Richard M. Lerner & Lynn S. Liben 
Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science, Volume 2, Cognitive Processes 

The essential reference for human development theory, updated
and reconceptualized

The Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental
Science, a four-volume reference, is the field-defining work to
which all others are compared. First published in 1946, and now in
its Seventh Edition, the Handbook has long been considered
the definitive guide to the field of developmental science.

Volume 2: Cognitive Processes describes cognitive
development as a relational phenomenon that can be studied only as
part of a larger whole of the person and context relational system
that sustains it. In this volume, specific domains of cognitive
development are contextualized with respect to biological processes
and sociocultural contexts. Furthermore, key themes and issues
(e.g., the importance of symbolic systems and social understanding)
are threaded across multiple chapters, although every each chapter
is focused on a different domain within cognitive development.
Thus, both within and across chapters, the complexity and
interconnectivity of cognitive development are well
illuminated.

* Learn about the inextricable intertwining of perceptual
development, motor development, emotional development, and brain
development

* Understand the complexity of cognitive development without
misleading simplification, reducing cognitive development to its
biological substrates, or viewing it as a passive socialization
process

* Discover how each portion of the developmental process
contributes to subsequent cognitive development

* Examine the multiple processes – such as categorizing,
reasoning, thinking, decision making and judgment – that
comprise cognition

The scholarship within this volume and, as well, across the four
volumes of this edition, illustrate that developmental science is
in the midst of a very exciting period. There is a paradigm shift
that involves increasingly greater understanding of how to
describe, explain, and optimize the course of human life for
diverse individuals living within diverse contexts. This
Handbook is the definitive reference for educators,
policy-makers, researchers, students, and practitioners in human
development, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and
neuroscience.

Table of Content

Foreword to the Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science, Seventh Edition v

Preface xiii

Volume 2 Preface xxi

Contributors xxiii

1 REFLECTIONS ON COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 1
Lynn S. Liben and Ulrich Müller

2 BRAIN AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 9
Joan Stiles, Timothy T. Brown, Frank Haist, and Terry L. Jernigan

3 PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT 63
Scott P. Johnson and Erin E. Hannon

4 MOTOR DEVELOPMENT 113
Karen E. Adolph and Scott R. Robinson

5 ATTENTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 158
Jelena Ristic and James T. Enns

6 MEMORY DEVELOPMENT 203
Mark L. Howe

7 THE DEVELOPMENT OF SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION 250
Tara Callaghan and John Corbit

8 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT 296
Brian Mac Whinney

9 GESTURE AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 339
Susan Goldin-Meadow

10 THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL UNDERSTANDING 381
Jeremy I. M. Carpendale and Charlie Lewis

11 THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLAY 425
Angeline S. Lillard

12 CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT 469
Vladimir Sloutsky

13 THE DEVELOPMENT OF REASONING 519
Robert B. Ricco

14 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION 571
Ulrich Müller and Kimberly Kerns

15 THE DEVELOPMENT OF TEMPORAL COGNITION 624
Teresa Mc Cormack

16 THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC THINKING 671
Richard Lehrer and Leona Schauble

17 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICAL REASONING 715
Terezinha Nunes and Peter Bryant

18 LITERACY DEVELOPMENT 763
Christopher J. Lonigan

19 GENDER AND SOCIAL-COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 806
Campbell Leaper

20 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURE 854
Mary Gauvain and Susan Perez

21 ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT 897
Constance Milbrath, Gary E. Mc Pherson, and Margaret S. Osborne

22 MEDIA AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 949
Daniel R. Anderson and Heather L. Kirkorian

23 ATYPICAL COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 995
Bruce F. Pennington

Author Index 1043

Subject Index 1083

About the author

Editor-in-Chief
Richard M. Lerner, Ph D is Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science at the Eliot-Pearson Department at Tufts University. He is the author of many publications, including Pathways to Positive Development about Diverse Youth and New Directions for Youth Development: Theory, Practice, and Research (Jossey-Bass). Dr Lerner is also a past editor of the Journal of Research on Adolescence and The Handbook of Life-Span Development (Wiley).