Infancy: The Basics

Infancy: The Basics offers an introduction to the developmental science behind the fascinating world of infant development. This book takes the reader from before birth through the moment infants come into the world seemingly unable to do much but eat, eliminate, and sleep, and across the few short, incredible years, to when infants are walking, talking, thinking humans with clear preferences, wishes, and dreams, having already forged strong long-lasting relationships.

Dispelling common myths and misconceptions about how infants’ perception, cognition, language, and personalities develop, this accessible evidence-based book takes a novel whole-child approach and provides insight into the joint roles of nature (biology) and nurture (experiences) in infant development, how to care for babies to give them the best start in life, and what it means for infants to become thinking communicating social partners. Topics in this book are covered with an eye firmly fixed on how infants’ first years set the stage for the rest of their lives. By helping us understand infants, experts Marc H. Bornstein and Martha E. Arterberry give us the opportunity to learn about the resiliency of our species and the many different contexts in which families rear infants. They cover key topics, including how babies are studied scientifically, prenatal development and the newborn period, how infants explore and understand the world around them, how infants begin to communicate, how infants develop an emotional life, personality, and temperament, how infants build relationships, and how parents succeed in bringing up babies in challenging circumstances.

This concise clear guide to the years from before birth to 3 is for students of developmental psychology, pediatric medicine and nursing, education, and social work. It also for all parents and professionals caring for infants, who want to understand the secret world of infancy.