Developmental Transitions


Book Description

How can we make sense of change and stability through the lifespan of human development? What role does personal experience, our relationships with others, and historical and sociocultural contexts play in shaping these changes? This is the first book to offer an integrative overview of the range of developmental transitions which occur through the lifespan. Bringing together different theoretical and conceptual perspectives and a broad range of empirical research including quantitative and qualitative approaches, this book encompasses a range of complex transitional forms. Covering topics such as health transitions, transitions in friendships and romantic relationships, career transitions, and societal transitions, this book takes the reader beyond a focus on childhood and adolescence, to look at the whole lifespan. Reflecting a perspective that takes into account a sociocultural past and present, this book seeks to show how transitions can be viewed as both an experience of uncertainty and possibility. Transitions perform important functions and present psychosocial opportunities. Developmental Transitions is essential reading for all undergraduate and graduate students of developmental and cultural psychology and is also a valuable resource for academics and practitioner audiences interested in stability and change as people age.







Cognitive Developmental Change


Book Description

Cognitive Developmental Change makes a fascinating contribution to the fields of developmental, cognitive and educational science by bringing together a uniquely diverse range of perspectives for analysing the dynamics of change. Connecting traditional Piagetian, information processing, and psychometric approaches with newer frameworks for the analysis of developmental change it provides the reader with an account of the latest theory and research at the time of publication. The contributors to the volume, all internationally respected experts, were asked when writing to consider three main aspects of cognitive change. Its object (what changes in the mind during development), its nature (how does change occur?) and its causes (why does change occur? Or, what are the internal and external factors responsible for cognitive change?). As a result chapters cover key theories of cognitive change, the factors that affect change including neurological, emotional and socio-cultural factors and methods for measuring and modelling change.




Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change


Book Description

In this important book, successful organizations—including well-known companies such as Agilent Technologies, Corning, GE Capital, Hewlett Packard, Honeywell Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, MIT, Motorola, and Praxair—share their most effective approaches, tools, and specific methods for leadership development and organizational change. These exemplary organizations serve as models for leadership development and organizational change because they Commit to organizational objectives and culture Transform behaviors, cultures, and perceptions Implement competency or organization effectiveness models Exhibit strong top management leadership support and passion




The Promise of Adolescence


Book Description

Adolescenceâ€"beginning with the onset of puberty and ending in the mid-20sâ€"is a critical period of development during which key areas of the brain mature and develop. These changes in brain structure, function, and connectivity mark adolescence as a period of opportunity to discover new vistas, to form relationships with peers and adults, and to explore one's developing identity. It is also a period of resilience that can ameliorate childhood setbacks and set the stage for a thriving trajectory over the life course. Because adolescents comprise nearly one-fourth of the entire U.S. population, the nation needs policies and practices that will better leverage these developmental opportunities to harness the promise of adolescenceâ€"rather than focusing myopically on containing its risks. This report examines the neurobiological and socio-behavioral science of adolescent development and outlines how this knowledge can be applied, both to promote adolescent well-being, resilience, and development, and to rectify structural barriers and inequalities in opportunity, enabling all adolescents to flourish.




Individual Development and Social Change


Book Description

Individual Development and Social Change: Explanatory Analysis represents a convergence of three lines of emphasis now visible in developmental research and theory building. The three are (1) the life course as a focus for the study of development and social change, and their interrelationships; (2) the life-span orientation to the study of individual development, with its acknowledgment of the salience of contextual features for understanding development; and (3) the growth of methodological innovations that provide more appropriate and powerful ways of exploiting data gathered to describe and explain developmental change processes. The book opens with a study on how major cultural change originates and unfolds over time. This is followed by separate chapters on the use of sequential designs for explanatory analyses; evolutionary aspects of social and individual development; the concepts of the theory of causal and weak causal regressive dependence; and the concepts of age, period, and cohort from the perspective of developmental psychology. Subsequent chapters examine development and aging as lifelong processes of historical populations; the methodological integration of natural and cultural science perspectives in developmental psychology; and application of the multifaceted methodology to the mutuality of constraint between sociocultural group and individual dynamics.




Beyond Change Management


Book Description

"With this extensively upgraded second edition, Dean Anderson and Linda Ackerman Anderson solidify their status as the leading authorities on change leadership and organizational transformation. This is without question the most comprehensive approach for leaders who are serious about making change a strategic discipline." —Jim Kouzes, Author, The Leadership Challenge and The Truth About Leadership A comprehensive look at what it really takes to lead transformation successfully, written by two of the "masters of the craft." The author's best-selling first edition has been significantly updated to deliver critical insights about how leaders can achieve breakthrough results from transformational change, even in these challenging times. The book introduces conscious change leadership and provides insights about the critical human and change process dynamics that leaders must be aware of in order to succeed, and reveals why most leaders do not see these dynamics. Most importantly, it highlights the shift in worldview leaders must make to deliver greater success. The book outlines the author's highly successful "multi-dimensional, process approach" to transformation, addressing change at the organizational, team, relational, and personal levels. It thoroughly addresses leadership mindset and behavioral modeling, culture change, and large systems implementations, providing best practices developed over three decades of successful consulting to Fortune 500 executives. Written for executives and managers, OD consultants, change managers, project managers, and change consultants, this must read book provides the foundation for successful change leadership and consulting. Based on thirty years of action research with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, the military, and large non-profit global organizations Provides worksheets, tools, case examples, and assessments that you can immediately apply to all types of change efforts Contrasts two vastly different leadership approaches to change, and reveals why only one works Provides solutions for turning employee resistance into commitment Outlines the common mistakes in change and how you can avoid them Reveals the differences between transformation and other types of change so you can build strategies that really get results Beyond Change Management advances the field of change leadership, and takes the concept of managing change in organizations to a whole new level. It is a must read for anyone wanting to stay abreast of advancements in the field. Together with its companion volume, The Change Leader’s Roadmap: How to Navigate Your Organization’s Transformation, these books can be used as texts in corporate or graduate school training programs and courses.




Facilitating Developmental Attachment


Book Description

This book shows how to work successfully with emotional and behavioral problems rooted in deficient early attachments. In particular, it addresses the emotional difficulties of many of the foster and adopted children living in our country who are unable to form secure attachments. Traditional interventions, which do not teach parents how to successfully engage the child, frequently do not provide the means by which the seriously damaged child can form the secure attachment that underlies behavioral change. Dr. Daniel Hughes maps out a treatment plan designed to help the child begin to experience and accept, from both the therapist and the parents, affective attunement that he or she should have received in the first few years of life. Hughes' approach includes: —Using foster and adopted parents as co-therapists —Teaching differentiation between old and new parents —Overcoming the perception of discipline as abusive —Framing misbehavior, discipline, conflicts, and parental authority as important aspects of a child's learning to trust. All children, at the core of their beings, need to be attached to someone who considers them to be very special and who is committed to providing for their ongoing care. Children who lose their birth parents desperately need such a relationship if they are to heal and grow. This book shows therapists how to facilitate this crucial bond. A Jason Aronson Book







Constancy and Change in Human Development


Book Description

How malleable is human nature? Can an individual really change in meaningful ways? Or, are there immutable limits on the possibilities of human growth set in place by genes and early childhood experiences? These questions touch our deepest political and personal concerns, and have long been a matter of fierce debate in the behavioral sciences.