Jaan Valsiner is Niels Bohr Professor of Cultural Psychology at Aalborg University, Denmark. He is the founding editor (1995) of the Sage journal, Culture & Psychology.  And of The Oxford Handbook of Culture and Psychology (2012). He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Sciences  (Springer, from 2007). In 1995 he was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Prize in Germany for his interdisciplinary work on human development, and Senior Fulbright Lecturing Award in Brazil 1995-1997. He has been a visiting professor in Brazil, Japan, Australia, Estonia. Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Valsiner and Connolly did a remarkable job of compiling and editing this comprehensive yet manageable volume. The list of authors is impressive both in expertise and in breadth. This work truly represents the most up-to-date thinking about human development from both scientific and cultural viewpoints. . . . The work is effective both in delineating current thinking in the area of human development and in outlining the historical groundwork on which current research has been built. . . . Highly recommended.

• Introduction - Jaan Valsiner and Kevin J ConnollyThe Nature of DevelopmentThe Continuing Dialogue of Processes and OutcomesPART ONE: FUNDAMENTAL APPROACHES AND PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENTProbabilistic Epigenesis of Development - Gilbert GottliebGenetics and the Development of Brain and Behavior - Douglas WahlstenDevelopmental Psychology and the Neurosciences - Sidney J Segalowitz and Louis A SchmidtHistorical Contexts for Development - Hideo KojimaPART TWO: PRENATAL AND INFANT DEVELOPMENTPrenatal Psychological and Behavioral Development - Peter HepperOn the Development of Perception and Action - Claes von HofstenEarly Cognitive Development - Jonas Langer et alOntogeny and PhylogenyTool Use and Tool Making - Ad W Smitsman and Raoul M BongersA Developmental Action PerspectiveSocial Relations and Affective Development in the First Two Years in Family Contexts - Kurt KreppnerPART THREE: DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOODThe Role of Language in Human Development - Nancy BudwigSocial Development in Cultural Contexts - Angela BrancoCooperative and Competitive Interation Patterns in Peer RelationsStrengths and Weaknesses of Cognition over Preschool Years - Eduardo Mart[ac]iDevelopment of Play - Anthony D Pellegrini and Peter SmithDevelopmental Disorders - Brian HopkinsAn Action-Based AccountPART FOUR: DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOODContemporary Families as Context for Development - Peter StrattonSchooling and the Development of Literacy - David Olson and Janette PelletierMemory and Knowledge Development - Wolfgang Schneider and David BjorklundPART FIVE: DEVELOPMENT IN PRE-ADOLESCENCE AND ADOLESCENCEChildren′s Relationships and Development of Person-Context Relations - Thomas KindermannMorality and Context - Usha MenonA Study of Hindu UnderstandingsFrom Early Attachment Relations to Adolescent and Adult Organization of Self - Harke Bosma and Coby GerlsmaPART SIX: DEVELOPMENT IN ADULTHOODAdult Cognitive Development - Kurt Fischer, Zheng Yan and Jeffrey StewartDynamics in the Development WebGoal-Directed Activities and Life-Span Development - Jeanette A Lawrence and Agnes E DoddsDialogical Processes and Development of the Self - Hubert J Hermans and Els Hermans-JansenCognitive Processes in Ageing - Patrick Rabbitt et alWisdom - Ursula M Staudinger and Ines WernerIts Social Nature and Lifespan DevelopmentPART SEVEN: METHODOLOGY IN THE STUDY OF DEVELOPMENTQualitative Methodology - Jonathan Smith and Fraser DunworthQuantitative Models for Developmental Processes - John R Nesselroade and Peter C M MolenaarDynamic Systems Approaches and Modeling of Developmental Processes - Paul van Geert

Jaan Valsiner is Niels Bohr Professor of Cultural Psychology at Aalborg University, Denmark. He is the founding editor (1995) of the Sage journal, Culture & Psychology.  And of The Oxford Handbook of Culture and Psychology (2012). He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Sciences  (Springer, from 2007). In 1995 he was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Prize in Germany for his interdisciplinary work on human development, and Senior Fulbright Lecturing Award in Brazil 1995-1997. He has been a visiting professor in Brazil, Japan, Australia, Estonia. Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Valsiner and Connolly did a remarkable job of compiling and editing this comprehensive yet manageable volume. The list of authors is impressive both in expertise and in breadth. This work truly represents the most up-to-date thinking about human development from both scientific and cultural viewpoints. . . . The work is effective both in delineating current thinking in the area of human development and in outlining the historical groundwork on which current research has been built. . . . Highly recommended.

• Introduction - Jaan Valsiner and Kevin J ConnollyThe Nature of DevelopmentThe Continuing Dialogue of Processes and OutcomesPART ONE: FUNDAMENTAL APPROACHES AND PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENTProbabilistic Epigenesis of Development - Gilbert GottliebGenetics and the Development of Brain and Behavior - Douglas WahlstenDevelopmental Psychology and the Neurosciences - Sidney J Segalowitz and Louis A SchmidtHistorical Contexts for Development - Hideo KojimaPART TWO: PRENATAL AND INFANT DEVELOPMENTPrenatal Psychological and Behavioral Development - Peter HepperOn the Development of Perception and Action - Claes von HofstenEarly Cognitive Development - Jonas Langer et alOntogeny and PhylogenyTool Use and Tool Making - Ad W Smitsman and Raoul M BongersA Developmental Action PerspectiveSocial Relations and Affective Development in the First Two Years in Family Contexts - Kurt KreppnerPART THREE: DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOODThe Role of Language in Human Development - Nancy BudwigSocial Development in Cultural Contexts - Angela BrancoCooperative and Competitive Interation Patterns in Peer RelationsStrengths and Weaknesses of Cognition over Preschool Years - Eduardo Mart[ac]iDevelopment of Play - Anthony D Pellegrini and Peter SmithDevelopmental Disorders - Brian HopkinsAn Action-Based AccountPART FOUR: DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOODContemporary Families as Context for Development - Peter StrattonSchooling and the Development of Literacy - David Olson and Janette PelletierMemory and Knowledge Development - Wolfgang Schneider and David BjorklundPART FIVE: DEVELOPMENT IN PRE-ADOLESCENCE AND ADOLESCENCEChildren′s Relationships and Development of Person-Context Relations - Thomas KindermannMorality and Context - Usha MenonA Study of Hindu UnderstandingsFrom Early Attachment Relations to Adolescent and Adult Organization of Self - Harke Bosma and Coby GerlsmaPART SIX: DEVELOPMENT IN ADULTHOODAdult Cognitive Development - Kurt Fischer, Zheng Yan and Jeffrey StewartDynamics in the Development WebGoal-Directed Activities and Life-Span Development - Jeanette A Lawrence and Agnes E DoddsDialogical Processes and Development of the Self - Hubert J Hermans and Els Hermans-JansenCognitive Processes in Ageing - Patrick Rabbitt et alWisdom - Ursula M Staudinger and Ines WernerIts Social Nature and Lifespan DevelopmentPART SEVEN: METHODOLOGY IN THE STUDY OF DEVELOPMENTQualitative Methodology - Jonathan Smith and Fraser DunworthQuantitative Models for Developmental Processes - John R Nesselroade and Peter C M MolenaarDynamic Systems Approaches and Modeling of Developmental Processes - Paul van Geert