This two-volume work levels both criticism and challenge to traditional developmental psychology. For too long, developmental psychologists have been studying individuals as if they developed in a sociocultural vacuum. As psychologists began to study the individual's development more broadly, they considered the impact of a number of other factors in the physical and social environment: early education, sociocultural differences, mass communication, alternative living arrangements, and medical care--to name but a few.

Volume I, Historical and Cultural Issues, examines the problems of behavioral development from historical, political, theoretical, and cultural points of view. A number of content areas already familiar to developmental psychologists are discussed: Piaget's theory, perceptual development, socialization, and language acquisition. In addition, topics relatively unfamiliar to American psychologists are included: the contribution of early European developmentalists such as William and Clara Stern, Alfred Binet, and Eduard Spranger; and an introduction to recent Soviet developmental theory.

Volume II, Social and Environmental Issues, considers the effects of changes in social and environmental conditions upon individual development. The expanding impact of technology such as the communications media, the importance of nutrition, and the design of playgrounds and other spaces for growing children are among the changes examined, as are the impact of social organizations and interactions within small groups, focusing upon preschool education, interaction within the family, and personality development throughout the individual's life.

This two-volume work levels both criticism and challenge to traditional developmental psychology. For too long, developmental psychologists have been studying individuals as if they developed in a sociocultural vacuum. As psychologists began to study the individual's development more broadly, they considered the impact of a number of other factors in the physical and social environment: early education, sociocultural differences, mass communication, alternative living arrangements, and medical care--to name but a few. Volume I, Historical and Cultural Issues, examines the problems of behavioral development from historical, political, theoretical, and cultural points of view. A number of content areas already familiar to developmental psychologists are discussed: Piaget's theory, perceptual development, socialization, and language acquisition. In addition, topics relatively unfamiliar to American psychologists are included: the contribution of early European developmentalists such as William and Clara Stern, Alfred Binet, and Eduard Spranger; and an introduction to recent Soviet developmental theory. Volume II, Social and Environmental Issues, considers the effects of changes in social and environmental conditions upon individual development. The expanding impact of technology such as the communications media, the importance of nutrition, and the design of playgrounds and other spaces for growing children are among the changes examined, as are the impact of social organizations and interactions within small groups, focusing upon preschool education, interaction within the family, and personality development throughout the individual's life.

This book documents my return to a topic that has always been one of my closest interests: the systematic study of intellectual and political history. I became involved in historical studies while in high school and continued this work during the years that I spent as a metalworker in a shipyard and in a factory. Indeed, I succeeded in being admitted to the University of Hamburg only after submitting a comparative analysis of the history of early Greek and early Western philosophy to the late Professor G. Ralfs. He gave me much encouragement and remained one of my main academic sponsors during the years in Hamburg. Recently, I translated into English the manuscript that had opened the doors of the university for me, and ex tended it to the history of psychology. The results present the unfolding of an intellectual theme as if it were an historical dialogue. They (chaps. 10 and 11) are, perhaps, controversial achievements, but they are among my proudest. Before I began my studies in psychology and philosophy, I spent al most two years in physics and mathematics. Subsequently, I began to approach psychology with a natural-science emphasis. Even when I began to shift my attention from general experimental to developmental psychol ogy (especially gerontology), I continued to maintain this orientation and deemphasized my historical interest. This interest did not find any reso nance in the developmental research and theory of these years anyhow."