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Brief Contents
I THEORY AND RESEARCH IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions 2
2 Research Strategies 40

II FOUNDATIONS OF DEVELOPMENT
3 Biological Foundations, Prenatal Development, and Birth 72
4 Infancy: Early Learning, Motor Skills, and Perceptual Capacities 128
5 Physical Growth 174

III COGNITIVE AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

6 Cognitive Development: Piagetian, Core Knowledge, and Vygotskian
Perspectives 224
7 Cognitive Development: An Information-Processing Perspective 276
8 Intelligence 318
9 Language Development 358

IV PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

10 Emotional Development 400
11 Self and Social Understanding 446
12 Moral Development 484
13 Development of Sex Differences and Gender Roles 528

V CONTEXTS FOR DEVELOPMENT

14 The Family 566
15 Peers, Media, and Schooling 606

iv
Features at a Glance
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Resilient Children 10
Prenatal Iron Deficiency and Memory
Impairments in Infants of Diabetic Mothers:
Findings of ERP Research 49
A Case of Epigenesis: Smoking During
Pregnancy Alters Gene Expression 125
“Tuning In” to Familiar Speech, Faces, and
Music: A Sensitive Period for Culture-Specific
Learning 156
Brain Plasticity: Insights from Research on
Brain-Damaged Children and Adults 188
Low-Level Lead Exposure and Children’s
Development 193
Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder 290
Infantile Amnesia 301
Deaf Children Invent Language 362
Language Development in Children with
Williams Syndrome 366
Parental Depression and Child
Development 404
Development of Shyness and Sociability 422
“Mindblindness” and Autism 457
Two Routes to Adolescent Delinquency 520
Sex Differences in Spatial Abilities 556
Does Parenting Really Matter? 578
Bullies and Their Victims 621
CULTURAL INFLUENCES
!Kung Infancy: Acquiring Culture 26
Immigrant Youths: Adapting to a New
Land 53
Cultural Variation in Infant Sleeping
Arrangements 134
Social Origins of Make-Believe Play 270
Children in Village and Tribal Cultures
Observe and Participate in Adult Work 273
The Powerful Role of Paternal Warmth in
Development 439
Cultural Variations in Personal Storytelling:
Implications for Early Self-Concept 451
Identity Development among Ethnic Minority
Adolescents 475
Ethnic Differences in the Consequences of
Physical Punishment 493
Impact of Ethnic and Political Violence on
Children 524
Sweden’s Commitment to Gender Equality 536
The African-American Extended Family 583
SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH
Family Chaos Undermines Children’s
Well-Being 29
Welfare Reform, Poverty, and Child
Development 36
Children’s Research Risks: Developmental
and Individual Differences 68
The Pros and Cons of Reproductive
Technologies 86
A Cross-National Perspective on Health
Care and Other Policies for Parents and
Newborn Babies 118
The Mysterious Tragedy of Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome 136
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth: Coming
Out to Oneself and Others 216
Does Child Care Threaten Infant Attachment
Security and Later Adjustment? 442
Adolescent Suicide: Annihilation of the
Self 472
The Transition to Parenthood 570
Child Sexual Abuse 601
Adolescent Substance Use and Abuse 626
SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION
Can Musical Experiences Enhance
Intelligence? 59
Development of Infants with Severe Visual
Impairments 162
Sex Differences in Gross-Motor
Development 180
Baby Learning from TV and Video: The Video
Deficit Effect 237
Speech–Gesture Mismatches: Using the Hand
to Read the Mind 285
Media Multitasking Disrupts Learning 293
Emotional Intelligence 327
High-Stakes Testing 343
The Head Start REDI Program: Strengthening
School Readiness in Economically
Disadvantaged Preschoolers 351
Parent–Child Interaction: Impact on
Language and Cognitive Development of
Deaf Children 372
Two Approaches to Bilingual Education:
Canada and the United States 397
Development of Civic Responsibility 508
Children Learn About Gender Through
Mother–Child Conversations 540
Teaching Children to Challenge Peers’ Sexist
Remarks 545
School Recess—A Time to Play, a Time to
Learn 639
Magnet Schools: Equal Access to High-Quality
Education 645
APPLYING WHAT WE KNOW
Do’s and Don’ts for a Healthy Pregnancy 107
Soothing a Crying Baby 137
Reasons to Breastfeed 195
Communicating with Adolescents About
Sexual Issues 213
Enhancing Make-Believe Play in Early
Childhood 241
Handling Consequences of Teenagers’ New
Cognitive Capacities 255
Promoting Children’s Cognitive Self-
Regulation 305
Supporting Emergent Literacy in Early
Childhood 309
Features of a High-Quality Home Life in
Infancy and Toddlerhood, Early Childhood,
and Middle Childhood: The HOME
Subscales 344
Promoting Children’s Creativity 355
Supporting Early Language Learning 373
Helping Children Manage Common Fears
of Early Childhood 411
Signs of Developmentally Appropriate
Infant and Toddler Child Care 443
Fostering a Mastery-Oriented Approach
to Learning 468
Supporting Healthy Identity
Development 474
Positive Parenting 495
Reducing Children’s Gender Stereotyping
and Gender-Role Conformity 563
Helping Children Adjust to Their Parents’
Divorce 594
Signs of Developmentally Appropriate Early
Childhood Programs 598
Regulating TV, Computer, and Cell Phone
Use 636
v
Contents
A Personal Note to Students xiii
Preface for Instructors xiv CHAPTER 2
Research Strategies 40
P A R T I From Theory to Hypothesis 41
Theory and Research in Child Development Common Research Methods 42
Systematic Observation 42

CHAPTER 1 Self-Reports: Interviews and Questionnaires

Neurobiological Methods 47
46

History, Theory, and Applied Directions 2 BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Prenatal Iron Deficiency and
Memory Impairments in Infants of Diabetic Mothers: Findings of
The Field of Child Development 4 ERP Research 49
Domains of Development 4 The Clinical, or Case Study, Method 50
Periods of Development 5 Methods for Studying Culture 51
Basic Issues 6 CULTURAL INFLUENCES Immigrant Youths: Adapting to a
Continuous or Discontinuous Development? 7 New Land 53
One Course of Development or Many? 8 Reliability and Validity: Keys to Scientifically Sound
Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture? 8 Research 54
A Balanced Point of View 9 Reliability 54
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Resilient Children 10 Validity 54
Historical Foundations 10 General Research Designs 55
Medieval Times 10 Correlational Design 55
The Reformation 11 Experimental Design 56
Philosophies of the Enlightenment 12 Modified Experimental Designs 58
Scientific Beginnings 13 SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Can Musical Experiences Enhance
Mid-Twentieth-Century Theories 14 Intelligence? 59
The Psychoanalytic Perspective 15 Designs for Studying Development 60
Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory 17 The Longitudinal Design 60
Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory 19 The Cross-Sectional Design 62
Recent Theoretical Perspectives 21 Improving Developmental Designs 63
Information Processing 21 Ethics in Research on Children 66
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 23
SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH Children’s Research Risks: Developmental
Ethology and Evolutionary Developmental Psychology 23
and Individual Differences 68
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory 24
Summary 70
CULTURAL INFLUENCES !Kung Infancy: Acquiring Culture 26
Ecological Systems Theory 26 Important Terms and Concepts 71
SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH Family Chaos Undermines Children’s
Well-Being 29
New Directions: Development as a Dynamic System 30
P A R T I I
Comparing Child Development Theories 31 Foundations of Development
Applied Directions: Child Development and Social
Policy 32
Culture and Public Policies 34
CHAPTER 3
Contributions of Child Development Research 35 Biological Foundations, Prenatal
SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH Welfare Reform, Poverty, and Child Development, and Birth 72
Development 36
Genetic Foundations 73
Looking Toward the Future 37
The Genetic Code 74
Summary 38 The Sex Cells 75
Important Terms and Concepts 39 Boy or Girl? 76

vi
 CONTENTS vii

Multiple Offspring 76 Neonatal Behavioral Assessment 138

Patterns of Genetic Inheritance 77 Learning Capacities 139
Chromosomal Abnormalities 82 Motor Development in Infancy 147
Reproductive Choices 84 The Sequence of Motor Development 147
Genetic Counseling 84 MILESTONES Some Gross- and Fine-Motor Attainments of the
Prenatal Diagnosis and Fetal Medicine 84 First Two Years 148
SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH The Pros and Cons of Reproductive Motor Skills as Dynamic Systems 148
Technologies 86 Fine-Motor Development: Reaching and Grasping 150
Prenatal Development 88 Perceptual Development in Infancy 152
Conception 88 Touch 153
Period of the Zygote 89 Taste and Smell 154
MILESTONES Prenatal Development 90 Hearing 155
Period of the Embryo 91 BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT “Tuning In” to Familiar Speech,
Period of the Fetus 92 Faces, and Music: A Sensitive Period for Culture-Specific Learning 156
Prenatal Environmental Influences 94 MILESTONES Development of Touch, Taste, Smell, and Hearing 158
Teratogens 95 Vision 158
Other Maternal Factors 103 SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Development of Infants with Severe
Childbirth 107 Visual Impairments 162
The Baby’s Adaptation to Labor and Delivery 108 Intermodal Perception 166
The Newborn Baby’s Appearance 109 MILESTONES Visual Development in Infancy 167
Assessing the Newborn’s Physical Condition: The Apgar Understanding Perceptual Development 168
Scale 109
Early Deprivation and Enrichment: Is Infancy a
Approaches to Childbirth 109 Sensitive Period of Development? 169
Natural, or Prepared, Childbirth 110
Summary 172
Home Delivery 111
Labor and Delivery Medication 112 Important Terms and Concepts 173
Birth Complications 112
Oxygen Deprivation 112 CHAPTER 5
Preterm and Low-Birth-Weight Infants 113
Birth Complications, Parenting, and Resilience 117 Physical Growth 174
SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH A Cross-National Perspective on Health The Course of Physical Growth 176
Care and Other Policies for Parents and Newborn Babies 118 Changes in Body Size 176
Heredity, Environment, and Behavior: A Look Ahead 118 Changes in Body Proportions 176
The Question, “How Much?” 120 Changes in Muscle–Fat Makeup 177
The Question, “How?” 121 Skeletal Growth 178
Gains in Gross-Motor Skills 178
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT A Case of Epigenesis: Smoking
During Pregnancy Alters Gene Expression 125 MILESTONES Gross-Motor Development in Early and
Middle Childhood 179
Summary 126
SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Sex Differences in Gross-Motor
Important Terms and Concepts 127 Development 180
Hormonal Influences on Physical Growth 181
CHAPTER 4 Worldwide Variations in Body Size 183
Secular Trends 184

Infancy: Early Learning, Motor Skills, Brain Development 184

Development of Neurons 185
and Perceptual Capacities 128 Development of the Cerebral Cortex 186
The Organized Infant 129 BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Brain Plasticity: Insights from
Reflexes 130 Research on Brain-Damaged Children and Adults 188
States 132 Advances in Other Brain Structures 189
CULTURAL INFLUENCES Cultural Variation in Infant Sleeping Brain Development in Adolescence 190
Arrangements 134 Sensitive Periods in Brain Development 191
SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH The Mysterious Tragedy of Sudden Infant Factors Affecting Physical Growth 192
Death Syndrome 136 Heredity 192
viii CONTENTS
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Low-Level Lead Exposure
and Children’s Development 193
Nutrition 194
Infectious Disease 201
Emotional Well-Being 202
Puberty: The Physical Transition to Adulthood 203
Sexual Maturation in Girls 203
Sexual Maturation in Boys 203
MILESTONES Pubertal Development in North American Boys
and Girls 204
Individual and Group Differences in Pubertal
Growth 204
The Psychological Impact of Pubertal Events 205
Is Puberty Inevitably a Period of Storm and Stress? 205
Reactions to Pubertal Changes 206
Pubertal Change, Emotion, and Social Behavior 207
Pubertal Timing 208
Puberty and Adolescent Health 210
Eating Disorders 210
Sexuality 212
SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youths:
Coming Out to Oneself and Others 216
Sexually Transmitted Disease 217
Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenthood 217
A Concluding Note 221
Summary 221
Important Terms and Concepts 223
P A R T I I I
Cognitive and Language Development
CHAPTER 6 Observe and Participate in Adult Work 273
Cognitive Development: Piagetian,
Core Knowledge, and Vygotskian
Perspectives 224
Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory 226
Basic Characteristics of Piaget’s Stages 226
Piaget’s Ideas About Cognitive Change 226
The Sensorimotor Stage: Birth to 2 Years 228
Sensorimotor Development 228
Follow-Up Research on Infant Cognitive Development
Evaluation of the Sensorimotor Stage 236
SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Baby Learning from TV and Video:
The Video Deficit Effect 237
MILESTONES Some Cognitive Attainments of Infancy and
Toddlerhood 238
The Preoperational Stage: 2 to 7 Years 239
Advances in Mental Representation 239
Limitations of Preoperational Thought 243
Follow-Up Research on Preoperational Thought 245
MILESTONES Some Cognitive Attainments of Early Childhood 248
Evaluation of the Preoperational Stage 248
The Concrete Operational Stage: 7 to 11 Years 249
Concrete Operational Thought 249
Limitations of Concrete Operational Thought 252
Follow-Up Research on Concrete Operational Thought 252
MILESTONES Some Cognitive Attainments of Middle Childhood
and Adolescence 253
The Formal Operational Stage: 11 Years and Older 253
Hypothetico-Deductive Reasoning 253
Propositional Thought 254
Consequences of Adolescent Cognitive Changes 255
Follow-up Research on Formal Operational Thought 257
Piaget and Education 259
Overall Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory 260
Is Piaget’s Account of Cognitive Change Clear and Accurate? 260
Does Cognitive Development Take Place in Stages? 260
Piaget’s Legacy 261
The Core Knowledge Perspective 261
Infancy: Physical and Numerical Knowledge 262
Children as Naïve Theorists 264
Evaluation of the Core Knowledge Perspective 265
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory 266
Children’s Private Speech 266
Social Origins of Cognitive Development 267
Vygotsky’s View of Make-Believe Play 269
Vygotsky and Education 269
CULTURAL INFLUENCES Social Origins of Make-Believe Play 270
Reciprocal Teaching 271
Cooperative Learning 271
Evaluation of Vygotsky’s Theory 272
CULTURAL INFLUENCES Children in Village and Tribal Cultures
Summary 273
Important Terms and Concepts 275
CHAPTER 7
Cognitive Development: An Information-
Processing Perspective 276
The Information-Processing Approach 278
A General Model of Information Processing 278
230 Components of the Mental System 278
Implications for Development 280
Developmental Theories of Information Processing 282
Case’s Neo-Piagetian Theory 283
Siegler’s Model of Strategy Choice 284
SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Speech–Gesture Mismatches:
Using the Hand to Read the Mind 285
Attention 286
Sustained, Selective, and Adaptable Attention 286
Planning 289

BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Children with Attention-Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder 290
Memory 292
Strategies for Storing Information 292
SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Media Multitasking Disrupts
Learning 293
Retrieving Information 294
Knowledge and Semantic Memory 296
Episodic Memory 297
Eyewitness Memory 300
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Infantile Amnesia 301
Metacognition 303
Metacognitive Knowledge 303
Cognitive Self-Regulation 304
MILESTONES Development of Information Processing
Applications of Information Processing to
Academic Learning 307
Reading 307
Mathematics 310
Scientific Reasoning 313
Evaluation of the Information-Processing Approach 314
Summary 316
Important Terms and Concepts 317
CHAPTER 8 BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Deaf Children Invent Language 362
Intelligence 318
Definitions of Intelligence 320
Alfred Binet: A Holistic View 320
The Factor Analysts: A Multifaceted View 321
Recent Advances in Defining Intelligence 323
Combining Psychometric and Information-Processing
Approaches 323
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory 323
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences 325
Measuring Intelligence 326
SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Emotional Intelligence 327
Some Commonly Used Intelligence Tests 327
Aptitude and Achievement Tests 328
Tests for Infants 329
Computation and Distribution of IQ Scores 330
What Do Intelligence Tests Predict, and How Well? 330
Stability of IQ Scores 330
IQ as a Predictor of Academic Achievement 331
IQ as a Predictor of Occupational Attainment 332
IQ as a Predictor of Psychological Adjustment 333
Ethnic and Socioeconomic Variations in IQ 334
Explaining Individual and Group Differences in IQ
Genetic Influences 335
Adoption Studies: Joint Influence of Heredity and
Environment 337
CULTURAL INFLUENCES The Flynn Effect: Massive Generational
Gains in IQ 338
CONTENTS ix
Race and Ethnicity: Genetic or Cultural Groupings? 339
Cultural Bias in Testing 339
Reducing Cultural Bias in Testing 342
SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION High-Stakes Testing 343
Home Environment and Mental Development 344
Early Intervention and Intellectual Development 347
Benefits of Early Intervention 347
Strengthening Early Intervention 349
Giftedness: Creativity and Talent 350
The Psychometric View 350
SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION The Head Start REDI Program:
Strengthening School Readiness in Economically Disadvantaged
Preschoolers 351
A Multifaceted View 352
306
Summary 356
Important Terms and Concepts 357
CHAPTER 9
Language Development 358
Components of Language 360
Theories of Language Development 360
The Nativist Perspective 360
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Language Development in
Children with Williams Syndrome 366
The Interactionist Perspective 366
Prelinguistic Development: Getting Ready to Talk 368
Receptivity to Language 368
First Speech Sounds 370
Becoming a Communicator 370
SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Parent–Child Interaction: Impact
on Language and Cognitive Development of Deaf Children 372
Phonological Development 373
The Early Phase 373
Phonological Strategies 374
Later Phonological Development 375
Semantic Development 376
The Early Phase 376
Later Semantic Development 380
Ideas About How Semantic Development Takes Place 381
Grammatical Development 384
First Word Combinations 384
From Simple Sentences to Complex Grammar 385
Development of Complex Grammatical Forms 387
Later Grammatical Development 388
335 Ideas About How Grammatical Development Takes Place 388
Pragmatic Development 390
Acquiring Conversational Skills 390
Communicating Clearly 391
Narratives 392
Sociolinguistic Understanding 393
x CONTENTS

Development of Metalinguistic Awareness 394 Attachment, Parental Employment, and Child Care 441
Bilingualism: Learning Two Languages in Childhood 394 SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH Does Child Care Threaten Infant Attachment
MILESTONES Language Development 395 Security and Later Adjustment? 442

SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Two Approaches to Bilingual Education: Summary 444

Canada and the United States 397 Important Terms and Concepts 445
Summary 398
Important Terms and Concepts 399 CHAPTER 11
Self and Social Understanding 446
P A R T I V
Emergence of Self and Development of Self-Concept 448
Personality and Social Development Self-Awareness 448
The Categorical, Remembered, and Enduring Selves 450
CHAPTER 10 CULTURAL INFLUENCES Cultural Variations in Personal Storytelling:
Implications for Early Self-Concept 451
Emotional Development 400 The Inner Self: Young Children’s Theory of Mind 451
Self-Concept 456
Functions of Emotions 401
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT “Mindblindness” and Autism 457
Emotions and Cognitive Processing 402
Emotions and Social Behavior 402 Cognitive, Social, and Cultural Influences on Self-Concept 459
Emotions and Health 403 MILESTONES Emergence of Self and Development of
Self-Concept 460
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Parental Depression and Child
Development 404 Self-Esteem: The Evaluative Side of Self-Concept 461
Other Features of the Functionalist Approach 405 The Structure of Self-Esteem 461
Changes in Level of Self-Esteem: The Role of Social
Development of Emotional Expression 405
Comparisons 462
Basic Emotions 406 Influences on Self-Esteem 463
Self-Conscious Emotions 408 Achievement-Related Attributions 464
Emotional Self-Regulation 409
Acquiring Emotional Display Rules 412 Constructing an Identity: Who Should I Become? 468
Understanding and Responding to the Emotions of MILESTONES Development of Self-Esteem 469
Others 414 Paths to Identity 470
Social Referencing 414 Identity Status and Psychological Well-Being 471
Emotional Understanding in Childhood 415 SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH Adolescent Suicide: Annihilation of the
Empathy and Sympathy 416 Self 472
MILESTONES Emotional Development 417 Factors Affecting Identity Development 472
Temperament and Development 418 CULTURAL INFLUENCES Identity Development Among Ethnic
The Structure of Temperament 420 Minority Adolescents 475
Measuring Temperament 421 Thinking About Other People 476
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Development of Shyness and Understanding People as Personalities 476
Sociability 422 Understanding Social Groups: Race and Ethnicity 476
Stability of Temperament 423 Understanding Conflict: Social Problem Solving 480
Genetic and Environmental Influences 423 The Social Problem-Solving Process 480
Temperament as a Predictor of Children’s Behavior 425 Enhancing Social Problem Solving 481
Temperament and Child Rearing: The Goodness-of-Fit
Model 426 Summary 482
Development of Attachment 428 Important Terms and Concepts 483
Bowlby’s Ethological Theory 428
Measuring the Security of Attachment 430
Stability of Attachment 432
CHAPTER 12
Cultural Variations 432 Moral Development 484
Factors Affecting Attachment Security 433
Multiple Attachments 437 Morality as Rooted in Human Nature 486
CULTURAL INFLUENCES The Powerful Role of Paternal Warmth in Morality as the Adoption of Societal Norms 488
Development 439 Psychoanalytic Theory and the Role of Guilt 488
Attachment and Later Development 439 Social Learning Theory 490
 CONTENTS xi

CULTURAL INFLUENCES Ethnic Differences in the Consequences CULTURAL INFLUENCES Sweden’s Commitment to Gender
of Physical Punishment 493 Equality 536
Limitations of “Morality as the Adoption of Societal Norms” Environmental Influences 538
Perspective 494 SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Children Learn About Gender Through
Morality as Social Understanding 496 Mother–Child Conversations 540
Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development 496 SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Teaching Children to Challenge Peers’
Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory 497 Sexist Remarks 545
Kohlberg’s Extension of Piaget’s Theory 499
Research on Kohlberg’s Stages 502
Gender Identity 547
Are There Sex Differences in Moral Reasoning? 503 Emergence of Gender Identity 548
Influences on Moral Reasoning 504 Gender Identity in Middle Childhood 549
Moral Reasoning and Behavior 506 Gender Identity in Adolescence 550
Religious Involvement and Moral Development 507 Gender Schema Theory 551
MILESTONES Gender Typing 553
SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Development of Civic Responsibility 508
Further Challenges to Kohlberg’s Theory 509 To What Extent Do Boys and Girls Really Differ in
The Domain Approach to Moral Understanding 510 Gender-Stereotyped Attributes? 553
MILESTONES Internalization of Moral Norms and Development Mental Abilities 554
of Moral Understanding 513 BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Sex Differences in Spatial
Development of Morally Relevant Self-Control 514 Abilities 556
Toddlerhood 514 Personality Traits 558
Childhood and Adolescence 515 Developing Non-Gender-Stereotyped Children 562
Individual Differences 516
Summary 564
The Other Side of Self-Control: Development of
Important Terms and Concepts 565
Aggression 516
MILESTONES Development of Morally Relevant Self-Control
and Aggression 517
P A R T V
Emergence of Aggression 517
Aggression in Early and Middle Childhood 518 Contexts for Development
Aggression and Delinquency in Adolescence 518
Stability of Aggression 519
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Two Routes to Adolescent
CHAPTER 14
Delinquency 520 The Family 566
The Family as Training Ground for Aggressive Behavior 520
Social-Cognitive Deficits and Distortions 522 Origins and Functions of the Family 568
Community and Cultural Influences 523 The Family as a Social System 569
Helping Children and Parents Control Aggression 523 Direct Influences 569
CULTURAL INFLUENCES Impact of Ethnic and Political Violence Indirect Influences 569
on Children 524 SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH The Transition to Parenthood 570
Summary 526 Adapting to Change 571
Important Terms and Concepts 527 The Family System in Context 571
Socialization Within the Family 573
CHAPTER 13 Styles of Child Rearing 573
What Makes the Authoritative Style Effective? 575
Adapting Child Rearing to Children’s Development 577
Development of Sex Differences
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Does Parenting Really Matter? 578
and Gender Roles 528 Socioeconomic and Ethnic Variations in Child Rearing 580
Gender Stereotypes and Gender Roles 530 CULTURAL INFLUENCES The African-American Extended Family 583
Gender Stereotyping in Early Childhood 531 Family Lifestyles and Transitions 584
Gender Stereotyping in Middle Childhood and
From Large to Small Families 584
Adolescence 532
One-Child Families 587
Individual and Group Differences in Gender Stereotyping 533
Adoptive Families 588
Gender Stereotyping and Gender-Role Adoption 534
Gay and Lesbian Families 589
Influences on Gender Stereotyping and Gender-Role Never-Married Single-Parent Families 590
Adoption 535 Divorce 590
Biological Influences 535 Blended Families 594
xii CONTENTS

Maternal Employment and Dual-Earner Families 595 Media 629

Child Care 596 Television 629
Self-Care 597 Computers, Cell Phones, and the Internet 632
Vulnerable Families: Child Maltreatment 599 Regulating Media Use 635
Incidence and Definitions 599 Schooling 637
Origins of Child Maltreatment 600 Class and Student Body Size 637
SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH Child Sexual Abuse 601 Educational Philosophies 638
Consequences of Child Maltreatment 602 SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION School Recess—A Time to Play,
Preventing Child Maltreatment 603 a Time to Learn 639
Summary 604 School Transitions 640
Teacher–Student Interaction 643
Important Terms and Concepts 605
Grouping Practices 643
SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Magnet Schools: Equal Access to
CHAPTER 15 High-Quality Education 645
Teaching Students with Special Needs 646
Peers, Media, and Schooling 606 Parent–School Partnerships 647
How Well-Educated Are American Young People? 647
Peer Relations 607
Summary 650
Development of Peer Sociability 608
Influences on Peer Sociability 611 Important Terms and Concepts 652
Friendship 613
Peer Acceptance 618
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT Bullies and Their Victims 621
Glossary G-1
Peer Groups 622
Dating 624 References R-1
Peer Pressure and Conformity 625
SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH Adolescent Substance Use and Abuse 626
Name Index NI-1
MILESTONES Development of Peer Relations 628 Subject Index SI-1
A Personal Note to Students
My more than 30 years of teaching child development have brought me in contact with
thousands of students like you—students with diverse majors, future goals, interests,
and needs. Some are affiliated with my own field, psychology, but many come from
other related fields—education, sociology, anthropology, family studies, social service,
nursing, and biology, to name just a few. Each semester, my students’ aspirations have
proven to be as varied as their fields of study. Many look toward careers in applied
work with children—teaching, caregiving, nursing, counseling, social service, school
psychology, and program administration. Some plan to teach child development, and
a few want to do research. Most hope someday to become parents, whereas others are
already parents who come with a desire to better understand and rear their children.
And almost all arrive with a deep curiosity about how they themselves developed from
tiny infants into the complex human beings they are today.
My goal in preparing this ninth edition of Child Development is to provide a textbook
that meets the instructional goals of your course as well as your personal interests and
needs. To achieve these objectives, I have grounded this book in a carefully selected
body of classic and current theory and research brought to life with stories and vignettes
about children and families, most of whom I have known personally. In addition, the
text highlights the joint contributions of biology and environment to the developing
child, explains how the research process helps solve real-world problems, illustrates
commonalities and differences between ethnic groups and cultures, discusses the broader
social contexts in which children develop, and pays special attention to policy issues that
are crucial for safeguarding children’s well-being in today’s world. Woven throughout
the text is a unique pedagogical program that will assist you in mastering information,
integrating the various aspects of development, critically examining controversial
issues, applying what you have learned, and relating the information to real life.
I hope that learning about child development will be as rewarding for you as I have
found it over the years. I would like to know what you think about both the field of child
development and this book. I welcome your comments; please feel free to send them to
me at Department of Psychology, Box 4620, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790,
or in care of the publisher, who will forward them to me.
Laura E. Berk

xiii
Preface for Instructors
My decision to write Child Development was inspired by a wealth
of professional and personal experiences. First and foremost
were the interests and needs of thousands of students of child
development in my classes in more than three decades of college
teaching. I aimed for a text that is intellectually stimulating, that
provides depth as well as breadth of coverage, that portrays the
complexities of child development with clarity and excitement,
and that is relevant and useful in building a bridge from theory
and research to children’s everyday lives.
Today, Child Development reaches around the globe, with
editions published in six languages: English, Chinese, Georgian,
Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. Instructor and student enthu-
siasm for the book not only has been among my greatest sources
of pride and satisfaction but also has inspired me to rethink and
improve each edition. I am honored and humbled to have en-
trusted to me the awesome responsibility of introducing the field
of child development to so many students.
The 23 years since Child Development first appeared have
been a period of unprecedented expansion and change in theory
and research. This ninth edition represents these rapid transfor-
mations, with a wealth of new content and teaching tools:
■ Diverse pathways of change are highlighted. Investigators have
reached broad consensus that variations in biological makeup,
everyday tasks, and the people who support children in mastery
of those tasks lead to wide individual differences in children’s
paths of change and resulting competencies. This edition pays
more attention to variability in development and to recent
theories—including ecological, sociocultural, and dynamic
systems—that attempt to explain it. Multicultural and cross-
cultural findings, including international comparisons, are
enhanced throughout the text and in revised and expanded
Cultural Influences boxes.
■ The complex, bidirectional relationship between biology and
environment is given greater attention. Accumulating evidence
on development of the brain, motor skills, cognitive and language
competencies, temperament, emotional and social understand-
ing, and developmental problems underscores the way biologi-
cal factors emerge in, are modified by, and share power with
experience. The interconnection between biology and environ-
ment is revisited throughout the text narrative and in the Biol-
ogy and Environment boxes with new and updated topics.
■ Inclusion of interdisciplinary research is expanded. The move
toward viewing thoughts, feelings, and behavior as an integrated
whole, affected by a wide array of influences in biology, social
context, and culture, has motivated developmental researchers
to strengthen their ties with other fields of psychology and with
other disciplines. Topics and findings included in this edition
increasingly reflect the contributions of educational psychology,
social psychology, health psychology, clinical psychology, neu-
robiology, pediatrics, sociology, anthropology, social service,
and other fields.
■ The links among theory, research, and applications—a theme
of this book since its inception—are strengthened. As researchers
intensify their efforts to generate findings relevant to real-life
situations, I have placed even greater weight on social policy
issues and sound theory- and research-based practices. Further
applications are provided in the Applying What We Know tables,
which give students concrete ways of building bridges between
their learning and the real world.
■ Both health and education are granted increased attention.
The home, school, community, and larger culture are featured
as contexts that powerfully influence children’s health and edu-
cation, with lifelong consequences for their well-being. Research
on effective health- and education-related policies and practices
appears throughout the text narrative and in new and revised
Social Issues: Health and Social Issues: Education boxes.
■ The role of active student learning is made more explicit.
TAKE A MOMENT..., a feature built into the chapter narrative,
asks students to think deeply and critically as they read. Ask
Yourself questions at the end of each major section have been
thoroughly revised and expanded to promote four approaches
to engaging actively with the subject matter: Review, Connect,
Apply, and Reflect. This feature assists students in reflecting on
what they have learned from multiple vantage points. A new
Look and Listen feature, appearing periodically in the margins,
presents students with opportunities to observe what real chil-
dren say and do and attend to influences on children in their
everyday environments.
Text Philosophy
The basic approach of this book has been shaped by my
own professional and personal history as a teacher, researcher,
and parent. It consists of seven philosophical ingredients that I
regard as essential for students to emerge from a course with a
thorough understanding of child development:
1. An understanding of major theories and the strengths and
shortcomings of each. The first chapter begins by emphasizing
that only knowledge of multiple theories can do justice to the
richness of child development. In each topical domain, I present
a variety of theoretical perspectives, indicate how each high-
lights previously overlooked facets of development, and discuss
research that evaluates it. If one or two theories have emerged
as especially prominent in a particular area, I indicate why, in
terms of the theory’s broad explanatory power. Consideration
of contrasting theories also serves as the basis for an evenhanded
analysis of many controversial issues throughout the text.
2. An appreciation of research strategies for investigating child
development. To evaluate theories, students need a firm ground-
ing in research methods and designs. I devote an entire chapter

xiv

to a description and critique of research strategies. Throughout
the book, numerous studies are discussed in sufficient detail for
students to use what they have learned to critically assess the
findings, conclusions, and implications of research.
3. Knowledge of both the sequence of child development and the
processes that underlie it. Students are provided with a descrip-
tion of the organized sequence of development along with
processes of change. An understanding of process—how complex
combinations of biological and environmental events produce
development—has been the focus of most recent research.
Accordingly, the text reflects this emphasis. But new informa-
tion about the timetable of change has also emerged. In many
ways, children have proved to be far more competent than they
were believed to be in the past. Current evidence on the
sequence and timing of development, along with its implica-
tions for process, is presented throughout the book.
4. An appreciation of the impact of context and culture on child
development. A wealth of research indicates that children live in
rich physical and social contexts that affect all aspects of devel-
opment. In each chapter, the student travels to distant parts of
the world as I review a growing body of cross-cultural evidence.
The text narrative also discusses many findings on socioeco-
nomically and ethnically diverse children within the United
States and on children with varying abilities and disabilities.
Besides highlighting the role of immediate settings, such as fam-
ily, neighborhood, and school, I underscore the impact of larger
social structures—societal values, laws, and government pro-
grams—on children’s well-being.
5. An understanding of the joint contributions of biology and
environment to development. The field recognizes more power-
fully than ever before the joint impact of hereditary/constitu-
tional and environmental factors—that these contributions to
development combine in complex ways and cannot be separated
in a simple manner. Numerous examples of how biological dis-
positions can be maintained as well as transformed by social
contexts are presented throughout the book.
6. A sense of the interdependency of all aspects of development—
physical, cognitive, emotional, and social. Every chapter takes an
integrated approach to understanding children. I show how
physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development are inter-
woven. Within the text narrative and in a special series of Ask
Yourself Connect questions at the end of major sections, students
are referred to other parts of the book to deepen their grasp of
relationships among various aspects of change.
7. An appreciation of the interrelatedness of theory, research, and
applications. Throughout this book, I emphasize that theories
of child development and the research stimulated by them pro-
vide the foundation for sound, effective practices with children.
The links among theory, research, and applications are rein-
forced by an organizational format in which theory and research
are presented first, followed by practical implications. In addi-
tion, a current focus in the field—harnessing child develop-
ment knowledge to shape social policies that support children’s
PREFACE xv
needs—is reflected in every chapter. The text addresses the cur-
rent condition of children in the United States and around the
world and shows how theory and research have sparked success-
ful interventions.
New Coverage in the
Ninth Edition
Child development is a fascinating and ever-changing field
of study, with constantly emerging new discoveries and refine-
ments in existing knowledge. The ninth edition represents this
burgeoning contemporary literature, with more than 1,400 new
citations. Cutting-edge topics throughout the text underscore
the book’s major themes. Here is a sampling:
■ CHAPTER 1 ■ Introduction to the concept of plasticity
within the section on basic issues of development • Revised and
updated section on developmental cognitive neuroscience as a
new area of investigation • New Social Issues: Health box on
how family chaos undermines children’s well-being, illustrating
the power of the exosystem to affect development • Expanded
and updated section on child development and social policy •
Updated Social Issues: Health box on the impact of welfare
reform on children’s development, with U.S. welfare reform
policies compared to those of other Western nations
■ CHAPTER 2 ■ Attention throughout to the advantages of
combining research methods and designs • New examples of
research using systematic observation, structured interviews,
correlational design, field experimentation, and microgenetic
design • Expanded and updated section on neurobiological
methods, including salivary cortisol as a measure of stress
reactivity and new approaches to assessing brain functioning,
including the geodesic sensor net (GSN) and near-infrared spec-
troscopy (NIRS) • Updated Biology and Environment box on
prenatal iron deficiency and memory impairments in infants
of diabetic mothers, illustrating research using event-related
potentials (ERPs) • Updated Cultural Influences box on im-
migrant youths
■ CHAPTER 3 ■ Updated Social Issues: Health box on the
pros and cons of reproductive technologies • Enhanced atten-
tion to fetal brain development and behavior • Updated con-
sideration of a wide range of teratogens • New evidence on the
long-term consequences of emotional stress during pregnancy
• New findings on older maternal age and prenatal and birth
complications • Updated Social Issues: Health box on health
care and other policies for parents and newborn babies, includ-
ing the importance of generous parental leave • Introduction
to the concept of gene–environment interaction, with illustrative
research findings • Expanded section on epigenesis, including
new examples of environmental influences on gene expression
■ CHAPTER 4 ■ Enhanced attention to cultural influences—
including infant sleep, gross- and fine-motor development, and
xvi PREFACE
perceptual development • New evidence on the impact of
“proximal care”—extensive holding of young babies—on reducing
infant crying • Updated findings on how environmental factors,
including caregiving practices and the baby’s physical surround-
ings, contribute to motor development • New evidence on the
perceptual narrowing effect in speech, music, and species-related
face perception and in gender- and race-related face perception
• New research on development of object perception, includ-
ing the role of object manipulation • Expanded and updated
research on intermodal perception and its contributions to all
aspects of psychological development • New findings on chil-
dren adopted from Romanian orphanages bearing on the ques-
tion of whether infancy is a sensitive period of development
■ CHAPTER 5 ■ Updated Social Issues: Education box on
sex differences in gross motor development, including the role
of physical education • Updated consideration of advances in
brain development, with special attention to the prefrontal cortex
and the amygdala • New section on adolescent brain develop-
ment • Updated Biology and Environment box on low-level
lead exposure and children’s development • Expanded atten-
tion to the impact of adult mealtime practices on children’s
eating behaviors • Revised and updated section on overweight
and obesity, including current U.S. prevalence rates, international
comparisons, and coverage of contributing factors and health
and psychological consequences • New research on infants
with growth faltering, highlighting the joint contributions of
feeding difficulties and a disturbed parent–infant relationship
• New findings on media exposure to sexual content and teen-
age sexual activity • New evidence on key elements of effec-
tive sex education programs • Updated research on adolescent
parenthood, including long-term adjustment of adolescent par-
ents and their children and effective interventions
■ CHAPTER 6 ■ Updated section on infant and toddler
imitation, revealing toddlers’ ability to infer others’ intentions
• New section on symbolic understanding, including toddlers’
developing grasp of words and pictures as symbolic tools •
New Social Issues: Education box on baby learning from TV and
video, including discussion of the video deficit effect and the
negative impact of extensive early TV viewing • Updated Cul-
tural Influences box on social origins of make-believe play •
New evidence on preschoolers’ magical beliefs • Enhanced
discussion of school-age children’s spatial reasoning, with
special attention to map skills • Expanded consideration of
infants’ numerical knowledge, including capacity to discrimi-
nate ratios and to represent approximate large-number values
• Expanded and updated research on adolescent decision mak-
ing • New evidence on cultural variations in parental scaffold-
ing of young children’s mastery of challenging tasks • New
findings on benefits of cooperative learning
■ CHAPTER 7 ■ Enhanced and updated consideration of
working memory, its assessment, and its implications for learn-
ing and academic achievement • New section on executive
function and its component processes • Expanded section on
inhibition and its contribution to many information-processing
skills • Updated Biology and Environment box on children
with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) • New
Social Issues: Education box on the impact of “media multitask-
ing” on learning • Revised and enhanced attention to develop-
ment of episodic memory, including the relationship between
semantic and episodic memory • New research on children’s
eyewitness memory • Enhanced discussion of differences
between preschoolers from middle-income and low-income
families in emergent literacy and math knowledge, including
interventions that reduce the gap
■ CHAPTER 8 ■ Updated Social Issues: Education box on
emotional intelligence • Updated evidence on neurobiologi-
cal correlates of mental test performance • New findings on IQ
as a predictor of psychological adjustment • New evidence on
how culturally acquired knowledge affects reasoning on mental
test items • Enhanced Social Issues: Education box on high-
stakes testing, including the impact of the U.S. No Child Left
Behind Act on quality of American education • Enhanced
consideration of the potential for supplementary programs to
strengthen the impact of Head Start and other preschool pro-
grams serving low-income children
■ CHAPTER 9 ■ Updated research on categorical speech
perception in humans and other animals • New evidence on
the contributions of joint attention and preverbal gestures to
early language development • Updated findings on toddlers’
earliest spoken words, including cultural variations • New
findings on how phonological features of the child’s native lan-
guage influence early vocabulary growth • Enhanced consid-
eration of research on young children’s grammatical knowledge,
including the influence of native-language syntactic forms •
Updated research on consequences of bilingualism for cognitive
and language development • Enhanced attention to the impact
of bilingual education on academic achievement and long-term
educational and occupational attainment
■ CHAPTER 10 ■ Updated consideration of the dynamic
systems perspective on development of emotional expression •
Updated evidence on contributions of language development
and parenting to preschoolers’ emotional self-regulation • New
research on consequences of effortful control for cognitive,
emotional, and social development • New findings on good-
ness of fit, with special attention to the interacting roles of geno-
type and parenting on child difficultness • Updated section on
consequences of early availability of a consistent caregiver for
attachment security, emotion processing, and adjustment, high-
lighting studies of children adopted from Eastern European
orphanages • New findings on the joint contributions of infant
genotype, temperament, and parenting to disorganized/disori-
ented attachment • New evidence on contributions of fathers’
play to attachment security and emotional and social adjustment
• Revised and updated Social Issues: Health box on child care,
attachment, and later adjustment • New section on grandpar-
ents as primary caregivers
■ CHAPTER 11 ■ New findings on development of explicit
body self-awareness in the second year, including scale errors •

New evidence on cognitive attainments and social experi-
ences that contribute to preschoolers’ mastery of false belief
• Updated research on the school-age child’s theory of mind,
including development of recursive thought • Expanded sec-
tion on implications of theory-of-mind development for social
skills • Updated Biology and Environment box on “mind-
blindness” and autism • New evidence on preschoolers’ self-
concepts, including their emerging grasp of personality traits •
New findings on the contribution of parent–child conversations
about the past to early self-concept • Enhanced attention to
cultural variations in self-concept • New research on personal
and social factors contributing to identity development in ado-
lescence • Updated Social Issues: Health box on adolescent
suicide • Enhanced section on children’s understanding of
social groups, racial and ethnic prejudice, and strategies for
reducing prejudice • New evidence on the Promoting Alterna-
tive Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum, a widely applied
intervention for enhancing preschoolers’ social problem solving
■ CHAPTER 12 ■ New evidence on the relationship of early
corporal punishment to later behavior problems, including
cross-cultural findings • Enhanced consideration of factors
that promote moral identity, along with its relationship to moral
commitment • Updated Social Issues: Education box on de-
velopment of civic responsibility • New findings on social-
cognitive deficits and distortions of aggressive children •
Updated Cultural Influences box on the impact of ethnic and
political violence on children, with expanded attention to the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks • New section on parent
training programs to reduce child conduct problems, with spe-
cial attention to Incredible Years
■ CHAPTER 13 ■ New evidence on parents’ differential ex-
pectations for boys’ and girls’ academic achievement • Revised
Cultural Influences box on Sweden’s commitment to gender
equality, with coverage of Swedish “daddy-months” aimed at
encouraging fathers’ involvement in child rearing • Updated
findings on teachers’ differential treatment of boys and girls •
New research on the power of observed sex differences in adults’
occupations to affect children’s occupational interests • New
Social Issues: Education box on teaching children to challenge
peers’ sexist remarks • Updated evidence on gender intensifi-
cation in adolescence • Updated consideration of factors
contributing to sex differences in verbal, mathematical, and
spatial abilities • New findings on sex differences in adolescent
depression
■ CHAPTER 14 ■ Updated evidence on the impact of neigh-
borhood poverty on family functioning, including community-
wide prevention efforts of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures
Project • New research on long-term, favorable consequences
of authoritative child rearing • Updated section on parent-
ing and adolescent autonomy, including research on immi-
grant families • New evidence on socioeconomic variations in
parenting • Updated research on family size and parenting
quality • New findings on sibling relationships, including cul-
tural influences and interventions to reduce sibling animosity
PREFACE xvii
• Updated discussion of the one-child policy in China • New
research on gay and lesbian families, including children’s
adjustment and gender identity • Expanded attention to the
role of fathers in children’s development, with special attention
to the transition to parenthood, blended families, and dual-
career families • Updated consideration of the consequences
of child maltreatment
■ CHAPTER 15 ■ Updated research on parental influences
on peer sociability • New findings on the role of positive peer
relations in school readiness • New research on characteristics
of adolescent friendships, including implications of other-sex
friends for adjustment • Updated findings on Internet friend-
ships, with special attention to teenagers’ use of social network-
ing sites • Updated Biology and Environment box on bullies
and their victims • Expanded consideration of the impact of
biased teacher judgments on ethnic minority children’s aca-
demic achievement • New statistics on U.S. children and ado-
lescents’ use of diverse media forms, including TV, computers,
and cell phones • Updated evidence on the influence of various
media activities, including TV, video games, texting, and social
networking sites, on development and adjustment • New
research on the educational consequences of widespread SES
and ethnic segregation in American schools • New Social Issues:
Education box on magnet schools as a means of attaining equal
access to high-quality education • Revised and updated sec-
tion on U.S. academic achievement in international perspective,
including education in the high-performing nations of Finland,
Korea, Japan, and Taiwan
Acknowledgments
The dedicated contributions of many individuals helped
make this book a reality and contributed to refinements and
improvements in each edition. An impressive cast of reviewers
provided many helpful suggestions, constructive criticisms,
and encouragement and enthusiasm for the organization and
content of the book. I am grateful to each one of them.
Reviewers for the First Through
Eighth Editions
Martha W. Alibali, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Ellen Altermatt, Hanover College
Daniel Ashmead, Vanderbilt University
Margarita Azmitia, University of California, Santa Cruz
Catherine L. Bagwell, University of Richmond
Lorraine Bahrick, Florida International University
Lynne Baker-Ward, North Carolina State University
David Baskind, Delta College
Carole R. Beal, University of Massachusetts
Rebecca S. Bigler, University of Texas, Austin
Dana W. Birnbaum, University of Maine at Orono
Kathryn N. Black, Purdue University
Paul Bloom, Yale University
James H. Bodle, College of Mount Saint Joseph
xviii PREFACE
Cathryn L. Booth, University of Washington
J. Paul Boudreau, University of Prince Edward Island
Sam Boyd, University of Central Arkansas
Darlene A. Brodeur, Acadia University
Celia A. Brownell, University of Pittsburgh
M. Michele Burnette, Community College of Allegheny County
Lori Camparo, Whittier College
Toni A. Campbell, San Jose State University
M. Beth Casey, Boston College
Robert Cohen, University of Memphis
John Condry, Cornell University
Robert Coplan, Carleton University
Rhoda Cummings, University of Nevada, Reno
James L. Dannemiller, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Zoe Ann Davidson, Alabama A & M University
Teddi Deka, Missouri Western State University
Laura DeRose, Adelphi University
Darlene DeSantis, West Chester University
Nancy Digdon, Grant MacEwan College
Rebecca Eder, Bryn Mawr College
Richard Ely, Boston University
Claire Etaugh, Bradley University
Bill Fabricius, Arizona State University
Beverly Fagot, University of Oregon
Francine Favretto, University of Maryland
Larry Fenson, San Diego State University
Jayne Gackenbach, Grant MacEwan College
James Garbarino, Cornell University
Jane F. Gaultney, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
John C. Gibbs, Ohio State University
Peter Gordon, University of Pittsburgh
Katherine Green, Millersville University
Suzanne Gurland, Middlebury College
Craig H. Hart, Brigham Young University
Joyce A. Hemphill, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Kenneth Hill, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax
Alice S. Honig, Syracuse University
Nina Howe, Concordia University
Carla L. Hudson Kam, University of California, Berkeley
Janis Jacobs, Pennsylvania State University
Scott P. Johnson, New York University
Patricia K. Kerig, Miami University of Ohio
Katherine Kipp, University of Georgia
Paul Klaczynski, Pennsylvania State University
Mareile Koenig, George Washington University Hospital
Claire Kopp, Claremont Graduate School
Beth Kurtz-Costes, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Gary W. Ladd, Arizona State University
Daniel Lapsley, Ball State University
Frank Laycock, Oberlin College
Elise Lehman, George Mason University
Mary D. Leinbach, University of Oregon
Richard Lerner, Tufts University
Marc Lewis, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education,
University of Toronto
Wilma M. Marshall, Douglas College
Robert S. Marvin, University of Virginia
Catherine Massey, Slippery Rock University
Ashley E. Maynard, University of Hawaii
Tom McBride, Princeton University
Carolyn J. Mebert, University of New Hampshire
Gary B. Melton, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Mary Evelyn Moore, Illinois State University
Brad Morris, Grand Valley State University
Lois Muir, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse
John P. Murray, Kansas State University
Bonnie K. Nastasi, State University of New York at Albany
Geoff Navara, Trent University
David A. Nelson, Brigham Young University
Simone Nguyen, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Larry Nucci, University of Illinois at Chicago
Peter Ornstein, University of North Carolina
Randall Osbourne, Indiana University East
Carol Pandey, Pierce College, Los Angeles
Thomas S. Parish, Kansas State University
B. Kay Pasley, Colorado State University
Kathy Pezdek, Claremont Graduate School
Ellen F. Potter, University of South Carolina at Columbia
Kimberly K. Powlishta, Northern Illinois University
Kathleen Preston, Humboldt State University
Bud Protinsky, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Daniel Reschly, Iowa State University
Stephen Reznick, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Rosemary Rosser, University of Arizona
Alan Russell, Flinders University
Jane Ann Rysberg, California State University, Chico
Phil Schoggen, Cornell University
Maria E. Sera, University of Iowa
Beth Shapiro, Emory University
Susan Siaw, California State Polytechnic University
Linda Siegel, University of British Columbia
Robert Siegler, Carnegie Mellon University
Barbara B. Simon, Midlands Technical College
Leher Singh, Boston University
Gregory J. Smith, Dickinson College
Robert J. Sternberg, Yale University
Harold Stevenson, University of Michigan
Daniel Swingley, University of Pennsylvania
Doug Symons, Acadia University
Lorraine Taylor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Ross A. Thompson, University of California, Davis
Barbara A. Tinsley, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Kim F. Townley, University of Kentucky
Tracy Vaillancourt, McMaster University
Janet Valadez, Pan American University
Cecilia Wainryb, University of Utah
Susan K. Walker, University of Maryland
Amye R. Warren, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Wenfan Yan, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Yiyuan Xu, University of Hawaii
Laura Zimmermann, Shenandoah University
Reviewers for the Ninth Edition
Rebecca Bigler, University of Texas, Austin
Natasha Cabrera, University of Maryland
Beth Casey, Boston College
John Gibbs, Ohio State University
Sara Harkness, University of Connecticut
Maria Hernandez-Reif, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
 PREFACE xix

Scott P. Johnson, University of California, Los Angeles
Michelle L. Kelley, Old Dominion University
Karen LaParo, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Angela F. Lukowski, University of California, Irvine
Michael Morales, State University of New York College at Plattsburgh
David A. Nelson, Brigham Young University
Larry Nelson, Brigham Young University
Anna Shusterman, Wesleyan University
Doug Symons, Acadia University
Tracy Vaillancourt, McMaster University
Cecilia Wainryb, University of Utah
Corinne Zimmerman, Illinois State University
An outstanding editorial staff in my home community
contributed immeasurably to the entire project. Sara Harris,
Supplements Editor and visiting assistant professor of psychol-
ogy, Bradley University, coordinated the preparation of the
teaching ancillaries and wrote major sections of the Instructor’s
Resource Manual, bringing to these tasks great depth of knowl-
edge, impressive writing skill, enthusiasm, and imagination.
Amelia Benner and Rachel Trapp, Editorial Assistants, spent
countless hours searching, gathering, and organizing scholarly
literature. Rachel also assisted with specifications for several
highly creative MyDevelopmentLab simulations, contributed to
the Explorations in Child Development video guide, designed
the text’s back cover, and expertly handled many additional tasks
as they arose.
I have been fortunate to work with a highly capable editorial
team at Pearson Education. It has been a great pleasure to work
once again with Tom Pauken, Managing Editor, who oversaw
the preparation of the sixth edition of Child Development and
who returned to edit its ninth edition. His careful review of
manuscript, keen organizational skills, responsive day-to-day
communication, insightful suggestions, astute problem solv-
ing, interest in the subject matter, and thoughtfulness have
greatly enhanced the quality of the text and made its preparation
especially enjoyable and rewarding. Judy Ashkenaz and Lisa
McLellan, Development Editors, carefully reviewed and com-
mented on each chapter, helping to ensure that every thought
and concept would be clearly expressed and well-developed.
My appreciation, also, to Jessica Mosher, Editor in Chief of
Psychology, for reorganizing the management of my projects to
enable the focused work that is vital for precise, inspired writing.
The supplements package benefited from the talents and dili-
gence of several other individuals. Leah Shiro carefully revised
the chapter summaries and outlines in the Instructor’s Resource
Manual. Kimberly Michaud and Cheryl Wilms prepared the
superb Test Bank and MyDevelopmentLab assessments. Diana
Murphy designed and wrote a highly attractive PowerPoint
presentation. Maria Henneberry and Phil Vandiver of Contem-
porary Visuals in Bloomington, IL, prepared an extraordinarily
artistic and inspiring set of new video segments covering diverse
topics in child development.
Donna Simons, Senior Production Project Manager, coor-
dinated the complex production tasks that resulted in an exqui-
sitely beautiful ninth edition. I am grateful for her keen aesthetic
sense, attention to detail, flexibility, efficiency, and thought-
fulness. I thank Sarah Evertson for obtaining the exceptional
photographs that so aptly illustrate the text narrative. I am also
grateful for Judy Ashkenaz’s fine contributions to the photo
specifications and captions. Margaret Pinette, Bill Heckman,
and Julie Hotchkiss provided outstanding copyediting and
proofreading.
Wendy Albert, Executive Marketing Manager, prepared the
beautiful print ads and informative e-mails to the field about
Child Development, Ninth Edition. She has also ensured that
accurate and clear information reached Pearson Education’s sales
force and that the needs of prospective and current adopters
were met.
A final word of gratitude goes to my family, whose love,
patience, and understanding have enabled me to be wife,
mother, teacher, researcher, and text author at the same time.
My sons, David and Peter, grew up with my texts, passing from
childhood to adolescence and then to adulthood as successive
editions were written. David has a special connection with the
books’ subject matter as an elementary school teacher, and Peter
is now an experienced attorney and married to his vivacious,
talented, and caring Melissa. All three continue to enrich my
understanding through reflections on events and progress in
their own lives. My husband, Ken, willingly made room for yet
another time-consuming endeavor in our life together and com-
municated his belief in its importance in a great many unspoken,
caring ways.

About the Cover and Chapter-Opening Art

I would like to extend grateful acknowledgments to the International Museum of Children’s
Art, Oslo, Norway, and to the International Child Art Foundation, Washington, D.C.; to the World
Awareness Children’s Museum, Glens Falls, New York; and to the International Collection of Child
Art, Milner Library, Illinois State University, for the exceptional cover image and chapter-opening
art, which depict the talents, concerns, and viewpoints of child and adolescent artists from around
the world. The awe-inspiring collection of children’s art gracing this text expresses family, school,
and community themes; good times and personal triumphs; profound appreciation for beauty; and
great depth of emotion. I am pleased to share with readers this window into children’s creativity,
insightfulness, sensitivity, and compassion.
 C H A P T E R
1

“Untitled”
Patrick, 15 years, New Mexico
This artist represents his Taos Pueblo culture with intricate patterns and rainbows of color. As the
theories reviewed in this chapter reveal, a similarly complex blend of genetic, family, community,
and societal forces influences child development.
Reprinted with permission from the International Collection of Child Art, Milner Library, Illinois State University,
Normal, Illinois

2
History, Theory, and
Applied Directions The Field of Child Development
Domains of Development • Periods of
Development
Basic Issues
Continuous or Discontinuous
ot long ago, I left my Midwestern home to live for a year near the small Development? • One Course of

N
Development or Many? • Relative
city in northern California where I spent my childhood. One morning, Influence of Nature and Nurture? •
I visited the neighborhood where I grew up—a place I had not seen A Balanced Point of View
since I was 12 years old. ■ BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT:
I stood at the entrance to my old schoolyard. Buildings and grounds that had Resilient Children
looked large to me as a child now seemed strangely small. I peered through the window Historical Foundations
of my first-grade classroom. The desks were no longer arranged in rows but grouped in Medieval Times • The Reformation •
Philosophies of the Enlightenment •
intimate clusters. Computers rested against the far wall, near where I once sat. I walked Scientific Beginnings
my old route home from school, the distance shrunken by my longer stride. I stopped in
Mid-Twentieth-Century Theories
front of my best friend Kathryn’s house, where we once drew sidewalk pictures, crossed The Psychoanalytic Perspective •
the street to play kickball, and produced plays in the garage. In place of the small shop Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory •
Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory
where I had purchased penny candy stood a child-care center, filled with the voices and
vigorous activity of toddlers and preschoolers. Recent Theoretical Perspectives
Information Processing • Developmental
As I walked, I reflected on early experiences that contributed to who I am and Cognitive Neuroscience • Ethology and
what I am like today—weekends helping my father in his downtown clothing shop, the Evolutionary Developmental Psychology •
year my mother studied to become a high school teacher, moments of companionship Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory •
Ecological Systems Theory • New
and rivalry with my sister and brother, Sunday outings to museums and the seashore, and Directions: Development as a Dynamic
visits to my grandmother’s house, where I became someone extra special. System
As I passed the homes of my childhood friends, I thought of what I knew about the ■ CULTURAL INFLUENCES: !Kung
course of their lives. Kathryn, star pupil and president of our sixth-grade class—today Infancy: Acquiring Culture
a successful corporate lawyer and mother of two. Shy, withdrawn Phil, cruelly teased ■ SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH: Family Chaos
because of his cleft lip—now owner of a thriving chain of hardware stores and member Undermines Children’s Well-Being

of the city council. Julio, immigrant from Mexico who joined our class in third grade— Comparing Child Development
Theories
today director of an elementary school bilingual education program and single parent
of an adopted Mexican boy. And finally, my next-door neighbor Rick, who picked fights Applied Directions: Child
Development and Social Policy
at recess, struggled with reading, repeated fourth grade, dropped out of high school, Culture and Public Policies •
and (so I heard) moved from one job to another over the following 10 years. Contributions of Child Development
As you begin this course in child development, perhaps you, too, are wondering about Research • Looking Toward the Future

some of the same questions that crossed my mind during that nostalgic neighborhood walk: ■ SOCIAL ISSUES: HEALTH: Welfare
Reform, Poverty, and Child Development
● In what ways are children’s home, school, and neighborhood experiences the same
today as they were in generations past, and in what ways are they different?
● How are the infant’s and young child’s perceptions of the world the same as the
adult’s, and how are they different?
● What determines the features that humans have in common and those that make
each of us unique—physically, mentally, and behaviorally?
● How did Julio, transplanted at age 8 to a new culture, master its language and
customs and succeed in its society, yet remain strongly identified with his ethnic
community?
● Why do some of us, like Kathryn and Rick, retain the same styles of responding that
characterized us as children, whereas others, like Phil, change in essential ways?
● How do cultural changes—employed mothers, child care, divorce, smaller families,
and new technologies—affect children’s characteristics?

3
4 PART I Theory and Research in Child Development

These are central questions addressed by child development, an area of study devoted
to understanding constancy and change from conception through adolescence. Child develop-
ment is part of a larger, interdisciplinary field known as developmental science, which
includes all changes we experience throughout the lifespan (Lerner, 2006). Great diversity
characterizes the interests and concerns of the thousands of investigators who study child
development. But all have a common goal: to describe and identify those factors that influ-
ence the consistencies and changes in young people during the first two decades of life. ■

What is the field of child

development, and what
The Field of Child Development
factors stimulated its
expansion? The questions just listed are not just of scientific interest. Each has applied, or practical,
importance as well. In fact, scientific curiosity is just one factor that led child development
How is child development
to become the exciting field of study it is today. Research about development has also been
typically divided into domains
and periods?
stimulated by social pressures to improve the lives of children. For example, the beginning
of public education in the early twentieth century led to a demand for knowledge about what
and how to teach children of different ages. Pediatricians’ interest in improving children’s
health required an understanding of physical growth and nutrition. The social service pro-
fession’s desire to treat children’s anxieties and behavior problems required information
about personality and social development. And parents have continually sought advice about
child-rearing practices and experiences that would promote their children’s development
and well-being.
Our large storehouse of information about child development is interdisciplinary. It has
grown through the combined efforts of people from many fields. Because of the need to
solve everyday problems concerning children, researchers from psychology, sociology,
anthropology, biology, and neuroscience have joined forces with professionals from educa-
tion, family studies, medicine, public health, and social service—to name just a few. The field
of child development, as it exists today, is a monument to the contributions of these many
disciplines. Its body of knowledge is not just scientifically important but also relevant and
useful.

Domains of Development
To make the vast, interdisciplinary study of human constancy and change more orderly and
convenient, development is often divided into three broad domains: physical, cognitive, and
emotional and social. Refer to Figure 1.1 for a description and illustration of each. In this
book, we will largely consider the domains of development in the order just mentioned.
Yet the domains are not really distinct. Rather, they combine in an integrated, holistic fash-
ion to yield the living, growing child. Furthermore, each domain influences and is influ-
enced by the others. For example, in Chapter 4, you will see that new motor capacities, such
as reaching, sitting, crawling, and walking (physical), contribute greatly to infants’ under-
standing of their surroundings (cognitive). When babies think and act more competently,
adults stimulate them more with games, language, and expressions of delight at their new
achievements (emotional and social). These enriched experiences, in turn, promote all
aspects of development.
You will encounter instances of the interwoven nature of all domains on almost every
page of this book. In the margins of the text, you will find occasional Look and Listen
activities—opportunities for you to see everyday illustrations of development by observ-
ing what real children say and do or by attending to everyday influences on children.
Through these experiences, I hope to make your study of development more authentic and
meaningful.
 CHAPTER 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions 5

CO URIE R/ST E VE W ARM O W SKI/T HE IM AGE W O RKS

© T IM GRAHAM /AL AM Y
© R O N N I E KA UF M A N /CO R BI S

Physical Development
Changes in body size, proportions,
appearance, functioning of body
systems, perceptual and motor
capacities, and physical health
Cognitive Development
Emotional and Social Development
Changes in intellectual abilities, including attention,
Changes in emotional communication,
memory, academic and everyday knowledge,
self-understanding, knowledge about
problem solving, imagination, creativity, and
other people, interpersonal skills, friendships,
language
intimate relationships, and moral reasoning
and behavior

FIGURE 1.1 Major domains of development. The three domains are not really distinct. Rather, they overlap and interact.

Also, look for the Ask Yourself feature at the end of major sections, designed to deepen
your understanding. Within it, I have included Review questions, which help you recall and
think about information you have just read; Connect questions, which help you form a
coherent, unified picture of child development; Apply questions, which encourage you to
apply your knowledge to controversial issues and problems faced by parents, teachers, and
children; and Reflect questions, which invite you to reflect on your own development
and that of people you know well.

Periods of Development
Besides distinguishing and integrating the three domains, another dilemma arises in discuss-
ing development: how to divide the flow of time into sensible, manageable parts. Researchers
usually use the following age periods, as each brings new capacities and social expectations
that serve as important transitions in major theories:
1. The prenatal period: from conception to birth. In this nine-month period, the most rapid
time of change, a one-celled organism is transformed into a human baby with remark-
able capacities for adjusting to life in the surrounding world.
2. Infancy and toddlerhood: from birth to 2 years. This period brings dramatic changes in
the body and brain that support the emergence of a wide array of motor, perceptual, and
intellectual capacities; the beginnings of language; and first intimate ties to others.
Infancy spans the first year; toddlerhood spans the second, during which children take
their first independent steps, marking a shift to greater autonomy.
3. Early childhood: from 2 to 6 years. The body becomes longer and leaner, motor skills are
refined, and children become more self-controlled and self-sufficient. Make-believe play
blossoms, supporting every aspect of psychological development. Thought and language
6 PART I Theory and Research in Child Development
Child development is so dramatic
that researchers divide it into
periods. This large family of the
Ivory Coast includes children in
infancy, early childhood (boy in
front row, girl seated in second row),
middle childhood (girl in front row,
girl standing in second row), and
adolescence (girl standing in
center).
Identify three basic issues on
which child development
theories take a stand.
© UW E O M M E R, 1 , 0 0 0 FAM IL IES, TASCHE N E D
expand at an astounding pace, a sense of moral-
ity becomes evident, and children establish ties
with peers.
4. Middle childhood: from 6 to 11 years. Children
learn about the wider world and master new
responsibilities that increasingly resemble those
they will perform as adults. Hallmarks of this
period are improved athletic abilities; partici-
pation in organized games with rules; more
logical thought processes; mastery of fundamen-
tal reading, writing, math, and other academic
knowledge and skills; and advances in under-
standing the self, morality, and friendship.
5. Adolescence: from 11 to 18 years. This period initi-
ates the transition to adulthood. Puberty leads to
an adult-sized body and sexual maturity. Thought
becomes abstract and idealistic, and schooling
is increasingly directed toward preparation for
higher education and the world of work. Young
people begin to establish autonomy from the
family and to define personal values and goals.
For many contemporary youths in industrialized nations, the transition to adult roles
has become increasingly prolonged—so much so that some researchers have posited a new
period of development called emerging adulthood, which spans ages 18 to 25. Although
emerging adults have moved beyond adolescence, they have not yet fully assumed adult
roles. Rather, during higher education and sometimes beyond, these young people intensify
their exploration of options in love, career, and personal values before making enduring
commitments. Because emerging adulthood first became apparent during the past few
decades, researchers have just begun to study it (Arnett, 2007; Arnett & Tanner, 2006). Per-
haps it is your period of development. In later chapters, we will touch on milestones of
emerging adulthood, which build on adolescent attainments. To find out more about this
period, consult the mini-chapter entitled “Emerging Adulthood,” available as an online
supplement to this text.
With this introduction in mind, let’s turn to some basic issues that have captivated,
puzzled, and sparked debate among child development theorists. Then our discussion will
trace the emergence of the field and survey major theories.
Basic Issues
Research on child development did not begin until the late nineteenth and early twenti-
eth centuries. But ideas about how children grow and change have a much longer history. As
these speculations combined with research, they inspired the construction of theories of
development. A theory is an orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains,
and predicts behavior. For example, a good theory of infant–caregiver attachment would
(1) describe the behaviors of babies around 6 to 8 months of age as they seek the affection
and comfort of a familiar adult, (2) explain how and why infants develop this strong desire
to bond with a caregiver, and (3) predict the consequences of this emotional bond for future
relationships.
Theories are vital tools for two reasons. First, they provide organizing frameworks for
our observations of children. In other words, they guide and give meaning to what we see.
Second, theories that are verified by research often serve as a sound basis for practical action.
Once a theory helps us understand development, we are in a much better position to know
how to improve the welfare and treatment of children.
 CHAPTER 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions 7

As we will see later, theories are influenced by cultural values and belief systems of their
times. But theories differ in one important way from mere opinion and belief: A theory’s
continued existence depends on scientific verification. This means that the theory must be
tested using a fair set of research procedures agreed on by the scientific community, and its
findings must endure, or be replicated over time. (We will consider research strategies in
Chapter 2.)
Within the field of child development, many theories offer very different ideas about
what children are like and how they change. The study of child development provides no
ultimate truth because investigators do not always agree on the meaning of what they see.
Also, children are complex beings; they change physically, cognitively, emotionally, and
socially. No single theory has explained all these aspects. But the existence of many theories
helps advance knowledge as researchers continually try to support, contradict, and integrate
these different points of view.
Although there are many theories, we can easily organize them by looking at the stand
they take on three basic issues: (1) Is the course of development continuous or discontinu-
ous? (2) Does one course of development characterize all children, or are there many pos-
sible courses? (3) What are the roles of genetic and environmental factors—nature and
nurture—in development? Let’s look closely at each of these issues.

Continuous or Discontinuous Development?

Recently, the mother of 20-month-old Angelo reported to me with amazement that her
young son had pushed a toy car across the living room floor while making a motorlike
sound, “Brmmmm, brmmmm,” for the first time. When he hit a nearby wall with a bang,
Angelo let go of the car, exclaimed, “C’ash,” and laughed heartily. FIGURE 1.2 Is development
continuous or discontinuous?
“How come Angelo can pretend, but he couldn’t a few months ago?” his mother asked. (a) Some theorists believe that
“And I wonder what ‘Brrmmmm, brmmmm’ and ‘Crash!’ mean to Angelo? Does he under- development is a smooth, continu-
stand motorlike sounds and collision the same way I do?” ous process. Children gradually add
Angelo’s mother has raised a puzzling issue about development: How can we best more of the same types of skills.
describe the differences in capacities and behavior among small infants, young children, (b) Other theorists think that devel-
opment takes place in discontinuous
adolescents, and adults? As Figure 1.2 illustrates, major theories recognize two possibilities. stages. Children change rapidly as
One view holds that infants and preschoolers respond to the world in much the same they step up to a new level of devel-
way as adults do. The difference between the immature and the mature being is simply one opment and then change very little
of amount or complexity. For example, little Angelo’s thinking might be just as logical and for a while. With each step, the child
well-organized as our own. Perhaps (as his mother reports) he can sort objects into simple interprets and responds to the world
in a qualitatively different way.
categories, recognize whether he has
more of one kind than another, and
remember where he left his favorite toy
at child care the week before. Angelo’s
only limitation may be that he cannot
perform these skills with as much infor-
mation and precision as we can. If this
is so, then Angelo’s development is
continuous—a process of gradually
adding more of the same types of skills
that were there to begin with.
According to a second view, Ange-
lo’s thoughts, emotions, and behavior
differ considerably from those of adults.
His development is discontinuous—a
process in which new ways of under- Infancy Adulthood Infancy Adulthood
standing and responding to the world
emerge at specific times. From this (a) Continuous Development (b) Discontinuous Development
perspective, Angelo is not yet able to
8 PART I Theory and Research in Child Development

organize objects or remember and interpret experiences as we do. Instead, he will move
through a series of developmental steps, each with unique features, until he reaches the high-
est level of functioning.
Theories that accept the discontinuous perspective regard development as taking place
in stages—qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize specific
periods of development. In stage theories, development is much like climbing a staircase,
with each step corresponding to a more mature, reorganized way of functioning. The stage
concept also assumes that children undergo periods of rapid transformation as they step up
from one stage to the next, alternating with plateaus during which they stand solidly within
a stage. In other words, change is fairly sudden rather than gradual and ongoing.
Does development actually occur in a neat, orderly sequence of stages? This ambitious
assumption has faced significant challenges. Later in this chapter, we will review some influ-
ential stage theories.

One Course of Development or Many?

Stage theorists assume that people everywhere follow the same sequence of development.
For example, in the domain of cognition, a stage theorist might try to identify the common
influences that lead children to represent their world through language and make-believe
play in early childhood, to think more logically in middle childhood, and to reason more
systematically and abstractly in adolescence.
At the same time, the field of child development is becoming increasingly aware that
children grow up in distinct contexts—unique combinations of personal and environmental
circumstances that can result in different paths of change. For example, a shy child who fears
social encounters develops in very different contexts from those of a
© EL I ZA BETH CR EW S /TH E I M A GE WO R KS

sociable agemate who readily seeks out other people (Kagan, 2003,
2008). Children in non-Western village societies encounter experiences
in their families and communities that differ sharply from those of chil-
dren in large Western cities. These different circumstances foster differ-
ent cognitive capacities, social skills, and feelings about the self and
others (Shweder et al., 2006).
As you will see, contemporary theorists regard the contexts that
mold development as many-layered and complex. On the personal side,
these include heredity and biological makeup. On the environmental
side, they include both immediate settings—home, child-care center,
school, and neighborhood—and circumstances that are more remote
from children’s everyday lives: community resources, societal values and
priorities, and historical time period. Finally, researchers today are more
conscious than ever before of cultural diversity in development.

Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture?

Will this toddler’s tantrums extend into a lifelong pattern of
difficult behavior? Some theorists, stressing the importance
of heredity, believe she will remain hard to manage. Others
think that change is possible, depending on how the
mother handles her child’s emotional outbursts.
In addition to describing the course of development, each theory takes a
stand on a major question about its underlying causes: Are genetic or
environmental factors more important in influencing development? This
is the age-old nature–nurture controversy. By nature, we mean inborn
biological givens—the hereditary information we receive from our par-
ents at the moment of conception. By nurture, we mean the complex
forces of the physical and social world that influence our biological
makeup and psychological experiences before and after birth.
Although all theories grant roles to both nature and nurture, they
vary in emphasis. Consider the following questions: Is the older child’s
ability to think in more complex ways largely the result of an inborn
timetable of growth, or is it primarily influenced by stimulation from
parents and teachers? Do children acquire language because they are
 CHAPTER 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions 9

genetically predisposed to do so or because parents intensively teach them from an early age?
And what accounts for the vast individual differences among children—in height, weight,
physical coordination, intelligence, personality, and social skills? Is nature or nurture more
responsible?
A theory’s position on the roles of nature and nurture affects how it explains individual
differences. Some theorists emphasize stability—that children who are high or low in a char-
acteristic (such as verbal ability, anxiety, or sociability) will remain so at later ages. These
theorists typically stress the importance of heredity. If they regard environment as important,
they usually point to early experiences as establishing a lifelong pattern of behavior. Powerful
negative events in the first few years, they argue, cannot be fully overcome by later, more
positive ones (Bowlby, 1980; Johnson, 2000; Sroufe, 2005). Other theorists, taking a more opti-
mistic view, see development as having substantial plasticity throughout life—as open to
change in response to influential experiences (Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 2006;
Lerner & Overton, 2008; Lester, Masten, & McEwen, 2006).
Throughout this book, you will see that investigators disagree, often sharply, on the
question of stability versus plasticity. Their answers have great applied significance. If you
believe that development is largely due to nature, then providing experiences aimed at pro-
moting change would seem to be of little value. If, on the other hand, you are convinced of
the supreme importance of early experience, then you would intervene as soon as possible,
offering high-quality stimulation and support to ensure that children develop at their
best. Finally, if you think that environment is profoundly influential throughout develop-
ment, you would provide assistance any time children or adolescents face difficulties, in the
belief that, with the help of favorable life circumstances, they can recover from early nega-
tive events.

A Balanced Point of View

So far, we have discussed the basic issues of child development in terms of extremes—solu-
tions favoring one side or the other. But as we trace the unfolding of the field in the rest of
this chapter, you will see that the positions of many theorists have softened. Today, some
theorists believe that both continuous and discontinuous changes occur. Many acknowledge
that development has both universal features and features unique to each individual and his
or her contexts. And a growing number regard heredity and environment as inseparably
interwoven, each affecting the potential of the other to modify the child’s traits and capaci-
ties (Cole, 2006; Gottlieb, Wahlsten, & Lickliter, 2006; Lerner, 2006; Rutter, 2007). We will
discuss these new ideas about nature and nurture in Chapter 3.
Finally, as you will see later in this book, the relative impact of early and later experi-
ences varies greatly from one domain of development to another and even—as the Biology
and Environment box on pages 10–11 indicates—across individuals! Because of the complex
network of factors contributing to human change and the challenge of isolating the effects of
each, many theoretical viewpoints have gathered research support. Although debate contin-
ues, this circumstance has also sparked more balanced visions of child development.

A S K Y O U R S E L F
Review ■ What is meant by a stage of development? Provide Apply ■ Anna, a high school counselor, has devised a program
your own example of stagewise change. What stand do stage that integrates classroom learning with vocational training to
theorists take on the issue of continuous versus discontinuous help adolescents at risk for school dropout stay in school and
development? transition smoothly to work life. What is Anna’s position on
Connect ■ Provide an example of how one domain of devel- stability versus plasticity in development? Explain.
opment (physical, cognitive, or emotional/social) can affect Reflect ■ Cite an aspect of your development that differs
development in another domain. from a parent’s or grandparent’s when he or she was your age.
How might contexts explain this difference?
10 PART I Theory and Research in Child Development

BIOLOGY and ENVIRONMENT

Resilient Children

© RO B E RT B RE NNE R/PHOTO E DIT

J ohn and his best friend, Gary, grew up in
a run-down, crime-ridden inner-city neigh-
borhood. By age 10, each had experienced
years of family conflict followed by parental
divorce. Reared for the rest of childhood and
adolescence in mother-headed households, John
and Gary rarely saw their fathers. Both dropped
out of high school and were in and out of trou-
ble with the police.
Then their paths diverged. By age 30, John
had fathered two children with women he never
married, had spent time in prison, was unem-
ployed, and drank alcohol heavily. In contrast,
Gary had returned to finish high school, had
studied auto mechanics at a community college,
and became manager of a gas station and repair
shop. Married with two children, he had saved
his earnings and bought a home. He was happy,
healthy, and well-adapted to life. A wealth of
evidence shows that environmental risks—
poverty, negative family interactions and paren-
tal divorce, job loss, mental illness, and drug
abuse—predispose children to future problems
(Masten & Gewirtz, 2006; Sameroff, 2006;
Wadsworth & Santiago, 2008). Why did Gary
“beat the odds” and come through unscathed?
Research on resilience—the ability to adapt
effectively in the face of threats to develop-
ment—is receiving increasing attention as
investigators look for ways to protect
young people from the damaging
effects of stressful life conditions.
This interest has been inspired by
several long-term studies on the rela-
tionship of life stressors in childhood
to competence and adjustment in ado-
lescence and adulthood (Fergusson &
Horwood, 2003; Masten et al., 1995;
Werner & Smith, 2001). In each study,
some individuals were shielded from
negative outcomes, whereas others
had lasting problems. Four broad fac-
tors seemed to offer protection from
the damaging effects of stressful life
events.
Personal Characteristics
A child’s biologically endowed char-
acteristics can reduce exposure to
risk or lead to experiences that com-
pensate for early stressful events. High
intelligence and socially valued talents
(in music or athletics, for example)
This boy’s close, affectionate relationship with his father
increase the chances that a child will
promotes resilience. A strong bond with at least one parent
have rewarding experiences in school who combines warmth with appropriate expectations for
and in the community that offset the maturity can shield children from the damaging effects of
impact of a stressful home life. Tem- stressful life conditions.
perament is particularly powerful.

Describe major historical

influences on theories of child
Historical Foundations
development.
Contemporary theories of child development are the result of centuries of change in
Western cultural values, philosophical thinking about children, and scientific progress. To
understand the field as it exists today, we must return to its early beginnings—to ideas about
children that long preceded scientific child study but that linger as important forces in cur-
rent theory and research.

Medieval Times
Childhood was regarded as a separate period of life as early as medieval Europe—the sixth
through the fifteenth centuries. Medieval painters often depicted children wearing loose,
comfortable gowns, playing games, and looking up to adults. Written texts contained terms
that distinguished children under age 7 or 8 from other people and that recognized even
young teenagers as not fully mature. By the fourteenth century, manuals offering advice on
many aspects of child care, including health, feeding, clothing, and games, were common
 CHAPTER 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions 11

Children who have easygoing, sociable disposi-
tions and who can readily inhibit negative emo-
tions and impulses tend to have an optimistic
outlook on life and a special capacity to adapt to
change—qualities that elicit positive responses
from others. In contrast, emotionally reactive
and irritable children often tax the patience of
people around them (Mathiesen & Prior, 2006;
Vanderbilt-Adriance & Shaw, 2008; Wong et al.,
2006). For example, both John and Gary moved
several times during their childhoods. Each time,
John became anxious and angry. Gary looked
forward to making new friends and exploring a
new neighborhood.
A Warm Parental Relationship
A close relationship with at least one parent who
provides warmth, appropriately high expecta-
tions, monitoring of the child’s activities, and an
organized home environment fosters resilience
(Masten & Shaffer, 2006; Taylor, 2010). But this
factor (as well as the next one) is not indepen-
dent of children’s personal characteristics. Chil-
dren who are relaxed, socially responsive, and
able to deal with change are easier to rear and
more likely to enjoy positive relationships with
parents and other people. At the same time,
some children may develop more attractive dis-
positions as a result of parental warmth and
attention (Conger & Conger, 2002; Gulotta,
2008).
Social Support Outside the
Immediate Family
The most consistent asset of resilient children
is a strong bond with a competent, caring
adult. For children who do not have a close
bond with either parent, a grandparent, aunt,
uncle, or teacher who forms a special relation-
ship with the child can promote resilience
(Masten & Reed, 2002). Gary received support
from his grandfather, who listened to Gary’s
concerns and helped him solve problems.
Gary’s grandfather had a stable marriage and
work life and handled stressors skillfully. Con-
sequently, he served as a model of effective
coping.
Associations with rule-abiding peers who
value school achievement are also linked to
resilience (Tiet, Huizinga, & Byrnes, 2010). But
children who have positive relationships with
adults are far more likely to establish these
supportive peer ties.
Community Resources and
Opportunities
Community supports—good schools, convenient
and affordable health care and social services,
libraries, and recreation centers—foster both
parents’ and children’s well-being. In addition,
opportunities to participate in community life
help older children and adolescents overcome
adversity. Extracurricular activities at school,
religious youth groups, scouting, and other orga-
nizations teach important social skills, such as
cooperation, leadership, and contributing to
others’ welfare. As participants acquire these
competencies, they gain in self-reliance, self-
esteem, and community commitment (Benson
et al., 2006). As a college student, Gary volun-
teered for Habitat for Humanity, joining a team
building affordable housing in low-income
neighborhoods. Community involvement offered
Gary additional opportunities to form meaning-
ful relationships, which further strengthened
his resilience.
Research on resilience highlights the com-
plex connections between heredity and envi-
ronment. Armed with positive characteristics
stemming from innate endowment, favor-
able rearing experiences, or both, children
and adolescents can act to reduce stressful
situations.
But when many risks pile up, they are
increasingly difficult to overcome (Obradović
et al., 2009). To inoculate children against the
negative effects of risk, interventions must not
only reduce risks but also enhance children’s
protective relationships at home, in school, and
in the community. This means attending to both
the person and the environment—strengthening
children’s capacities while also reducing hazard-
ous experiences.

(Alexandre-Bidon & Lett, 1997; Lett, 1997). Laws recognized that children needed protec-
tion from people who might mistreat them, and courts exercised leniency with lawbreaking
youths because of their tender years (Hanawalt, 1993).
In sum, in medieval times, if not before, clear awareness existed of children as vulner-
able beings. Religious writings, however, contained contradictory depictions of children’s
basic nature, sometimes portraying them as possessed by the devil and in need of purifica-
tion, at other times as innocent and close to angels (Hanawalt, 2003). Both ideas foreshad-
owed later views of childhood.

The Reformation
In the sixteenth century, the Puritan belief in original sin gave rise to the view that children
were born evil and stubborn and had to be civilized (Shahar, 1990). Harsh, restrictive child-
rearing practices were recommended to tame the depraved child. Children were dressed in
stiff, uncomfortable clothing that held them in adultlike postures, and disobedient students
were routinely beaten by their schoolmasters. Nevertheless, love and affection for their chil-
dren prevented most Puritan parents from using extremely repressive measures (Moran &
Vinovskis, 1986).
12 PART I Theory and Research in Child Development
As early as medieval times, adults
viewed childhood as a distinct
developmental period. In this
sixteenth‐century painting, Children’s
Games, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder,
boys and girls wearing loose, com-
fortable clothing play lively outdoor
games. [Children’s Games (Kinder-
spiele): Detail of top right-hand
corner, 1560 (oil on panel) (detail
of 68945), Bruegel, Pieter the Elder
(c. 1525–69).]
KUNST HISTO RISCHE S M USE UM , VIE NNA, AUST RIA/AL I M E Y E R/
T HE B RIDGE M AN ART LIB RAR Y INT E RNAT IO NAL
As the Puritans emigrated from England to the
New World, they brought the belief that child rear-
ing was one of their most important obligations.
Although they continued to regard the child’s soul as
tainted by original sin, they tried to teach their sons
and daughters to use reason to tell right from wrong
(Clarke-Stewart, 1998). As they trained their children
in self-reliance and self-control, Puritan parents
gradually adopted a moderate balance between sever-
ity and permissiveness.
Philosophies of the
Enlightenment
The seventeenth-century Enlightenment brought
new philosophies that emphasized ideals of human
dignity and respect. Conceptions of childhood were
more humane than those of the past.
John Locke The writings of British philosopher
John Locke (1632–1704) served as the forerunner
of a twentieth-century perspective that we will dis-
cuss shortly: behaviorism. Locke viewed the child as a tabula rasa—Latin for “blank
slate.” According to this idea, children begin as nothing at all; their characters are shaped
entirely by experience. Locke (1690/1892) saw parents as rational tutors who can mold the
child in any way they wish through careful instruction, effective example, and rewards for
good behavior. He was ahead of his time in recommending child-rearing practices that
present-day research supports—for example, the use of praise and approval as rewards,
rather than money or sweets. He also opposed physical punishment: “The child repeat-
edly beaten in school cannot look upon books and teachers without experiencing fear and
anger.” Locke’s philosophy led to a change from harshness toward children to kindness and
compassion.
Look carefully at Locke’s ideas, and you will see that he regarded development as con-
tinuous: Adultlike behaviors are gradually built up through the warm, consistent teachings
of parents. His view of the child as a tabula rasa led him to champion nurture—the power of
the environment to shape the child. And his faith in nurture suggests the possibility of many
courses of development and of high plasticity at later ages due to new experiences. Finally,
Locke’s philosophy characterizes children as doing little to influence their own destiny;
rather, the child is the “blank slate” on which others write. This vision of a passive child has
been discarded. All contemporary theories view children as active, purposeful beings who
contribute substantially to their own development.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau In the eighteenth century, French philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712–1778) introduced a new view of childhood. Children, Rousseau claimed, are
not blank slates or empty containers to be filled by adult instruction. Instead, they are noble
savages, naturally endowed with a sense of right and wrong and an innate plan for orderly,
healthy growth. Unlike Locke, Rousseau believed that children’s built-in moral sense and
unique ways of thinking and feeling would only be harmed by adult training. His was a
child-centered philosophy in which the adult should be receptive to the child’s needs at each
of four stages: infancy, childhood, late childhood, and adolescence.
Rousseau’s philosophy includes two influential concepts. The first is the concept of stage,
which we discussed earlier. The second is the concept of maturation, which refers to a
genetically determined, naturally unfolding course of growth. In contrast to Locke, Rousseau
saw children as determining their own destinies. And he viewed development as a discon-
tinuous, stagewise process that follows a single, unified course mapped out by nature.
 CHAPTER 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions 13

Scientific Beginnings
The study of child development evolved quickly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. Early observations of children were soon followed by improved methods and
theories. Each advance contributed to the firm foundation on which the field rests today.

Darwin: Forefather of Scientific Child Study A century after Rousseau, British

naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) joined an expedition to distant parts of the world,
where he observed infinite variation among plant and animal species. He also saw that
within a species, no two individuals are exactly alike. From these observations, he con-
structed his famous theory of evolution.
The theory emphasized two related principles: natural selection and survival of the fittest.
Darwin explained that certain species survive in particular parts of the world because they
have characteristics that fit with, or are adapted to, their surroundings. Other species die off
because they are not as well-suited to their environments. Individuals within a species who
best meet the environment’s survival requirements live long enough to reproduce and pass
on their more beneficial characteristics to future generations. Darwin’s emphasis on the
adaptive value of physical characteristics and behavior eventually found its way into impor-
tant twentieth-century theories.
During his explorations, Darwin discovered that early prenatal growth is strikingly
similar in many species. Other scientists concluded from Darwin’s observation that the
development of the human child follows the same general plan as the evolution of the
human species. Although this belief eventually proved inaccurate, efforts to chart parallels
between child growth and human evolution prompted researchers to make careful observa-
tions of all aspects of children’s behavior. Out of these first attempts to document an idea
about development, scientific child study was born.

The Normative Period G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924), one of the most influential Amer-
ican psychologists of the early twentieth century, is generally regarded as the founder of the
child-study movement (Cairns & Cairns, 2006). Inspired by Darwin’s work, Hall and his
well-known student Arnold Gesell (1880–1961) developed theories based on evolutionary
ideas. These early leaders regarded development as a maturational process—a genetically
determined series of events that unfold automatically, much like a flower (Gesell, 1933; Hall,
1904).
Hall and Gesell are remembered less for their one-sided theories than for their intensive
efforts to describe all aspects of child development. They launched the normative approach,
in which measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of individuals and age-related
averages are computed to represent typical development. Using this procedure, Hall con-
structed elaborate questionnaires asking children of different ages almost everything they
could tell about themselves—interests, fears, imaginary playmates, dreams, friendships,
everyday knowledge, and more. Similarly, through observations and parental interviews,
Gesell collected detailed normative information on the motor achievements, social behav- LOOK and LISTEN
iors, and personality characteristics of infants and children.
Gesell was also among the first to make knowledge about child development meaningful Examine several parenting-
to parents by informing them of what to expect at each age. If, as he believed, the timetable advice books in your local
of development is the product of millions of years of evolution, then children are naturally bookstore or library, and
knowledgeable about their needs. His child-rearing advice, in the tradition of Rousseau, identify the stand each takes
recommended sensitivity to children’s cues (Thelen & Adolph, 1992). Along with Benjamin on the three basic issues
Spock’s Baby and Child Care, Gesell’s books became a central part of a rapidly expanding about child development.
child development literature for parents.

The Mental Testing Movement While Hall and Gesell were developing their theories
and methods in the United States, French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857–1911) was also
taking a normative approach to child development, but for a different reason. In the early
1900s, Binet and his colleague Theodore Simon were asked by Paris school officials to find
a way to identify children with learning problems who needed to be placed in special classes.
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 DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
 FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
 Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
 The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

 This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
 “We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
 Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
 BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

 FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

 LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
 Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

 BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN