Humanizing Child Developmental Theory: A Holistic Approach

ISBN: 059569098X

Author: Derobertis, Eugene M

Condition: New

According to historians of childhood, Westerners are placing an increasingly high value on the welfare of their children as unique individuals. This humanistic cultural shift has not found its way into developmental psychology courses, leaving a vital gap in curriculum at many universities. From a fresh, holistic perspective, psychology professor Eugene M. DeRobertis applies humanistic viewpoints in psychology to the study of child development. Unlike most child development texts, which concentrate on subdivisions of the child's personality, the observations and discussions here focus on the child as a whole. Drawing on many schools of thought including American humanism, existential-phenomenology, psychoanalysis, neo-analytic theories, object-relations theory, self-psychology, and Gestalt psychology, Dr. DeRobertis opens an important dialogue to all teachers and students of human development. Packed with illustrations, empirical findings, references, and key concepts, Humanizing Child Developmental Theory delivers an overarching theoretical framework for putting developmental issues into context: Existential-Humanistic Self-Development Theory (EHSDT). A significant and accessible contribution to developmental theorizing, this groundbreaking text gives psychology instructors and their students a relevant and much-needed humanistic approach to child development.