publication's cognitive development book was more thorough and easier to follow in that regard.
All in all it is still comprehensive, covers a lot of different research so it is still suitable for an introduction to the topic and after years of studying these things I still had new things to learn from it so I'm grateful for its existence.

[David Schwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What we know about how the brain develops is far more than I expected, that said there is a lot we do not know.

This book makes very clear that letting politicians and business people run schools is really bad. There is real science behind getting children's brains to develop properly. Running a school like a business is not the solution.

Recent changes in the US are leading to increased poverty and more wealth concentrated with the rich. There are many studies showing that poverty has a negative impact upon cognitive development, thus if the trends continue we will see a dumbing down of cognitive skills, a trend that should be disturbing to the US's international standing.

[Maryanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

You'll like this one if you're interested in child development. Must be really interested though. I'm glad that God inspires some people to spend their entire lives studying children because the more I learn about it, the more I like my kids. I found this book at a resale shop and paid 50 cents- score! Some poor college kid probably paid 50 bucks.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

useful textbook. helpful, and easy to read.