A Comprehensive And Insightful Psychosocial Analysis Of...

This book provides a comprehensive and insightful psychosocial analysis of human development across the lifespan. It encompasses a vast array of purported psychosocial developmental theories which are applicable to all practices within the helping professions and in general, corresponds primarily to the course of a human life. This book has 12 chapters where chapter contents include: the birth of a human being: what makes us who we are; a secure base: the importance of attachment; adolescence, identity and change; family systems and their life cycle; growing up with a disability and; themes in old age. Each chapter is supplemented with a brief summary and an activity section which allows readers an opportunity to become more engaged with chapter contents as well as facilitate critical thinking. The book concludes with a references and index section. Beckett and Taylor in chapters 3 through 5 and 8 covered the principles of attachment, cognitive development, behaviorism and the family systems theory respectively. Attachment theory â€Å"is based on the proposition that the way we relate to others throughout our lives is shaped by our first relationship with our primary carer, who traditionally and still usually is the mother† (p. 41). Key to the development of attachment theory is John Bowlby who is affectionately dubbed the â€Å"father† of attachment theory (p. 41). Bowlby’s theory asserts that external factors influence a child’s development; particularly the impact of separation