Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

The Fifth Edition of David Shaffer's popular text presents the facts, theories, and processes of developmental psychology in a clear, easy-to-read style that ensures student interest and understanding. Long known for the way he conveys his love of the discipline, Shaffer continues to stress the fundamental interplay among biological, cognitive, social, and cultural influences of each aspect of development so students don't lose sight of the whole person and the holistic character of human development. Students learn new topics as they are introduced, and then are shown how everything they've learned fits together into a coherent storyline of developmental psychology. Throughout the book, Shaffer clearly describes the major points of the major theories, compares them to other theories, shows their strengths and weaknesses, and admits when conflicts have not been resolved.

Average Customer Rating:

SHAFFER: DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, SIXTH EDITION (2001)

Customer Rating:

I wrote the instructor's test bank for the 2001 Sixth edition of the Shaffer text book: 504 pages of multiple choice and essay test questions, supplied to faculty who teach with the book. Shaffer's book is organized as a "topically arranged" textbook. About half the child psych textbooks are topically arranged ---- each chapter has a topic, and all age levels are considered. This arrangement allows greater in-depth coverage opf the ,material than the chronological arrangement of half the titles in this area. The advantage of the chronological arrangement is that there is better awareness of the kids getting older as the semester progresses. Today, I use both arrangements, with a topical book in the fall semester and a chronological book in the spring semester. I did NOT adopt the Shaffer 6/e book as my topical book: It is for an upper division course in child psychology, and noticeably harder than the chronological text I have adopted. I had to select a lower-division topical book instead (Seigler, DeLoach, & Eisenberg: How Children Develop, 1/e). But I have several copies of the Shaffer book on reserve at the library, for extra credit testing. Shaffer's book is advanced and students will need to read it slowly and carefully. BEST CHAPTER is Ch. 12: The Self & Social Cognition.. My main criticism of the Shaffer book is that 99% of the narrative is identical between the fourth, fifth, and sixth editions. When writing the 6/e Test Bank, I told the editor that the ONLY ORIGINALITY in the entire Sixth Edition project was my Test Bank (90% fresh questions); the book, study guide, and Instructor's manual were 99% identical to the previous edition. ----- Psychology professor, Gallup NM

A little wordy, but interesting

Customer Rating:

The first couple of chapters are a bit boring and wordy, but then it gets more engaging. Actually the material is all interesting, but could have been condensed about 4 times, then the book would weigh a lot less and teach a lot more. I think that if this is at least someone's second phych course, they would benefit more from a smaller text that taught the same info with fewer words. Unfortunately, most intro undergraduate texts are ridiculously bulky for no good reason, so in comparison this one is quite good.