Robert N. Emde - Böcker

Behavioural genetics is a fast-growing, multidisciplinary field which attempts to explain the influence of genetic and environmental factors on behaviour through the lifespan. The preferred investigative technique for teasing out the differences between genetics and the environment is the longitudinal twin study. This book is the first complete publication from the MacArthur Longitudinal Twin Study (MALTS) that is by far the most ambitious and comprehensive logitudinal twin study to date. The goal of such an in-depth study was merely not to provide thorough descriptions of developmental change between the ages of one and three years, but to offer an original theoretical framework that explains how change occurs in different domains and how genetics and the environment influence those changes. In fact, this rigorous study will set the agenda for developmental psychology and behavioural genetics for decades to come.

Typically, we make sense of our experiences and interactions in a way that is guided by emotion and that takes the form of a narrative or a story. Using narratives, we can tell others about our experience, share common meanings, imagine possibilities, and co-construct new meanings. It is thus a momentous development when, at around age three, a child acquires the capacity to construct narratives. The book reports the work of a 20-year collaboration between 36 psychologists who have created and investigated a new tool to elicit and analyze children's narratives. This tool is the MacArthur Story Stem Battery, a systematic collection of story beginnings that are referred to as 'stems.' These stems are designed to elicit information from children about their representational worlds. This method is particularly exciting because using it allows developmental psychologists to gain information directly from children about their emotional states and what they are able to understand, and in turn, to use this information to explore significant emotional differences among children.

"Continuities and Discontinuities in Development" was the theme for the Second Biennial DPRG Retreat, a three-day meeting held at Estes Park, Colorado, in June 1982. The meeting was sponsored by the Devel­ opmental Psychobiology Research Group (DPRG) of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. The DPRG is a group of individuals conducting research in many areas of develop­ ment who meet on a regular basis to present and discuss their work and receive feedback and encouragement. In 1974, this group was awarded an endowment fund by the Grant Foundation, the aims of which were to facilitate the research of young investigators, to encourage new re­ search, and to provide seed money for collaborative ventures. Much of the work reported in this volume and in the earlier volume from the First DPRG Retreat is the result of that support. In addition to the work of the members of the DPRG, a select group of guests was invited to participate in the meeting and contribute to this volume. The chapters by William Greenough, Jerome Kagan, and Michael Rutter result from the participation of these scholars at the retreat. We would like to acknowledge the support of a number of indi­ viduals who have been instrumental in supporting the DPRG as a whole, as well as those who contributed directly to the Second Biennial Retreat and to the volume.

This book is devoted to a topic that is fundamental value for psychoanalytic research; namely a quest for the roots of psychopathological impediments and disorders as well as the related question as to what extent these developmental disturbances can be avoided by adequate early parenting.

"Continuities and Discontinuities in Development" was the theme for the Second Biennial DPRG Retreat, a three-day meeting held at Estes Park, Colorado, in June 1982. The meeting was sponsored by the Devel­ opmental Psychobiology Research Group (DPRG) of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. The DPRG is a group of individuals conducting research in many areas of develop­ ment who meet on a regular basis to present and discuss their work and receive feedback and encouragement. In 1974, this group was awarded an endowment fund by the Grant Foundation, the aims of which were to facilitate the research of young investigators, to encourage new re­ search, and to provide seed money for collaborative ventures. Much of the work reported in this volume and in the earlier volume from the First DPRG Retreat is the result of that support. In addition to the work of the members of the DPRG, a select group of guests was invited to participate in the meeting and contribute to this volume. The chapters by William Greenough, Jerome Kagan, and Michael Rutter result from the participation of these scholars at the retreat. We would like to acknowledge the support of a number of indi­ viduals who have been instrumental in supporting the DPRG as a whole, as well as those who contributed directly to the Second Biennial Retreat and to the volume.