Human growth & development / Chris Beckett and Hilary Taylor

Includes references and index

1. The birth of a human being: what makes us who we are -- 2. The balancing act: psychodynamic insight -- 3. A secure base: the importance of attachment -- 4. The emergence of reason: the developing aility to understand -- 5. Making connections: ideas from behaviourism -- 6. Who am I going to be? adolescence, identity and change -- 7. Acting like a grown-up: challenges of adulthood -- 8. Access to adulthood: growing up with disability -- 9. No man is an island: family systems and their life cycle -- 10. It takes a village: a sociological perspective -- 11. Coming to a conclusion: dimensions of old age -- 12. That goodnight: death, dying and bereavement.

The book very loosely follows the shape of a human life, beginning with a birth and ending with a death, but many of the chapters deal with ideas and topics that are relevant at many different stages of life, such as bereavement, attachment and learning.