Life-Span Developmental Psychology: Personality and Socialization

Paul B. Baltes · K Warner Schaie

Sep 2013 · Elsevier

About this ebook

Life-Span Developmental Psychology: Personality and Socialization presents papers on personality and socialization. The book discusses the history, theory, and psychological approaches of developmental psychology, with focus on socialization and personality development through the life span; personality dimensions; and theories of socialization and sex-role development. The text also describes the life-span perspective of creativity and cognitive styles; continuities in childhood and adult moral development revisited; and issues of intergenerational relations as they affect both individual socialization and continuity of culture. The interactional analysis of family attachments; social-learning theory as a framework for the study of adult personality development; person-perception research; and the perception of life-span development are also considered. The book further tackles the potential usefulness of the life-span developmental perspective in education; the strategies for enhancing human development over the life span through educational intervention; and some ecological implications for the organization of human intervention throughout the life span. Developmental psychologists, sociologists, gerontologists, and people involved in the study of child development will find the book invaluable.

About the author

K. Warner Schaie holds an appointment as affiliate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. He is also the Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Human Development and Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University. He received his Ph.D. in clinical and developmental psychology from the University of Washington, an honorary Dr. Phil. from the Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena, Germany, and an honorary Sc.D. degree from West Virginia University. He received the Kleemeier Award for Distinguished Research Contributions and the Distinguished Career Contribution to Gerontology Award from the Gerontological Society of America, the MENSA lifetime career award, and the Distinguished Scientific Contributions award from the American Psychological Association. He is a past president of the APA Division of Adult Development and Aging and currently represents that Division on the APA Council of Representatives. He is author or editor of more than 60 books including the textbook Adult Development and Aging (5th edition, with S.L. Willis) and of all previous editions of the Handbook of the Psychology of Aging (with J.E. Birren or S.L. Willis). He has directed the Seattle Longitudinal Study of cognitive aging since 1956 and is the author of more than 300 journal articles and chapters on the psychology of aging. His current research interest is in the life course of adult intelligence, its antecedents and modifiability, the impact of cognitive behavior in midlife upon the integrity of brain structures in old age, the early detection of risk for dementia, as well as methodological issues in the developmental sciences.