Concepts and Theories of Human Development

Richard M. Lerner is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and the Director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, in the Eliot Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, at Tufts University.

''Richard Lerner’s Concepts and Theories of Human Development has long been the go-to source for the foundational insights of development science. The 5th edition covers exciting new frontiers in the study of human flourishing, genetics, and other timely topics. A must-read for scholars and students in this essential field!''William Damon, Stanford University, USA''Timely and celebratory, the 50th anniversary edition challenges global assaults on the humanity of diverse youth and communities. Its progressive use of dynamic RDS perspective and critical insights—re: application-supporting youth thriving—provides a “must read,” and affords strategic analyses of concepts and theories required as scaffolding for authentic supports.''Margaret Beale Spencer, The University of Chicago, USA''Concepts and Theories of Human Development is the go-to guidebook for all students of developmental science. Each time I pick it up, I am inspired by Lerner’s masterful spotlighting of the ongoing dance between method, theory, and intervention practice that drives the field forward and deepens our understanding of the human experience.''Nilàm Ram, Stanford University, USA''In this Fifth Edition of his Concepts and Theories of Human Development, Richard M. Lerner again offers a very clear and totally up-to-date picture of the fundamental tenets of Developmental Science; including its metatheoretical, theoretical, methodological, empirical, and applied dimensions. This work entails an enormously important contribution in that it presents our best and most contemporary understanding of the nature of human developmental processes, as well as our understanding of best practices for investigating these processes. Lerner is, and has been, perfectly positioned to describe these concepts and theories as his work has been at the leading edge of our understanding of human development for over 50 years. This is a must-read book for anyone interested in developmental processes. It will be of particular value to psychologists, philosophers, biologists, sociologists, economists, and the medical and educational communities.''Willis F. Overton, Temple University, USA

• Foreword by Michael E. Lamb and Marc H. Bornstein Preface Chapter 1: On the Primacy of Concepts and Theories in the Scientific Study of Human Development Chapter 2: Concepts and Theories Within Contemporary Developmental Science: An Overview Chapter 3: Philosophical and Scientific Roots of Contemporary Developmental Science Chapter 4: Metatheoretical Models of Development Chapter 5: Theoretical Roots of Contemporary Developmental Science: Nomothetic (Stage), Differential, and Idiographic Approaches Chapter 6: Toward Resolving the Nature-Nurture Controversy Chapter 7: Contributions and Implications of the Scholarship of T. C. Schneirla Chapter 8: The Orthogenetic Principle and the Resolution of the Continuity-Discontinuity Issue: Contributions and Implications of the Work of Heinz Werner Chapter 9: Dynamic, Relational Developmental Systems-Based Theories: Comparative, Evolutionary, and Ontogenetic Conceptions Chapter 10: Sample Cases of Dynamic, Relational Developmental Systems-based Theories Chapter 11: Genetic Reductionism in 20th Century Developmental Science Chapter 12: Genetic Reductionism in 21st Century Developmental Science Chapter 13: Developmental Methodology: Implications of Dynamic, Relational Developmental Systems-Based Concepts Chapter 14: Applying Developmental Science: Implications for Human Flourishing, A Habitable World, and Social Justice Afterword by Sara K. Johnson and Theo Klimstra