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 LIFE-SPAN
A Topical Approach to

DEVELOPMENT
Ninth Edition

JOHN W. SANTROCK
A TOPICAL APPROACH
TO LIFE-SPAN
DEVELOPMENT
Ninth Edition

JOHN W. SANTROCK
University of Texas at Dallas
A TOPICAL APPROACH TO LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT, NINTH EDITION

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Santrock, John W.
Title: A topical approach to life-span development / John W. Santrock,
University of Texas at Dallas.
Description: Ninth Edition. | Dubuque : McGraw-Hill Education, [2018] |
Revised edition of the author’s A topical approach to life-span
development, [2016]
Identifiers: LCCN 2017025311| ISBN 9781259708787 (alk. paper) | ISBN
1259708780 (alk. paper)
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brief contents
SECTION 1 THE LIFE-SPAN PERSPECTIVE 1
1 Introduction 2
Appendix: Careers in Life-Span Development 40

SECTION 2 BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES, PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT,

AND HEALTH 44
2 Biological Beginnings 45
3 Physical Development and Biological Aging 86
4 Health 124
5 Motor, Sensory, and Perceptual Development 154

SECTION 3 COGNITIVE PROCESSES AND DEVELOPMENT 181

6 Cognitive Developmental Approaches 182
7 Information Processing 210
8 Intelligence 249
9 Language Development 277

SECTION 4 SOCIOEMOTIONAL PROCESSES AND DEVELOPMENT 301

10 Emotional Development and Attachment 302
11 The Self, Identity, and Personality 344
12 Gender and Sexuality 378
13 Moral Development, Values, and Religion 417

SECTION 5 SOCIAL CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT 452

14 Families, Lifestyles, and Parenting 453
15 Peers and the Sociocultural World 497
16 Schools, Achievement, and Work 537

SECTION 6 ENDINGS 575

17 Death, Dying, and Grieving 576
McGraw-Hill Education Psychology APA Documentation Style Guide

iii
contents
About the Author xi
Expert Consultants xii
Preface xviii

SECTION 1 THE LIFE-SPAN PERSPECTIVE 1

C HAPT ER 1 Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories 23
Ethological Theory 24
Introduction 2 Ecological Theory 25
The Life-Span Perspective 3 An Eclectic Theoretical Orientation 26
The Importance of Studying Life-Span
Research on Life-Span Development 27
Development 3
Methods for Collecting Data 27
Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective 3
Research Designs 30
Some Contemporary Concerns 7
Time Span of Research 32
©H-Gall/Getty Images RF CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO Conducting Ethical Research 34
LIFE Improving Family Policy 10
Minimizing Bias 34
The Nature of Development 11
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Pam Reid,
Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Educational and Development
Processes 11 Psychologist 35
Periods of Development 12 Reach Your Learning Goals 36
The Significance of Age 14
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH Is There a A P P ENDIX
Best Time of Day to Conduct Research? 15
Developmental Issues 17
Careers in Life-Span
Theories of Development 19
Development 40
Psychoanalytic Theories 19
Cognitive Theories 21

S E C T I O N 2 BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES, PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT,

AND HEALTH 44
C HAPT ER 2
Biological Beginnings
The Evolutionary Perspective 46
Natural Selection and Adaptive Behavior 46
Evolutionary Psychology 46
Genetic Foundations of Development
The Collaborative Gene 49
©MedicalRF.com/Getty Images RF Genes and Chromosomes 51
Genetic Principles 53
Chromosomal and Gene-Linked
Abnormalities 54
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Holly Ishmael,
Genetic Counselor 56
45
Heredity and Environment Interaction:
The Nature-Nurture Debate 57
Behavior Genetics 57
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO LIFE Am I
49 an “I” or “We”? 58
Heredity-Environment Correlations 58
The Epigenetic View and Gene × Environment
(G × E) Interaction 59
Conclusions About Heredity-Environment
Interaction 60

iv
Prenatal Development 61
The Course of Prenatal Development 61
Prenatal Diagnostic Tests 65
Hazards to Prenatal Development 66
Prenatal Care 72
Birth and the Postpartum Period 73
The Birth Process 74
The Transition from Fetus to Newborn
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Linda Pugh,
Perinatal Nurse 77
Low Birth Weight and Preterm Infants 78
Bonding 79
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH How Are
Preterm Infants Affected by Touch? 80
The Postpartum Period 81
Reach Your Learning Goals 83
C HA PT ER 3
Physical Development and
Biological Aging 86
Body Growth and Change 87
Patterns of Growth 87
Height and Weight in Infancy and Childhood
Puberty 89
Early Adulthood 92
Middle Adulthood 93
Late Adulthood 95
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Sarah Kagan,
Geriatric Nurse 95
The Brain 96
The Neuroconstructivist View 96
Brain Physiology 97
Infancy 98
Childhood 101
Adolescence 102
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO
LIFE Strategies for Helping
Adolescents Reduce Their Risk-
Taking Behavior 104
Adulthood and Aging 104
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH The Nun
Study 107
Sleep 108
Why Do We Sleep? 108
Infancy 108
Childhood 111
Adolescence and Emerging
Adulthood 111
Adulthood and Aging 113
Longevity and Biological Aging 114
Life Expectancy and Life Span 114
Centenarians 115
Biological Theories of Aging 118
Reach Your Learning Goals 121
CH A P T ER 4
Health 124
Health, Illness, and Disease 125
Children’s Health 125
Adolescents’ Health 126
Emerging and Young Adults’ Health 127
Health and Aging 128
76
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH How
Stressful Is Caring for an Alzheimer Patient
at Home? 132
Nutrition and Eating Behavior 134
Infancy 134
Childhood 136
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Barbara
Deloian, Pediatric Nurse 137
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO
LIFE Helping Overweight Children
Lose Weight 138
Adolescence 139
Adult Development and Aging 140
Exercise 143
Childhood and Adolescence 143
Adulthood 145
87
Aging and Longevity 145
Substance Use 147
Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood 148
Substance Use in Older Adults 151
Reach Your Learning Goals 152
CH A P T ER 5
Motor, Sensory, and
Perceptual Development 154
Motor Development 155
The Dynamic Systems View 155
Reflexes 156
Gross Motor Skills 157
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO
LIFE Parents, Coaches, and Children’s
Sports 161
Fine Motor Skills 162
Sensory and Perceptual Development 164
What are Sensation and Perception? 164
The Ecological View 165
Visual Perception 165
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH How
Do Scientists Study the Newborn’s
Perception? 166
Hearing 172
Other Senses 174
Intermodal Perception 176
Nature/Nurture and Perceptual Development 176
Perceptual-Motor Coupling 178
Reach Your Learning Goals 179
Contents v
SECTION 3 COGNITIVE PROCESSES AND DEVELOPMENT 181
C HAPT ER 6
Cognitive Developmental
Approaches 182
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Processes of Development 183
Sensorimotor Stage 184
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH How Do
©JohnnyGreig/Getty Images RF Researchers Study Infants’ Understanding of
Object Permanence and Causality? 187
Preoperational Stage 190
Concrete Operational Stage 193
Formal Operational Stage 194
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO LIFE Are
Social Media an Amplification Tool for
Adolescent Egocentrism? 196
Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s
Theory 197
Piaget and Education 197
Evaluating Piaget’s Theory 198
Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive
Development 199
The Zone of Proximal Development 200
Scaffolding 200
Language and Thought 200
Teaching Strategies 201
Evaluating Vygotsky’s Theory 202
Cognitive Changes in Adulthood 204
Piaget’s View 204
Realistic and Pragmatic Thinking 204
Reflective and Relativistic Thinking 204
Cognition and Emotion 205
Is There a Fifth, Postformal Stage? 205
Are There Cognitive Stages in Middle and
Late Adulthood? 205
Reach Your Learning Goals 207
C HAPT ER 7
Information Processing
The Information-Processing Approach 211
The Information-Processing Approach and Its
Application to Development 211
Speed of Processing Information 213
Attention 214
What is Attention? 215
Infancy 215
Childhood and Adolescence 217
Adulthood 218
Memory 219
What is Memory? 219
Infancy 220
vi Contents
Childhood 221
Adulthood 225
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH How Well Do
Adults Remember What They Learned in High
183 School and College Spanish? 227
Thinking 228
What is Thinking? 228
Infancy and Childhood 228
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Helen Hadani,
Ph.D., Developmental Psychologist, Toy
Designer, and Associate Director of Research
for the Center for Childhood Creativity 232
Adolescence 233
Adulthood 235
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO LIFE The
Remarkable Helen Small 239
Metacognition 241
What is Metacognition? 241
Theory of Mind 242
Metacognition in Adolescence and Adulthood 244
Reach Your Learning Goals 245
CH A P T ER 8
Intelligence 249
The Concept of Intelligence 250
What is Intelligence? 250
Intelligence Tests 250
Theories of Multiple Intelligences 252
The Neuroscience of Intelligence 255
Controversies and Group Comparisons 256
The Influence of Heredity and Environment 256
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH Can Early
Intervention in the Lives of Children Growing
Up in Impoverished Circumstances Improve
Their Intelligence? 258
Group Comparisons and Issues 259
The Development of Intelligence 260
Tests of Infant Intelligence 260
210 CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Toosje
Thyssen Van Beveren, Infant Assessment
Specialist 261
Stability and Change in Intelligence Through
Adolescence 262
Intelligence in Adulthood 262
The Extremes of Intelligence and Creativity 266
Intellectual Disability 267
Giftedness 267
Creativity 270
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO LIFE Living
a More Creative Life 273
Reach Your Learning Goals 274
 C HA PT ER 9 Adolescence 291

Language Development 277 CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Salvador

Tamayo, Teacher of English Language
What is Language? 278 Learners 292
Defining Language 278 Adulthood and Aging 292
Language’s Rule Systems 278 Biological and Environmental
How Language Develops 280 Influences 294
Infancy 281 Biological Influences 294
Early Childhood 283 Environmental Influences 295
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Sharla Peltier, CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO LIFE
Speech Therapist 284 How Parents Can Facilitate Infants’ and
Toddlers’ Language
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH What
Development 297
Characteristics of a Family Affect a Child’s
Language Development? 286 An Interactionist View of Language 298
Middle and Late Childhood 287 Reach Your Learning Goals 299

SECTION 4 SOCIOEMOTIONAL PROCESSES AND

©Jan Scherders/Getty Images RF
DEVELOPMENT 301
C HA PT ER 10 CH A P T ER 1 1
Emotional Development The Self, Identity, and
and Attachment 302 Personality 344
Exploring Emotion 303 The Self 345
What Are Emotions? 303 Self-Understanding and Understanding
Emotion Regulation 304 Others 345
Emotional Competence 305 Self-Esteem and Self-Concept 351
Development of Emotion 306 Self-Regulation 355
Infancy 306 CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO
Early Childhood 309 LIFE Strategies for Effectively
Middle and Late Childhood 310 Engaging in Selective Optimization
with Compensation 358
Adolescence 312
Adult Development and Aging 312 Identity 359
What is Identity? 360
Temperament 315
Erikson’s View 360
Describing and Classifying
Some Contemporary Thoughts on
Temperament 315
Identity 360
Biological Foundations and
Developmental Changes 361
Experience 317
Identity and Social Contexts 363
Goodness of Fit and Parenting 319
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO CONNECTING WITH CAREERS
LIFE Parenting and the Child’s Armando Ronquillo, High School
Temperament 320 Counselor 365

Attachment and Love 321 Personality 366

Infancy and Childhood 321
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Wanda
Mitchell, Child-Care Director 331
Adolescence 333
Adulthood 334
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH
Does the Breakup of a Romantic
Relationship Present an Opportunity for
Personal Growth? 340
Reach Your Learning Goals 341
Trait Theories and the Big Five Factors
of Personality 366
Views on Adult Personality
Development 368
Generativity 371
Stability and Change 371
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH
Are Personality Traits Related to
Longevity? 372
Reach Your Learning Goals 375

Contents vii
 C HAPT ER 12
Gender and Sexuality
Biological, Social, and Cognitive Influences on
Gender 379
Biological Influences 379
Social Influences 381
Cognitive Influences 384
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH
What Are Young Children’s
Gender Schemas About
Occupations? 385
Gender Stereotypes, Similarities,
Differences, and Classification 386
Gender Stereotyping 386
Gender Similarities and Differences 387
Gender-Role Classification 390
Gender Development Through
the Life Span 392
Childhood 392
Adolescence 392
Adulthood and Aging 393
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS
Cynthia de las Fuentes, College
Professor and Counseling
Psychologist 394
Exploring Sexuality 396
Biological and Cultural Factors 396
Sexual Orientation 397
Sexually Transmitted Infections 399
Forcible Sexual Behavior and Sexual
Harassment 401
Sexuality Through the Life Span 402
Childhood 402
Adolescence and Emerging
Adulthood 403
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS
Lynn Blankinship, Family and Consumer
Science Educator 409
SECTION 5 SOCIAL CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT 452
C HAPT ER 14
Families, Lifestyles, and
Parenting 453
Family Processes 454
Reciprocal Socialization 454
Family as a System 455
Sociocultural and Historical
©ImageDJ/age fotostock RF Influences 456
Multiple Developmental Trajectories
viii Contents
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO LIFE
Reducing Adolescent Pregnancy 409
378 Adult Development and Aging 410
Reach Your Learning Goals 414
CH A P T ER 13
Moral Development, Values,
and Religion 417
Domains of Moral Development 418
What Is Moral Development? 418
Moral Thought 418
Moral Behavior 423
Moral Feeling 424
Moral Personality 427
Social Domain Theory 428
Contexts of Moral Development 429
Parenting 429
Schools 431
Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior 434
Prosocial Behavior 434
Antisocial Behavior 437
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Rodney
Hammond, Health Psychologist 439
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH Does
Intervention Reduce Juvenile
Delinquency? 441
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning
in Life 442
Values 442
Religion and Spirituality 443
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Gabriel
Dy-Liacco, Professor and Pastoral
Counselor 446
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO
LIFE Religion and Coping 447
Meaning in Life 448
Reach Your Learning Goals 449
The Diversity of Adult Lifestyles 457
Single Adults 457
Cohabiting Adults 458
Married Adults 459
Divorced Adults 464
Remarried Adults 466
Gay and Lesbian Adults 467
Parenting 468
Parental Roles 469
457 Parenting Styles and Discipline 471
 CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Janis Keyser,
Parent Educator 472
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH
Are Marital Conflict, Individual Hostility,
and the Use of Physical Punishment
Linked? 475
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS
Sociocultural Influences 519
Darla Botkin, Marriage and Family
Therapist 476
Parent–Adolescent and Parent–Emerging Adult
Relationships 478
Working Parents 481
Children in Divorced Families 482
Stepfamilies 484
Aging and the Social World 516
Social Theories of Aging 516
Stereotyping of Older Adults 516
Social Support and Social
Integration 517
Successful Aging 518
Culture 519
Socioeconomic Status and Poverty 527
Ethnicity 530
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Norma
Thomas, Social Work Professor and
Administrator 533

CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO LIFE Reach Your Learning Goals 534

Communicating with Children About
Divorce 484 CH A P T ER 1 6
Gay and Lesbian Parents 485
Adoptive Parents and Adopted
Schools, Achievement, and
Children 486 Work 537
Other Family Relationships 488 Schools 538
Sibling Relationships and Birth Contemporary Approaches to Student Learning and
Order 488 Assessment 538
Grandparenting and Great- Schools and Developmental Status 540
Grandparenting 490 CONNECTING WITH CAREERS
Intergenerational Relationships 491 Yolanda Garcia, Director of
Children’s Services, Head
Reach Your Learning Goals 494
Start 542
Educating Children with Disabilities 547
C HA PT ER 15 Socioeconomic Status and Ethnicity
in Schools 552
Peers and the Sociocultural
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS James Comer,
World 497 Child Psychiatrist 554
Peer Relations in Childhood and Achievement 554
Adolescence 498 Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation 555
Exploring Peer Relations 498 Mastery Motivation and Mindset 556
Peer Statuses 501 Self-Efficacy 558
Bullying 503 Goal Setting, Planning, and
Gender and Peer Relations 504 Self-Monitoring 558
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH Expectations 559
How Are Perspective Taking and Ethnicity and Culture 559
Moral Motivation Linked to
Bullying? 505 CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH
Parenting and Children’s Achievement:
Adolescent Peer Relations 505
My Child is My Report Card, Tiger
Friendship 507 Moms, and Tiger Babies Strike
Functions of Friendship 507 Back 561
Friendship During Childhood 507 Careers, Work, and Retirement 563
Friendship During Adolescence and Emerging Career Development 563
Adulthood 507 CONNECTING WITH CAREERS
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO LIFE Grace Leaf, College/Career
Effective and Ineffective Strategies for Counselor and College Administrator 564
Making Friends 508 Work 564
Adult Friendship 509 CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT
Play and Leisure 511 TO LIFE Working During
Childhood 511 College 566
Adolescence 513 Retirement 569
Adulthood 514 Reach Your Learning Goals 572

Contents ix
SECTION 6 ENDINGS 575
C HAPT ER 17
Death, Dying, and
Grieving 576
The Death System and Cultural Contexts 577
The Death System and Its Cultural Variations 577
Changing Historical Circumstances 579
Defining Death and Life/Death Issues
©Russell Underwood/Corbis/Getty Images Issues in Determining Death 579
Decisions Regarding Life, Death, and
Health Care 580
CONNECTING WITH CAREERS Kathy
McLaughlin, Home Hospice Nurse 582
A Developmental Perspective on Death 583
Causes of Death 583
Attitudes Toward Death at Different Points in the
Life Span 583
Suicide 585
Facing One’s Own Death 588
Kübler-Ross’ Stages of Dying 588
Perceived Control and Denial 589
The Contexts in Which People Die 589
x Contents
Coping with the Death of Someone
Else 590
Communicating with a Dying Person 590
CONNECTING DEVELOPMENT TO
LIFE Communicating with a Dying
Person 591
Grieving 591
Making Sense of the World 593
579
Losing a Life Partner 594
CONNECTING WITH RESEARCH How is
Widowhood Related to Women’s Physical
and Mental Health? 595
Forms of Mourning 596
Reach Your Learning Goals 598
McGraw-Hill Education
Psychology APA Documentation Style
Guide
Glossary G1
References R
Name Index NI
Subject Index SI1
 about the author
John W. Santrock
John Santrock received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1973. He taught
at the University of Charleston and the University of Georgia before joining the pro-
gram in Psychology in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University
of Texas at Dallas, where he currently teaches a num-
ber of undergraduate courses and has received the
­University’s Effective Teaching Award.
John has been a member of the editorial boards of
Child Development and Developmental Psychology.
His research on father custody is widely cited and used
in expert witness testimony to promote flexibility and
alternative considerations in custody disputes. John
also has authored these exceptional McGraw-Hill texts:
Psychology (7th edition), Children (14th edition),
John Santrock (back row middle) with the 2015 recipients
Child Development (14th edition), Adolescence (16th
of the Santrock Travel Scholarship Award in developmental
psychology. Created by Dr. Santrock, this annual award edition), Life-Span Development (16th edition), and
provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to
attend a professional meeting. A number of the students Educational Psychology (6th edition).
shown here attended the 2015 meeting of the Society for
Research in Child Development. For many years, John was involved in tennis as a
Courtesy of Jessica Serna

player, teaching professional, and a coach of professional tennis players. As an under-

graduate, he was a member of the University of Miami (FL) tennis team that still holds
the record for most consecutive wins (137) in any NCAA Division I sport. John has been
married for four decades to his wife, Mary Jo, who is a Realtor. He has two daughters—
Tracy and Jennifer—both of whom are Realtors after long careers in technology marketing
and medical sales, respectively. He has one granddaughter, Jordan, age 25, who completed
her master’s degree from the Cox School of Business at SMU and currently works for
Ernst & Young, and two grandsons—the Belluci brothers: Alex, age 12, and Luke, age 11.
In the last decade, John also has spent time painting expressionist art.

With special appreciation to my mother,

Ruth Santrock, and my father, John Santrock.

xi
expert consultants
Life-span development has become an enormous, complex field, and no single author, or even several authors, can possibly keep up with all of the
rapidly changing content in the many periods and different areas in this field. To solve this problem, author John Santrock has sought the input of
leading experts about content in a number of areas of life-span development. These experts have provided detailed evaluations and recommendations
in their area(s) of expertise.
The following individuals were among those who served as expert consultants for one or more of the previous editions of this text:
Karen Adolph Elena Grigorenko Charles Nelson
David Almeida Scott Hofer Crystal Park
Karlene Ball William Hoyer Denise Park
John Bates Janet Shibley Hyde Ross Parke
Martha Ann Bell Rachel Keen Glenn Roisman
Jay Belsky Jennifer Lansford Carolyn Saarni
James Birren James Marcia Robert J. Sternberg
Kirby Deater-Deckard Linda Mayes Elizabeth Stine-Morrow
Susanne Denham Patricia Miller Ross Thompson
James Garbarino David Moore Doug Wahlsten
Linda George Daniel Mroczek Allan Wigfield
Gilbert Gottlieb Darcia Narváez

Following are the expert consultants for the ninth edition, who (like those of previous editions) literally represent a Who’s Who in the field
of life-span development.

William J. Hoyer Dr. Hoyer is a leading
expert on cognitive aging and life-span development.
He obtained his Ph.D. from West Virginia University
and is currently Professor of Psychology at Syracuse
University. Dr. Hoyer is also a faculty affiliate of the
Aging Studies Institute at Syracuse University. His
research focuses on age-related changes in memory, attention, and
learning. His research appears in journals such as Psychology of
Aging; Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition; and Journal of
Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. He is co-author of Adult
Development and Aging. Dr. Hoyer is a Fellow in the American
Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science,
and The Gerontological Society of America.
“Coverage, clarity, and currency of most of the topics in this
chapter (‘Physical Development and Biological Aging’) are
exemplary, much better than the coverage that appears in
competitive texts. . . . The framework serves the topic well in regard
to comprehensiveness of coverage, and at the same time seems
logical for student mastery and understanding. The framework has
nicely evolved over the eight previous editions—it is bullet proof yet
it provides students a good organization for absorbing new ideas
and findings here and there and for the inclusion of updates or
reconceptualizations . . . great effort was given to including fresh,
new findings in the ninth edition. . . . John Santrock’s ninth edition
is overall the best available text in life-span developmental
psychology.” —William Hoyer, Syracuse University
Photo courtesy of Dr. William J. Hoyer
Qing Zhou Dr. Zhou is a leading expert on
developmental psychopathology, as well as cultural
and family influences on children’s socioemotional
development. She obtained her Ph.D. at Arizona State
University and currently is a professor of psychology
at the University of California–Berkeley where she
directs the Culture and Family Lab. Among the topics of Dr. Zhou’s
research are how cultural values influence parenting and children’s
development, including cross-cultural comparisons of Chinese,
Chinese American, and non-Latino White families. She also conducts
research on children’s emotion regulation and coping with stressors.
“The strengths are: (1) the life-span developmental perspective—
integrating research on child/adolescent development and aging;
(2) attention to both basic and applied/translational research. . . .
Also, there is a strong theoretical framework in each of the
subtopics (chapter on ‘Peers and the Sociocultural World’). . . .
Strengths of the chapter on ‘Schools and Achievement’:
Interdisciplinary focus—nice coverage of the literature on education
and education policy, developmental, and cultural psychology;
(2) great linking of theory/research with practice—I especially liked
the inclusion of practical recommendations for parents regarding
motivation to do well in school, and the Connect and Reflect
questions.” —Qing Zhou, University of California—Berkeley
Photo courtesy of Shiying Deng
Ross Thompson Dr. Thompson is one of the
world’s leading experts on children’s socioemotional
development. He obtained his Ph.D. in psychology
from the University of Michigan, has taught at the
University of Nebraska, and currently is Distinguished
Professor of Psychology at the University of
California–Davis, where he directs the Social and Emotional
Development Lab. As a developmental psychologist, Dr. Thompson
studies early parent-child relationships, the development of emotion
understanding and emotion regulation, early moral development, and
the growth of self-understanding in young children. He also works on
the applications of developmental research to public policy concerns,
including school readiness and its development, early childhood
investments, and early mental health. Dr. Thompson has published
five books, several best-selling textbooks, and over 200 papers related

xii
to his work. He is a founding member of the National Scientific
Council on the Developing Child, has twice been Associate Editor of
Child Development, and has received the Boyd McCandless Young
Scientist Award for Early Distinguished Achievement from the
American Psychological Association. Dr. Thompson also recently was
given the Ann Brown Award for Excellence in Developmental
Research and the University of California–Davis Distinguished
Scholarly Public Service Award.
“It was once again a pleasure to read these chapters and to be
reminded of John Santrock’s skill as an interpreter and integrator of
current research for undergraduate students. The discussion moves
swiftly from one topic to the next but not with a breathless pace
that might detract from the amount of terrain that is covered.
Rather, students are engaged in a panoramic overview of central
topics related to social and personality development, and led
through these topics by a narrator who seems as interested in them
as he hopes the students will be.” —Ross Thompson, University
of California—Davis
Photo courtesy of Dr. Ross A. Thompson
Tiffany Field Dr. Field is one of the world’s
leading experts on prenatal development, birth, and
infant development. She currently is Director of the
Touch Research Institute (which she founded in 1992)
in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of
Miami School of Medicine. Dr. Field obtained her
Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. She has published
more than 400 journal articles and more than 20 books, including The
Amazing Infant and Massage Therapy. Techniques based on her pio-
neering research on massage therapy are now widely practiced in
NICU units to enhance the growth and development of at-risk infants.
Dr. Field has received numerous major awards, including the Boyd
McCandless Distinguished Young Scientist Award from the American
Psychological Association, an NIMH Research Scientist Award, and
an NIH Senior Research Scientist Award. She has served as an associ-
ate editor of Infant Mental Health and been on the editorial boards of
Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and a number of
other leading journals.
“Yes, the narrative (and perspective) reflect the latest and most
important research in the field, . . . especially the genetics
references to 2017. . . . I think the chapter (‘Prenatal Development
and Birth’) is excellent in these respects: strong framework for the
chapter; students will come away from the chapter with a clear
understanding of the chapter subject. . . . The great strengths are
the user-friendly writing and the up-to-date literatures.” —Tiffany
Field, University of Miami
Photo courtesy of Tiffany Field
Kirby Deater-Deckard Dr. Deater-Deckard
is a leading expert on biological foundations of devel-
opment, biology-environment interaction, and parent-
ing. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of
Virginia, has taught at Virginia Tech University, and
currently is a professor of psychological and brain sci-
ences at University of Massachusetts–Amherst and also is director of
the Healthy Development Initiative at the University of Massachusetts
Center at Springfield. Dr. Deater-Deckard is a Fellow of the
Association for Psychological Science. His research focuses on the
development of individual differences in childhood and adolescence
with an emphasis on biology-environment (genetics, physiology, for
example) processes. Dr. Deater-Deckard has written and edited papers,
book chapters, and books in the areas of developmental psychology
and psychopathology. His current and recent collaborative research on
parenting, schooling, and children’s development is funded by the NIH
and NSF. A former joint editor of the Journal of Child Psychology
and Psychiatry, Dr. Deater-Deckard currently is co-editor with
Dr. Martha Ann Bell of the book series, Frontiers in Developmental
Science, serves on multiple journal editorial boards, and is a grant
review panelist for the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences.
“There are many strengths to note, with particular strengths in the
comprehensive coverage and very timely inclusion of new and
‘leading edge’ topics, and updated citations/references. John
Santrock has a long history of being very rigorous with updating
the science/citations in each new edition, and the current edition is
no exception. The entire chapter (‘Biological Beginnings’) does
reflect the latest and most important research in the field. The
framework for the chapter is strong and very clear. It is logically
organized . . . and students are very likely to come away from the
chapter with a clear overview.” —Kirby Deater-Deckard,
University of Massachusetts—Amherst
Photo courtesy of Dr. Kirby Deater-Deckard
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff
Dr. Golinkoff is one of the world’s leading experts on
children’s language development. She obtained her
Ph.D. from Cornell University and currently holds the
position of the Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor of
Education, Psychology, and Linguistics at the
University of Delaware and directs the Child’s Play, Learning, and
Development laboratory. Dr. Golinkoff has received numerous awards
for her contributions to developmental science, including the 2017
Society for Research in Child Development’s Distinguished Scientific
Contributions Award. She has written 16 books and monographs, and
has published more than 150 journal articles, chapters, and mono-
graphs. Passionate about the dissemination of psychological science
for improving our schools and families’ lives, she and Kathy Hirsh-
Pasek (her long-standing collaborator) wrote Becoming Brilliant:
What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children.
Dr. Golinkoff also co-founded the Ultimate Block Party movement to
celebrate the science of playful learning as well as the Urban
Thinkscape project. She has appeared on Good Morning America,
other radio and television shows, and in print media. She never turns
down an opportunity to spread the findings of psychological science
to the lay public.
“Basically, this is a FINE INTRODUCTION to the topic of
language development. . . . I enjoyed reading it and thank you for
thinking of me!” —Roberta Golinkoff, University of Delaware
Photo courtesy of Roberta M. Golinkoff
Stephanie L. Budge Dr. Budge is a leading
expert in the area of transgender and gender non-con-
forming research. She is a professor in the Department
of Counseling Psychology at the University of
Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Budge received her master’s
degree in Educational Psychology from the University
of Texas at Austin and her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on emotional
and coping processes in transgender youth and adults, as well as the
effectiveness of medical and psychotherapeutic treatments for trans-
gender clients. She provides clinical training nationally and
Expert Consultants xiii
internationally related to LGBTQ issues, focusing on practitioners’
self-efficacy, knowledge, awareness, and skills. At the University of
Wisconsin, she promotes transgender activism on campus by provid-
ing workshops to students, faculty, and staff related to navigating
gender identity within a university environment. Dr. Budge has
received the American Psychological Association LGBT Outstanding
Community Contributions award and the APA LGBT Early Career
Professional Award from the Society for Counseling Psychology.
Stephanie is currently an Associate Editor of Psychotherapy and on
the editorial boards of International Journal of Transgenderism and
Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.
“I especially appreciated the updated citations throughout the
manuscript and that John Santrock seemed to capture a large
portion of new information on adolescent sexual development and
sexual assault/harassment.” —Stephanie Budge, University of
Wisconsin—Madison
Photo courtesy of Janice Budge
Patricia Miller Dr. Miller is a leading expert
in children’s cognitive development. She obtained
her Ph.D. from the Institute of Child Development
at the University of Minnesota and currently is
Professor of Psychology at San Francisco State
University, having previously been a professor at the
University of Michigan, University of Georgia, and University of
Florida. Her research focuses on children’s executive function,
memory, attention, and learning strategies. Topics of current proj-
ects include the development of executive function in preschool
children, the effects of exercise on children’s executive function and
academic achievement, and the development and transfer of strate-
gies. Dr. Miller is a recent president of the developmental psychol-
ogy division of the American Psychological Association and is a
Fellow of that organization as well as the Association for
Psychological Science. She also has been an Associate Editor of
xiv Expert Consultants
Child Development and has served on the editorial boards of several
major developmental journals. Her book, Theories of Developmental
Psychology, is in its fifth edition, and she is co-author or co-editor
of three other volumes. Dr. Miller’s work has been published in
leading research journals such as Child Development, Developmental
Psychology, and Cognitive Development.
“This edition (ninth), like earlier ones, is interesting, clear, well-
written, and up-to-date. It does an especially good job of applying
current research to the real world. Also, the Review, Connect,
and Reflect, and Connections features are great pedagogical
components. . . . I’ve always liked how up-to-date this text is.”
—Patricia Miller, San Francisco State University
Photo courtesy of Andrew Corpuz
Deborah Carr Dr. Carr is a leading expert on
the social aspects of older adults’ lives and on death,
dying, and grieving. She obtained her Ph.D. from the
University of Wisconsin and currently is a professor
of sociology at Rutgers University. She will join the
faculty at Boston University in 2017. Dr. Carr is a life
course sociologist who specializes in stress and health, widowhood,
end-of-life issues, body weight, and later-life family relationships. She
is the author of nearly 100 journal articles and book chapters, and is
author or editor of five books including Spousal Bereavement in Later
Life, Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development, and
Worried Sick: Why Stress Hurts Us and What to Do About It. Dr. Carr
is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, and editor-in-
chief of Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
“He (John Santrock) has done an incredibly thorough revision, has
a rich and extensive reading list, and cites the most state-of-the-art
research. My kudos to the author.” —Deborah Carr, Rutgers
University
Photo courtesy of Myra Klarman
Connecting Research and Results
As a master teacher, John Santrock connects current research and real-world applications. Through an integrated, per-
sonalized digital learning program, ­students gain the insight they need to study smarter and improve performance.

McGraw-Hill Education Connect is a digital assignment and assessment platform that strengthens the link between fac-
ulty, students, and course work, helping everyone accomplish more in less time. Connect Life-Span includes assign-
able and assessable videos, quizzes, exercises, and interactivities, all associated
with ­learning objectives. Interactive assignments and videos allow students to
­experience and apply their understanding of psychology to the world with fun
and stimulating activities.

Real People, Real World,

Real Life
At the higher end of Bloom’s taxonomy (analyze,
evaluate, create), the McGraw-Hill Education
Milestones video series is an observational tool that
allows students to experience life as it unfolds, from
infancy to late adulthood. This ground-breaking,
longitudinal video series tracks the development of
real children as they progress through the early stages
of physical, social, and emotional development in their
first few weeks, months, and years of life. Assignable
and assessable within Connect Life Span, Milestones
also includes interviews with adolescents and adults to
reflect development throughout the entire life span.

Inform and Engage on Psychological

Concepts
At the lower end of Bloom’s taxonomy, students are introduced to
Concept Clips—the dynamic, colorful graphics and stimulating animations
that break down some of psychology’s most difficult concepts in a
step-by-step manner, engaging students and aiding in retention. They are
assignable and assessable in Connect or can be used as a jumping-off
point in class. Now with audio narration, this edition also includes new
Concept Clips on topics such as object permanence and conservation, as
well as theories and theorists like Bandura’s social cognitive theory,
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, Buss’s evolutionary theory, and Kuhl’s
language development theory.

xv
Better Data, Smarter Revision, Improved Results
Students helped inform the revision strategy of A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development.
McGraw-Hill Education’s Smartbook is the first and only adaptive reading and learning
experience! SmartBook helps students distinguish the concepts they know from the concepts
they don’t, while pinpointing the concepts they are about to forget. SmartBook continuously
adapts to create a truly personalized learning path and offers students
learning resources such as videos, Concept Clips, and slides to
further reinforce difficult concepts. SmartBook’s real-time reports
help both students and instructors identify the concepts that require
more attention, making study sessions and class time more efficient.
The SmartBook reading experience continuously adapts to
create a truly personalized learning path, and offers students learning
resources such as videos, Concept Clips, and slides to further
reinforce difficult concepts.
Informed by Students
Content revisions are informed by data collected anonymously
through McGraw-Hill Education’s SmartBook.
STEP 1. Over the course of three years, data points showing
concepts that caused students the most difficulty were
anonymously collected from Connect for Life-Span
Development’s SmartBook®.
STEP 2. The data from LearnSmart was provided to the author
in the form of a Heat Map, which graphically illustrates “hot
spots” in the text that affect student learning (see image at left).
STEP 3. The author used the Heat Map data to refine the
content and reinforce student comprehension in the new edition.
Additional quiz questions and assignable activities were created
for use in Connect to further support student success.
RESULT: Because the Heat Map gave the author empirically based
feedback at the paragraph and even sentence level, he was able to
develop the new edition using precise student data that pinpointed
concepts that gave students the most difficulty.

xvi Connecting Research and Results

Powerful Reporting
Whether a class is face-to-face, hybrid, or entirely online,
Connect for Life-Span Development provides tools and analytics to reduce
the amount of time instructors need to administer their courses. Easy-to-use
course management tools allow instructors to spend less time administering
and more time teaching, while easy-to-use reporting features allow students
to monitor their progress and optimize their study time.
∙ The At-Risk Student Report provides instructors with one-click access to a
dashboard that identifies students who are at risk of dropping out of the
course due to low engagement levels.
∙ The Category Analysis Report details student performance relative to specific
learning objectives and goals, including APA outcomes and levels of Bloom’s
taxonomy.
∙ Connect Insight is a one-of-a-kind visual analytics dashboard—now available
for both instructors and students—that provides at-a-glance information
regarding student performance.
∙ The LearnSmart Reports allow instructors and students to easily monitor prog-
ress and pinpoint areas of weakness, giving each student a personalized study
plan to achieve success.

Online Instructor Resources

The resources listed here accompany A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development, Ninth
edition. Please contact your McGraw-Hill representative for details concerning the availability
of these and other valuable materials that can help you design and enhance your course.

Instructor’s Manual Broken down by chapter, this resource provides chapter outlines, sug-
gested lecture topics, classroom activities and demonstrations, suggested student research
projects, essay questions, and critical thinking questions.

Test Bank and Computerized Test Bank This comprehensive Test Bank includes more
than 1,500 multiple-choice and approximately 75 essay questions. Organized by chapter, the
questions are designed to test factual, applied, and conceptual understanding. All test ques-
tions are available within TestGen™ software.

PowerPoint Slides The PowerPoint presentations, now WCAG compliant, highlight the key
points of the chapter and include supporting visuals. All of the slides can be modified to
meet individual needs.

Connecting Research and Results xvii

 preface
Making Connections . . . From My
Classroom to A Topical Approach
to Life-Span Development to You
Having taught life-span development every semester for three decades now, I’m always look-
ing for ways to improve my course and A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development. Just
as McGraw-Hill looks to those who teach the life-span development course for input, each
year I ask the approximately 200 students in my life-span development course to tell me what
they like about the course and the text, and what they think could be improved. What have
my students told me about my course and text? Students said that highlighting connections
among the different aspects of life-span development would help them to better understand
the concepts. As I thought about this, it became clear that a connections theme would provide
a systematic, integrative approach to the course material. I used this theme to shape my goals
for my life-span development course, which, in turn, I incorporated into A Topical Approach
to Life-Span Development:
1. Connecting with today’s students To help students learn about life-span development
more effectively.
2. Connecting research to what we know about development To provide students with
the best and most recent theory and research in the world today about each of the periods
of the human life span.
3. Connecting topical processes in development To guide students in making topical con-
nections across different aspects of development through the life span.
4. Connecting development to the real world To help students understand ways to apply
content about the human life span to the real world and improve people’s lives; and to
motivate them to think deeply about their own personal journey through life and better
understand who they were, are, and will be.

Connecting with Today’s Students

In A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development, I recognize that today’s students are as
different in some ways from the learners of the last generation as today’s discipline of life-
span development is different from the field 30 years ago. Students now learn in multiple
modalities; rather than sitting down and reading traditional printed chapters in linear fash-
ion from beginning to end, their work preferences tend to be more visual and more interac-
tive, and their reading and study often occur in short bursts. For many students, a

preview traditionally formatted printed textbook is no longer enough when they have instant, 24/7
access to news and information from around the globe. Two features that specifically
­support today’s students are the adaptive ebook, Smartbook (see page xvi), and the learning
Think about how much you have changed physically and will continue to change as you age. We
come into this life as small beings. But we grow very rapidly in infancy, more slowly in childhood,
and once again more rapidly during puberty, and then experience another goals system.
slowdown. Eventually
we decline, but many older adults are still physically robust. In this chapter, we explore changes
in body growth, the brain, and sleep across the life span. We also examine longevity and evaluate
some fascinating theories about why we age, and we explore both physical and physiological
aspects of development.
The Learning Goals System
My students often report that the life-span
development course is challenging because
1 Body Growth and Change LG1 Discuss major changes in the body through the life span.
of the amount of material covered. To help
today’s students focus on the key ideas, the
Patterns of Height and Weight in Puberty Early Middle Late
Growth Infancy and Childhood Adulthood Adulthood Adulthood Learning Goals System I developed for A
Topical Approach to Life-Span Development
In life’s long journey, we go through many bodily changes. We grow up, we grow out, we
shrink. The very visible changes in height and weight are accompanied by less visible ones
in bones, lungs, and every other organ of the body. These changes will help shape how we
think about ourselves, how other people think about us, and what we are capable of thinking,
xviii
doing, and feeling. Are there strict timelines for these changes? Are they set in our genes?
Let’s begin by studying some basic patterns of growth and then trace bodily changes from
the time we are infants through the time we are older adults.

PATTERNS OF GROWTH

provides extensive learning connections
throughout the chapters. The learning sys-
tem connects the chapter opening outline,
learning goals for the chapter, mini-­
chapter maps that open each main section
of the chapter, Review, Connect, Reflect
questions at the end of each main section,
and the chapter summary at the end of
each chapter.
The learning system keeps the key
ideas in front of the student from the
beginning to the end of the chapter. The
main headings of each chapter correspond
to the learning goals that are presented in
the chapter-opening spread. Mini-chapter
maps that link up with the learning goals
are presented at the beginning of each
major section in the chapter.
Then, at the end of each main section of a chapter, the
Review, Connect, Reflect, which prompts students to review the key topics in the
connect to existing knowledge, and relate what they learned MiddletoAdulthood
through life. Reach Your Learning Goals, at the end of the chapter, guides students through
the bulleted chapter review, connecting with the chapter outline/learning goals
beginning of the chapter and the Review, Connect, Reflect questions at the end of major
chapter sections.
Connecting Research to What We Know about
Development
Over the years, it has been important for me to include the most up-to-date research avail-
able. I continue that tradition in this edition by looking closely at specific areas of research,
involving experts in related fields, and updating
research throughout. Connecting with Research
describes a study or program to illustrate how
research in life-span development is conducted
and how it influences our understanding of the
discipline. Topics range from How Are Preterm
Infants Affected by Touch? to Does Intervention
Reduce Juvenile Delinquency? to Parenting
and Children’s Achievement: My Child Is My
Report Card, Tiger Moms, and Tiger Babies
Strike Back.
The tradition of obtaining detailed, exten-
sive input from a number of leading experts in
different areas of life-span development also
continues in this edition. Biographies and photo-
graphs of the leading experts in the field of life-
span development appear on pages xii to xiv,
and the chapter-by-chapter highlights of new
research content are listed on pages xxii to xl.
Finally, the research discussions have been
updated in every area and topic. I expended
every effort to make this edition of A Topical
Approach to Life-Span Development as contem-
porary and up-to-date as possible. To that end,
there are more than 1,500 citations from 2015,
2016, 2017, and 2018 in the text.
• There are differences among
biological, psychological, and social
reach your learning goals
Physical Development and Biological Aging
1 Body Growth and Change LG1 Discuss major changes in the body through the life span.
∙ Human growth follows cephalocaudal (fastest growth occurs at the top) and proximodistal
Patterns of Growth
patterns (growth starts at the center of the body and moves toward the extremities).
Height and Weight in
∙ Height and weight increase rapidly in infancy and then take a slower course during
childhood.
Infancy and Childhood
∙ Puberty is a brain-neuroendocrine process occurring primarily in early adolescence that pro-
Puberty
vides stimulation for the rapid physical changes that accompany this period of development.
∙ A number of changes occur in sexual maturation. The growth spurt involves rapid increases
in height and weight and occurs about two years earlier for girls than for boys.
∙ Extensive hormonal changes characterize puberty. Puberty began occurring much earlier in
the twentieth century mainly because of improved health and nutrition. The basic genetic
program for puberty is wired into the nature of the species, but nutrition, health, and other
environmental factors affect the timing of puberty.
∙ Adolescents show heightened interest in their bodies and body images. Younger adolescents
are more preoccupied with these images than older adolescents. Adolescent girls often have
a more negative body image than do adolescent boys.
∙ Early maturation often favors boys, at least during early adolescence, but as adults, late-
maturing boys have a more positive identity than do early-maturing boys. Early-maturing
girls are at risk for a number of developmental problems.
learning goal is∙ repeated
Early Adulthood
In early adulthood, inheight remains rather constant. Many individuals reach their peak of
muscle tone and strength in their late teens and twenties; however, their physical capacity
section,
may decline during their thirties.
their own personal journey
∙ In middle adulthood, changes usually are gradual. Visible signs of aging, such as the wrin-
kling of skin, appear in the forties and fifties. Middle-aged individuals also tend to lose
height and gain weight. Strength, joints, and bones show declines in middle age. The cardio-
vascular system declines in functioning, and lung capacity begins to decline, more so in
at nonsmokers.
smokers than the
SECTION 2 Biological Processes, Physical Development, and Health 121
san08780_ch03_086-123.indd 121 6/8/17 4:20 PM
connecting with research
How Stressful Is Caring for an
Alzheimer Patient at Home?
Researchers have recently found that the stress of caring for an 0.9
Alzheimer patient at home can prematurely age the immune system,
putting caregivers at risk for developing age-related diseases (Chiu, 0.8 Alzheimer caregivers
Wesson, & Sadavoy, 2014; Glaser & Kiecolt-Glaser, 2005). In one 0.7
Control group
study, 119 older adults who were caring for a spouse with Alzheimer
disease or another form of dementia (which can require up to 100 0.6
IL-6 level
hours a week of time) were compared with 106 older adults who did
not have to care for a chronically ill spouse (Kiecolt-Glazer & others,
0.5
2003). The age of the older adults upon entry into the study ranged 0.4
from 55 to 89, with an average age of 70.
Periodically during the six-year study, blood samples were taken
0.3
and the levels of a naturally produced immune chemical called inter- 0.2
leukin-6, or IL-6, were measured. IL-6 increases with age and can
place people at risk for a number of illnesses, including cardiovascu-
0.1
55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95
lar disease, type 2 diabetes, frailty, and certain cancers. The research-
ers found that the levels of IL-6 increased much faster in the Alzheimer
Age (years)
caregivers than in the older adults who did not have to care for a FIGURE 6
critically ill spouse (see Figure 6). COMPARISON OF IL-6 LEVELS IN
Each time IL-6 was assessed by drawing blood, the participants ALZHEIMER CAREGIVERS AND A CONTROL
GROUP OF NONCAREGIVERS. Notice that IL-6
also completed a 10-item perceived stress scale to assess the extent
to which they perceived their daily life during the prior week as
(an immune chemical that places individuals at
being “unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloading” (Kiecolt-
risk for a number of diseases) increased for both
the Alzheimer caregivers and a control group of
Glazer & others, 2003, p. 9091). Participants rated each item from
0 (never) to 4 (very often). Alzheimer caregivers reported greater
noncaregivers. However, also note that IL-6
increased significantly more in the Alzheimer
stress than the noncaregiver controls across each of the six annual caregivers. A higher score for IL-6 reflects a
higher level of the immune chemical.
assessments.
Since family members are especially important in helping Alzheimer patients cope, an important research agenda is to assess the benefits
of respite care and to find additional ways to relieve the stress the disease can impose on others. What kinds of studies might help provide
some answers? What challenges will researchers face in collecting data?
Parkinson Disease Another type of dementia is Parkinson disease, a chronic, progres-
sive disorder characterized by muscle tremors, slowing of movement, and partial facial paraly-
Preface
sis. Parkinson disease is triggered by degeneration of dopamine-producing neurons in thexix
brain (Hassan & others, 2016; Rastedt, Vaughan, & Foster, 2017). Dopamine is a neurotrans-
mitter that is necessary for normal brain functioning. Why these neurons degenerate is
not known.
The main treatment for Parkinson disease involves administering drugs that enhance the
effect of dopamine (dopamine agonists) in the disease’s earlier stages and later administering
at are some gender differences in communication?
eetangel/Cultura/Getty Images RF

ps. Report Connecting Developmental Processes

on includes developmental connection
rt talk, and Too often we forget or fail to notice the many connections from one point or topic in
Peers
r to engage development to another. Developmental Connections, which appear multiple times in each
How is adult friendship different
stories and chapter, point readers to where the topic is discussed in a previous or subsequent chapter.
among female friends, male friends,
and cross-gender friends? Connect Developmental Connections highlight links across topics and age periods of development
d somewhat
One study to “Peers and the Sociocultural and connections between biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes. These key
r two­thirds World.” developmental processes are typically discussed in isolation from each other, and students
men make often fail to see their connections. Included in the Developmental Connections is a brief
one longer description of the backward or forward connection.
& Licoppe, gender-intensification hypothesis The view Also, a Connect question appears in the section self-reviews—Review, Connect, Reflect—
nication are that psychological and behavioral differences
between boys and girls become greater
so students can practice making connections between topics. For example, students are asked
during early adolescence because of to connect a chapter’s discussion of the gender-intensification hypothesis to what they have
apport talk
increased socialization pressures to conform already read about identity development in adolescence.
to traditional gender roles.
their con­
ho has been rapport talk The language of conversation; a
m a female way to establish connections and negotiate
n doing in relationships; preferred by women. Connecting Development to
ller’s view,
evelopment
report talk Language designed to give
information; a communication style preferred the Real World
by men.
In addition to helping students make research and developmental connections, A Topical
Approach to Life-Span Development shows the important connections between the con-
Socioemotional Processes and Development 393 cepts discussed and the real world. In recent years, students in my life-span development
course have increasingly told me that they want more of this type of information. In this
edition, real-life connections are explicitly made through Connecting Development to
Life, the Milestones program that helps students watch life as it unfolds, and Connecting
with Careers.
7/14/17 2:46 PM Connecting Development to Life, along with a variety of life-span connecting boxed
features, describes the influence of development in a real-world context on topics including
Helping Overweight Children Lose Weight, Working During College, and Communicating
with a Dying Person.
The Milestones program, described on page xv, shows students what developmental
concepts look like by letting them watch actual humans develop. Starting from infancy,
students track several individuals, seeing them achieve major developmental milestones, both

connecting development to life

Are Social Media an Amplification Tool
for Adolescent Egocentrism?
Earlier generations of adolescents did not have social media to connect
with large numbers of people; instead, they connected with fewer peo-
ple, either in person or via telephone. Might today’s teens be drawn to
social media and its virtually unlimited friend base to express their imag-
inary audience and sense of uniqueness? A recent analysis concluded
that amassing a large number of friends (audience) may help to validate
adolescents’ perception that their life is on stage and everyone is watch-
ing them (Psychster Inc, 2010). A look at a teen’s home Twitter com-
ments may suggest to many adults that what teens are reporting is often
rather mundane and uninteresting as they update to the world at large
what they are doing and having, such as: “Studying heavy. Not happy
tonight.” or “At Starbucks with Jesse. Lattes are great.” Possibly for ado-
lescents, though, such tweets are not trivial but rather an expression of
the personal fable’s sense of uniqueness. (Source: Psychster Inc, 2010).
A recent study of social networking sites found that the indis-
criminate monologue communication from one to many, in which the
diverse interests of others are not considered, that often occurs on
such sites as Facebook may produce an egocentric tendency that
undermines prosocial behavior (Chiou, Chen, & Liao, 2014). A recent
meta-analysis concluded that a greater use of social networking sites
was linked to a higher level of narcissism (Gnambs & Appel, 2017).
In what ways might frequent use of social media,
What do you think? Are social media, such as Facebook® and Twitter®, such as Facebook®, influence adolescents’ cognitive
development?
amplifying the expression of adolescents’ imaginary audience, ©Brendan O’Sullivan/Getty Images
personal fable sense of uniqueness, and narcissistic tendencies?

xx Preface Review Connect Reflect Review learned to perceive gravity and

• What are the key processes in support. What aspects of physical
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and perceptual/motor
LG1 Discuss the key
development? What are Piaget’s four development occurring around this
processes and four
stages of cognitive development? time frame might contribute to infants’
stages in Piaget’s theory.
physically and cognitively. Clips continue
through adolescence and adulthood, captur-
ing attitudes toward issues such as family,
sexuality, and death and dying.
Connecting with Careers profiles careers
ranging from an educational psychologist to a
toy designer to a marriage and family therapist
to a teacher of English language learners to a
connecting with careers
Helen Hadani, Ph.D., Developmental
Psychologist, Toy Designer, and Associate
Director of Research for the Center for
Childhood Creativity
Helen Hadani obtained a Ph.D. from Stanford University in developmen-
tal psychology. As a graduate student at Stanford, she worked part-time

home hospice nurse, each of which requires
knowledge about human development.
The careers highlighted extend from
the Careers Appendix that provides a com-
prehensive overview of careers in life-span
development to show students where
knowledge of human development could
for Hasbro Toys and Apple testing children’s software and computer
products for young children. Her first job after graduate school was with
Zowie Intertainment, which was subsequently bought by LEGO. In her
work as a toy designer there, Helen conducted experiments and focus
groups at different stages of a toy’s development, and she also studied
the age-effectiveness of each toy. In Helen’s words, “Even in a toy’s most
primitive stage of development . . . you see children’s creativity in
responding to challenges, their satisfaction when a problem is solved or
simply their delight in having fun” (Schlegel, 2000, p. 50).
More recently, she began working with the Bay Area Discovery
Museum’s Center for Childhood Creativity (CCC) in Sausalito, California,

lead them.
Part of applying development to the
real world is understanding its impact on
an education-focused think tank that pioneers new research, thought-
leadership, and teacher training programs that advance creative thinking
Helen Hadani has worked as both a toy designer and in a
museum position that involves thinking of ways to increase
in all children. Helen is currently the Associate Director of Research for children’s creative thinking.
the CCC.
Courtesy of Helen Hadani

oneself. An important goal I have estab-

lished for my life-span development course
and this text is to motivate students to think deeply about their own journey
further encourage students to make personal connections to content in the created
Your Own Personal Journey of Life appears in the end-of-section review in each
This feature involves a question that asks students to reflect on some aspect of
sion in the section they have just read and connect it to their own life. For
students are asked:
Imagine what your development would have been like in a culture problems
fewer or distinctly different choices. How might your development have been different
if your family had been significantly richer or poorer than it was when Scientific
growing up?
In addition, students are asked a number of personal connections questions
photograph captions.
attention and self-regulation (Poehlmann-Tynan & others, 2016), achievement (Schonert-Reichl
& Roeser, 2016), and coping strategies in stressful situations (Dariotis & others, 2016). Also,
ofrecent
in two life.studies,
To mindfulness-based intervention reduced public school teachers’ stress,
text, a Reflect:
better mood in students when they were at school and at home, and was associated
with better sleep (Crain, Schonert-Reichl, & Roeser, 2017; Taylor & others, 2016).
chapter.
To read about one developmental psychologist who used her training in cognitive devel-
opment to pursue a career in an applied area, see the Connecting with Careers profile.
the discus-
example,
Scientific Thinking Some aspects of thinking are specific to a particular domain, such
as mathematics, science, or reading. We explore reading in the “Language Development”
chapter. Here we examine scientific thinking by children.
Like scientists, children ask fundamental questions about reality and seek answers to
that offered
that seem utterly trivial or unanswerable to other people (such as “Why is the sky
blue?”). Do children generate hypotheses, perform experiments, and reach conclusions about
their data in ways resembling those of scientists?
you were reasoning often is aimed at identifying causal relations. Like scientists, children
place a great deal of emphasis on causal mechanisms. Their understanding of how events are
caused weighs more heavily in their causal inferences than even such strong influences as
whether the incausethe
happened immediately before the effect.
There also are important differences between the reasoning of children and the reasoning
of scientists (Kuhn, 2011, 2013). Children are more influenced by happenstance events than
by an overall pattern (Kuhn, 2011, 2013). Often, children maintain their old theories regard-
less of the evidence (Kuhn, Schauble, & Garcia-Mila, 1992).
Children might go through mental gymnastics trying to reconcile seemingly contradictory
new information with their existing beliefs. For example, after learning about the solar system,
children sometimes conclude that there are two earths—the seemingly flat world in which
they live and the round ball floating in space that their teacher described.
Children also have difficulty designing experiments that can distinguish among alterna-
tive causes. Instead, they tend to bias the experiments in favor of whatever hypothesis they

232 CHAPTER 7 Information Processing

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Preface xxi
Content Revisions
A significant reason why A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development has been successfully used by instructors for edition after edition
is the painstaking effort and review that goes into making sure the text provides the latest research on all topic areas discussed in the
classroom. This new edition is no exception, with more than 1,500 citations from 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Following is a sample of the many chapter-by-chapter changes that were made in this new edition of A Topical Approach to
Life-Span Development. Although every chapter has been extensively updated, four chapters (Biological Beginnings; Information
Processing; The Self, Identity, and Personality; and Gender and Sexuality) were especially targeted for revisions based on the results
of the Heat Map data discussed on page xvi.

Chapter 1: Introduction
∙ Update on life expectancy in the United States (U.S.
Census Bureau, 2016)
∙ Expanded coverage of what the dramatic increase in life
expectancy in such a short time frame means for society
and the quality of life for older adults along with commen-
tary about how society has essentially been built for young
people rather than older adults and what is needed to
improve the lives of older adults (Carstensen, 2015, 2016)
∙ New data on the dramatic increase in Latino and Asian
American children in the United States with recent projec-
tions from 2014 to 2060 (Colby & Ortman, 2015)
∙ Updated data on the percentage of U.S. children and adoles-
cents under 18 years of age living in poverty, including data
reported separately for African American and Latino fami-
lies (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor, 2015; Proctor, Senega, &
Kollar, 2016)
∙ the use of hydroxyurea therapy for infants with sickle cell
Inclusion of recent information from studies on variations in
age and well-being, including variations involving middle age
and health (OECD, 2014; Steptoe, Deaton, & Stone, 2015)
∙ ∙
New section, “Three Developmental Patterns of Aging,”
that describes the pathways of normal aging, pathological
aging, and successful aging (Schaie, 2016)
∙ Description of recent research that found a higher level of
conscientiousness was protective of older adults’ cognition
(Wilson & others, 2015)
∙ Coverage of a study involving 17-year survival rates of 20-
to 93-year-old Korean adults indicating that mortality rates
were higher when biological age exceeded an individual’s
chronological age (Yoo & others, 2017)
∙ In the section on physiological methods, expanded discus-
sion of recent advances in assessing genes to include spe-
cific genes linked to child obesity (Grigorenko & others,
2016; Zandona & others, 2017)
∙ Inclusion of findings that cross-sectional studies indicate
that 90 percent of cognitive aging decline is due to a slow-
ing of processing speed while longitudinal studies reveal
that 20 percent or less of cognitive aging decline is due to
processing speed (MacDonald & Stawski, 2015, 2016)
Chapter 2: Biological Beginnings
∙ Editing and updating of chapter based on comments by lead-
ing experts Elena Grigorenko and Kirby Deater-Deckard
∙ Updated and expanded discussion of genome-wide associa-
tion studies, including research on suicide (Sokolowski,
Wasserman, & Wasserman, 2016), autism (Connolly & ­others,
2017), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Naaijen &
­others, 2017), and glaucoma (Springelkamp & others, 2017)
∙ Updated and expanded research on gene-gene interaction,
including studies of obesity (Bordoni & others, 2017), type
2 diabetes (Saxena, Srivastaya, & Banerjee, 2017), arthritis
(Hohman & others, 2016) and Alzheimer disease (Ebbert &
others, 2016)
∙ Deletion of section on shared and non-shared environmental
experiences because it is now being given less attention as
a result of the increased emphasis on gene x environment
interaction
∙ Inclusion of recent research in which a higher level of
maternal responsivity to adaptive behavior of children with
fragile X syndrome improved the children’s communication
skills (Warren & others, 2017)
∙ Updated description of how research now strongly supports
anemia beginning at 9 months of age (Yawn & John-
Sawah, 2015)
Updated data on the average length and weight of the fetus
at different points in prenatal development, including revi-
sions involving these data in Figure 10
∙ Important updated revisions of the timetable of various
aspects of neural development in the prenatal period,
including the onset (21 days postconception) and closure of
the neural tube (27 days postconception), when neurogen-
esis is largely complete (end of the fifth month postconcep-
tion), and the initial appearance of neural migration (15
weeks postnatally) (Keunen, Counsell, & Bender, 2017)
∙ Coverage of a recent large-scale study in Brazil in which
flour that was fortified with folic acid produced a significant
reduction in neural tube defects (Santos & others, 2016)
∙ Description of a recent research review that concluded many
aspects of the developing prenatal brain can be detected in
the first trimester using ultrasound, which also can help to
identify spina bifida at an early stage (Engels & others, 2016)
∙ Inclusion of information from a recent research review that
concluded fetal MRI does not provide good results in the
first trimester of pregnancy because of small fetal structures
and movement artifacts (Wataganara & others, 2016). In
this review, it also was argued that fetal MRI can especially
be beneficial in assessing central nervous system abnormali-
ties in the third trimester of pregnancy.
∙ Description of recent research that found cardiac defects,
pulmonary problems, and microencephaly were among the

xxii Preface
 most common fetal and neonatal outcomes when pregnant
women have rubella (Yazigi & others, 2017)
∙ Discussion of recent research on isotretinoin (medication
used to treat acne) being one of the most commonly pre-
scribed drugs for adolescent girls seeking contraceptive
advice, yet not all girls are receiving adequate information
about its harmful effects on offspring if they become preg-
nant (Eltonsy & others, 2016; Stancil & others, 2017)
∙ Coverage of recent research on negative outcomes for fetal
alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) that include lower exec-
utive function (Kindon, Cardoso, & McGrath, 2016),
increased incidence of externalized and internalized behav-
ior problems (Tsang & others, 2016), and a significantly
lower life expectancy (Thanh & Johnsson, 2016)
∙ New description of the French Alcohol Society’s (2016)
recommendation that women should not consume any alco-
hol during pregnancy
∙ Inclusion of recent research indicating that maternal ciga-
rette smoking during pregnancy was linked to increased risk
of offspring cigarette smoking at 16 years of age (De
Genna & others, 2016)
∙ Description of recent research that found daughters whose
mothers smoked during their pregnancy were more likely to
smoke during their own pregnancy (Ncube & Mueller, 2017)
∙ Coverage of a recent large-scale U.S. study of the percent-
age of pregnant adolescent and adult women who reported
drinking alcohol and using tobacco in the previous month
(Oh & others, 2017)
∙ New content on the increasing use of e-cigarettes during
pregnancy and research on pregnant women’s misconceptions
about e-cigarettes (Mark, 2015; Spindel & McEvoy, 2016)
∙ Coverage of recent research in which cocaine use during
pregnancy was associated with impaired connectivity of the
thalamus and prefrontal cortex in newborns (Salzwedel &
others, 2016)
∙ Discussion of recent research indicating that cocaine use by
pregnant women is linked to attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) in offspring (Richardson & others,
2016), as well as self-regulation problems at age 12
(Minnes & others, 2016)
∙ Coverage of a recent meta-analysis that found marijuana use
during pregnancy was associated with these outcomes in off-
spring: low birth weight and an increased likelihood of being
placed in a neonatal intensive care unit (Gunn & others, 2016)
∙ New research indicating that pregnant women have
increased their use of marijuana in recent years (Brown &
others, 2016)
∙ Inclusion of two recent research reviews that concluded
maternal obesity during pregnancy is associated with an
increased likelihood of offspring becoming obese in child-
hood and adulthood (Pinto Pereira & others, 2016;
Santangeli, Sattar & Huda, 2015)
∙ Inclusion of recent research that revealed maternal prenatal
stress and anxiety were linked to lower levels of infants’
self-regulation (Korja & others, 2017)
∙ Description of a recent study in which taking antidepres-
sants early in pregnancy was linked to increased risk of
miscarriage (Almeida & others, 2016)
∙ Coverage of a recent study that revealed taking antidepressants
in the second or third trimester was associated with increased
risk of autism in children (Boukhris & others, 2016)
∙ Inclusion of a recent study that found intimate partner vio-
lence increased the mother’s stress level (Fonseca-Machado
Mde & others, 2015)
∙ Description of a recent study that found kangaroo care sig-
nificantly reduced the amount of crying and increased heart
rate stability in preterm infants (Choudhary & others, 2016)
∙ Discussion of a recent study in which depressive symptoms
in both the mother and father were associated with impaired
bonding with their infant in the postpartum period (Kerstis
& others, 2016)
∙ Description of recent research in which CenteringPregnancy
participation was linked to reduced incidence of low birth
weight and reduced likelihood of being placed in a neonatal
intensive care unit (Gareau & others, 2016)
∙ Discussion of a recent research review in which waterbirth
neonates experienced fewer negative outcomes than non-
waterbirth neonates (Bovbjerg, Cheyney, & Everson, 2016)
∙ Coverage of recent studies that have found low Apgar
scores are linked to increased needs for long-term additional
educational support and decreased educational attainment
(Tweed & others, 2016); increased risk of developmental
vulnerability at 5 years of age (Razaz & others, 2016); and
increased risk of developing ADHD (Hanc & others, 2017)
∙ Updated data on the percentage of births in the United
States that are preterm, low birth weight, and cesarean sec-
tion (Martin & others, 2017)
∙ Coverage of a recent study that found especially in very
preterm infants, the identical twin who was smaller (an
index of prenatal environmental experience) than his/her co-
twin was far more likely to have poorer working memory
and a lower level of self-regulation at 8 years of age
(Deater-Deckard, 2016). The most likely explanation of this
outcome involves epigenetic influences.
∙ Inclusion of a longitudinal study in which the nurturing
positive effects of kangaroo care with preterm and low birth
weight infants at 1 year of age were still present 20 years
later in a number of positive developmental outcomes
(Charpak & others, 2017)
∙ Description of a recent study that revealed women with a
history of depression were 20 times more like to develop
postpartum depression (Silverman & others, 2017)
∙ Coverage of recent research indicating that when fetuses
were exposed to serotonin-based antidepressants, they were
more likely to be born preterm (Podrebarac & others, 2017)
∙ Coverage of a recent study in which postpartum depression
was associated with an increase in 4-month-olds’ uninten-
tional injuries (Yamaoka, Fujiwara, & Tamiva, 2016)
∙ Inclusion of recent research in which mothers’ postpartum
depression, but not generalized anxiety, was linked to their
children’s emotional negativity and behavior problems at 2
years of age (Prenoveau & others, 2017)
Preface xxiii
∙ Discussion of a recent study that found depressive symptoms
in mothers and fathers were linked to impaired bonding with
their infant in the postpartum period (Kerstis & others, 2016)
∙ Coverage of a recent study that indicated 5 percent of
fathers had depressive symptoms in the first two weeks fol-
lowing delivery (Anding & others, 2016)
Chapter 3: Physical Development and
Biological Aging
∙ childhood
Description of a recent study that found positive effects of
growth hormone treatment across five years for children
born small for gestational age (Ross & others, 2015)
∙ Coverage of a recent review that concluded an accurate
assessment of growth hormone deficiency is difficult and that
many children diagnosed with the deficiency re-test normal
later in childhood (Murray, Dattani, & Clayton, 2016)
∙ Description of a recent study that linked child sexual abuse
to earlier pubertal onset (Noll & others, 2017)
∙ Coverage of a recent Korean study in which early menarche
was associated with risky sexual behavior in females
(Cheong & others, 2015)
∙ New research indicating that having an increase in
Facebook friends across two years in adolescence was
linked to an enhanced motivation to be thin (Tiggemann &
Slater, 2017)
∙ Inclusion of a recent study that found early maturation pre-
dicted a stable higher level of depression for adolescent
girls (Rudolph & others, 2015)
∙ Discussion of a recent study in which sarcopenic obesity
was associated with a 24 percent increase in risk for all-
cause mortality, with men having a higher risk than women
(Tian & Xu, 2016)
∙ Coverage of a recent study that found greater intake of
fruits and vegetables was linked to increased bone density
in middle-aged and older adults (Qiu & others, 2017)
∙ Inclusion of recent research in which at-risk overweight and
older adults lost significant weight and improved their
mobility considerably by participating in a community-
based weight reduction program (Rejeski & others, 2017)
∙ New description of research indicating that neural connec-
tions number in the trillions (de Haan, 2015)
∙ New content focused on Mark Johnson and his colleagues
(Gliga & others, 2016; Johnson & others, 2015; Senju &
others, 2016) as leading researchers on infant brain devel-
opment, including their neuroconstructivist approach and
studies of the development of the prefrontal cortex and its
function, early identification of autism, face processing, and
early social experiences
∙ Coverage of a recent study that found higher-quality
mother-infant interaction predicted a higher level of frontal
lobe functioning when assessed by EEG later in infancy
(Bernier, Calkins, & Bell, 2016)
∙ New discussion of the recent increase in the use of func-
tional near-infrared spectroscopy to assess infants’ brain
activity, a measurement technique that is portable and
xxiv Preface
allows researchers to monitor infants’ brain activity while
they are exploring the world around them (de Haan &
Johnson, 2016; Emberson & others, 2017b). Also, inclusion
of new Figure 9 that shows an infant in an experiment
using near-infrared spectroscopy.
∙ Coverage of a recent study in which young children with
higher cognitive ability showed increased myelination by 3
years of age (Deoni & others, 2016)
∙ New discussion of various ways development in the brain is
linked to young children’s cognitive development in early
∙ Inclusion of recent research that linked poverty to matura-
tional lags in children’s frontal and temporal lobes and indi-
cated that these lags were associated with lower school
readiness (Hair & others, 2015)
∙ Description of a recent study that revealed higher levels of
maternal sensitivity in early childhood were related to
higher total brain volume in children (Kok & others, 2015)
∙ Coverage of a longitudinal study that found 11- to 18-year-
olds who lived in poverty had diminished brain functioning
at 25 years of age (Brody & others, 2017). However, ado-
lescents whose families participated in a supportive parent-
ing intervention did not show this diminished brain
functioning
∙ Inclusion of research indicating that global brain volume
predicted mortality in adults (Van Elderen & others, 2016)
∙ Discussion of a recent study in which mice in an enriched
environment learned more flexibly because of adult hippo-
campal neurogenesis (Garthe, Roeder, & Kempermann, 2016)
∙ Updated coverage regarding facets of the brain responsible
for reduced brain volume with aging (Penazzi, Bakota, &
Brandt, 2016)
∙ Coverage of a recent study of 36- to 42-month-old children
that linked consistent bedtime routines to increased nightly
sleep minutes across a six-month period (Staples, Bates, &
Petersen, 2015)
∙ Description of a recent study of 2- to 5-year-olds that
revealed each additional hour of daily screen time was
associated with a decrease in sleep time, reduced likelihood
of sleeping 10 hours or more per night, and later bedtime
(Xu & others, 2016)
∙ Inclusion of a recent research review of 27 studies that con-
firmed pacifier use is associated with a lower incidence of
SIDS (Alm & others, 2016)
∙ Description of a recent Swedish study that revealed bed
sharing was more common in SIDS deaths (Mollborg &
others, 2015)
∙ Coverage of a recent study in which a lower quality of
sleep at 1 year of age was linked to lower attention regula-
tion and more behavior problems at 3 to 4 years of age
(Sadeh & others, 2015)
∙ Inclusion of recent research in China that revealed pre-
school children who slept 7 hours or less had worse school
readiness profiles and that children who used electronic
devices three hours or more per day had shortened sleep
durations (Tso & others, 2016)
∙ Description of recent Swedish studies of 16- to 19-year-olds
in which shorter sleep duration was associated with a
greater likelihood of school absence and shorter sleep dura-
tion and sleep deficit were the best sleep predictors of a
low grade point average (Hysing & others, 2015, 2016)
∙ Updated national data on adolescents’ sleep patterns, includ-
ing developmental changes (Kann & others, 2016)
∙ Discussion of a recent experimental study in which adoles-
cents’ sleep was restricted to five hours for five nights, then
restored to ten hours for two nights; sleep restrictions nega-
tively affected sustained attention, especially in the early
morning (Agostini & others, 2017)
∙ Inclusion of a recent national study of more than 10,000
13- to 18-year-olds that linked a number of factors involv-
ing sleep timing and duration to increased anxiety, mood
fluctuations, substance abuse, and behavioral disorders
(Zhang & others, 2017)
∙ Coverage of a longitudinal study of adolescents in which
poor sleep patterns were linked to an increased likelihood
of drinking alcohol and using marijuana four years later
(Miller, Janssen, & Jackson, 2017)
∙ New commentary that 70 percent of college students do not
get adequate sleep and 50 percent report daytime sleepiness
(Hershner & Chervin, 2015)
∙ Inclusion of recent research focusing on varying degrees of
sleep deprivation and their association with increased vehi-
cle crash rates (AAA Foundation, 2016)
∙ New content on the increasing consensus that short (less than
seven hours) and long (nine hours or more) sleep duration
per night is detrimental to older adults’ cognitive functioning
(DeVore, Grodstein, & Schamhammer, 2016; Lo 2016)
∙ Description of a recent study of older adults indicating that
regular walking at or above 150 minutes per week predicted
a lower likelihood of problems with sleep onset and sleep
maintenance four years later (Hartescu, Morgan, &
Stevinson, 2016)
∙ Update on life expectancy in the United States, which had
risen to 78.8 years in 2013 (U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, 2015)
∙ Update on gender and ethnic differences in life expectancy
in the United States (U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, 2015)
∙ Updated international comparisons of countries where life
expectancies are highest and lowest (Central Intelligence
Agency, 2015)
∙ Updated information about diseases that women are more
likely to die from than men are (Ostan & others, 2016)
∙ Updated data on the increasing number of U.S. centenari-
ans, which reached 72,000 in 2014 (Xu, 2016)
∙ Description of a recent Georgia Centenarian Study that found
physical health impairment and fewer social resources were
linked to lower subjective well-being (Cho & others, 2015)
∙ Discussion of recent research that revealed differences between
U.S. and Japanese centenarians (da Rosa & others, 2015)
∙ Coverage of a recent Chinese Longitudinal Healthy
Longevity Study indicating that a higher level of education
was linked to greater longevity (Luo, Zhang, & Guo, 2015)
∙ Inclusion of recent research that found a combination of
particular FOXO genotypes and tea drinking were associ-
ated with the prevention of cognitive decline in the oldest-
old, aged 92+ (Zeng & others, 2016)
∙ Updated information about the oldest living person in the
United States (Delphine Gibson, 2014) and in the world
(Emma Morano, 2017)
∙ New criticism of the evolutionary theory of aging
(Singer, 2016)
∙ Reorganization of the discussion of biological theories of
aging to include a new heading, “Cellular Processes,” with
new content on the increasing interest in sirtuins and their
link to stress and various diseases such as cancer and car-
diovascular disease (Ansari & others, 2017; Blank &
Grummt, 2017) and the mTOR pathway (Chen & others,
2016a, b; Schreiber, O’Leary, & Kennedy 2016) as key cel-
lular processes in aging and longevity
∙ Description of a recent study in which the percentage of T
cells decreased in older adults in their seventies, eighties,
and nineties (Valiathan, Ashman, & Asthana, 2016)
∙ New section, “Conclusions,” that describes the current
belief that although there are some individual aging trig-
gers, such as telomere shortening, a full understanding of
biological aging involves multiple processes operating at
different biological levels (de Magalhaes & Tacutu, 2016)
Chapter 4: Health
∙ New section, “State of the World’s Children,” that high-
lights the high death rate of children under 5 in many coun-
tries and the poor health conditions for children in many
countries (Black & others, 2017; UNICEF, 2016, 2017)
∙ Discussion of recent research indicating that how individu-
als react to daily stressors is linked to future health out-
comes and longevity (Mroczek & others, 2015; Sin &
others, 2015)
∙ New commentary that more than 60 percent of individuals
with Alzheimer disease have at least one ApoE4 allele
(Riedel, Thompson, & Brinton, 2016)
∙ Inclusion of recent research that confirmed family caregiv-
ers’ health-related quality of life deteriorated when they
cared for a family memory with Alzheimer disease
(Valimaki & others, 2016)
∙ Discussion of a recent study that revealed 2½-year-old chil-
dren’s liking for fruits and vegetables was related to their
eating more fruits and vegetables at 7 years of age (Fletcher
& others, 2017)
∙ Updated data on the continuing increase in breast feeding
by U.S. mothers (Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 2016)
∙ Description of a recent Danish study that found breast feed-
ing did not protect against allergic sensitization in early
childhood and allergy-related diseases at 7 years of age
(Jelding-Dannemand, Malby Schoos, & Bisgaard, 2015).
However, in another recent study, breast feeding was linked
to a lower incidence of asthma from 6 to 42 months of age
(Yamakawa & others, 2015).
Preface xxv
∙ Inclusion of information about recent longitudinal studies
that revealed when mothers participated prenatally and in
early childhood in WIC programs young children showed
short-term cognitive benefits and longer-term reading and
math benefits (Jackson, 2015)
∙ Updated data on the percentage of U.S. 2- to 5-year-old
children who are obese (Ogden & others, 2016)
∙ Discussion of a recent study of elementary school children
that revealed 55 minutes or more of daily moderate-to-­
vigorous physical activity was associated with a lower
­incidence of obesity (Nemet, 2016)
∙ Description of a recent meta-analysis that found children
who engage in regular physical activity have better cogni-
tive inhibitory control (Jackson & others, 2016)
∙ Updated data on the percentage of 6- to 11-year-old U.S.
children who are obese (Ogden & others, 2016)
∙ ∙
Updated coverage of genetic influences on obesity and
inclusion of recent research that found high activity levels
reduced the genetic linkage for obesity in same-sex twins
(Hom & others, 2015)
∙ ing gender and ethnic variations (Kann & others, 2016a)
Description of a recent study in which family meals during
adolescence protected against the development of over-
weight or obesity in adulthood (Berge & others, 2015)
∙ Inclusion of a recent Japanese study that revealed the family
pattern linked to the highest rates of overweight/obesity in
children was a combination of irregular mealtimes and the
most screen time for both parents (Watanabe & others, 2016)
∙ Discussion of a recent study in which children were less
likely to be obese or overweight when they attended
schools in states that had a strong policy implementation on
healthy foods and beverages (Datar & Nicosia, 2017)
∙ Coverage of a recent research review that concluded the ele-
mentary school programs that emphasized increased physical
activity, decreased intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, and
increased fruit consumption were the most effective in reduc-
ing BMI measurements in children (Brown & others, 2016)
∙ New section on binge-eating disorder (BED), including
recent research on family connections to BED (Tetzlaff &
others, 2016)
∙ Inclusion of recent research in which an exercise program
of 180 minutes per week improved the sleep patterns of
obese adolescents (Mendelson & others, 2016)
∙ Discussion of a recent study in which a high-intensity exer-
cise program decreased the depressive symptoms and
improved the moods of depressed adolescents (Carter &
others, 2016)
∙ New description of cognitive therapy being a particularly
effective treatment for anorexia nervosa (Dalle Grave &
others, 2016)
∙ New content on cognitive behavior therapy and interper-
sonal therapy being the two most frequent interventions
used to treat BED (Grilo, 2017)
∙ Updated data on the incidence of obesity in U.S. adults
overall and in different age groups (Flegal & others, 2016)
∙ Discussion of recent international comparisons of 33 coun-
tries in which the United States had the highest percentage
xxvi Preface
of obese adults (35.3 percent) and Japan the lowest percent-
age (3.7); the average of the countries was 23.2 percent of
the population being obese (OECD, 2015)
∙ Discussion of two recent research studies that found no link
between antioxidant vitamin intake and mortality (Henriquez-
Sanchez & others, 2016; Stepaniak & others, 2016)
∙ Commentary that expert panels from Australia, Canada, the
United Kingdom, and the United States recently were
remarkably similar in recommending that young children
get an average of 15 or more minutes of physical activity
per hour over a 12-hour period, or about 3 hours total per
day (Pate & others, 2015)
∙ Inclusion of recent research on 7- to 9-year-olds that found
participating for approximately one year in organized lei-
sure sports was linked to a decrease in cardiovascular risk
(Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2017)
Coverage of recent research in which 60 minutes of physical
activity per day in preschool academic contexts improved
young children’s early literacy (Kirk & Kirk, 2016)
∙ Updated national data on adolescents’ exercise patterns, includ-
∙ Description of a recent research review concluding that
among a number of cognitive factors, memory was the fac-
tor that was most often improved by exercise in adoles-
cence (Li & others, 2017)
∙ Coverage of a recent meta-analysis in which moderate and
vigorous aerobic exercise resulted in a lower incidence of
major depressive disorder (Schuch & others, 2016b)
∙ Coverage of a recent study of older adults in which resis-
tance training improved their physical function, psychologi-
cal well-being, and quality of life (Gill & others, 2017)
∙ Description a recent study in which adults who exercised
regularly had lower levels of anxiety and depression
(Khanzada, Soomro, & Khan, 2015)
∙ Discussion of recent research that found a one-year exercise
intervention decreased stress symptoms in working adults
(Kettunen, Vuorimaa, & Vasankari, 2015)
∙ Inclusion of a recent study of older adults that revealed
walking a dog regularly was associated with better physical
health (Curl, Bibbo, & Johnson, 2017)
∙ Inclusion of recent research with sarcopenic older adults
that found those who were physically active had a 25 per-
cent probability of greater longevity than their sedentary
counterparts (Brown, Harhay, & Harhay, 2016)
∙ Coverage of a recent study in which individuals who
increased their physical fitness levels from low to interme-
diate or high had a lower risk for all-cause mortality than
those who did not (Brawner & others, 2017)
∙ Discussion of a recent research review that concluded more
physically fit and active older adults have greater prefrontal
cortex and hippocampal volume, a higher level of brain con-
nectivity, more efficient brain activity, better memory, and a
higher level of executive function (Erickson, Hillman, &
Kramer, 2015)
∙ Updated data on the percentage of older adults who engage
in regular exercise, which has increased substantially since
2006 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015)
∙ Inclusion of recent research on older adults in which those
who engaged in regular physical activity following a heart
attack were less depressed than their sedentary counterparts
(Chao & others, 2015)
∙ Updated coverage of the Monitoring the Future study’s
assessment of drug use by secondary school students, with
2016 data on U.S. eighth-, tenth-, and twelfth-graders
(Johnston & others, 2017)
∙ Discussion of a recent national study in which one in four
twelfth-graders reported having consumed alcohol mixed
with energy drinks, and this combination was linked to their
unsafe driving (Martz, Patrick, & Schulenberg, 2015).
∙ Description of a longitudinal study in which younger age at
first use of alcohol was linked to risk of heavy alcohol use
in early adulthood (Liang & Chikritzhs, 2015)
∙ New content on e-cigarette use by adolescents, which now
surpasses adolescents’ traditional cigarette smoking among
eighth-, tenth-, and twelfth-grade students (Johnston & oth-
ers, 2017)
∙ Updated data on binge drinking in emerging adults and new
data on binge drinking through 50 years of age, including
new Figure 16 (Johnston & others, 2016)
∙ New data on cigarette smoking among adults from 18 years
of age through 35+ years of age (Johnston & others, 2016)
Chapter 5: Motor, Sensory, and Perceptual
Development
∙ New coverage of a recent study of infants’ organization of
exploratory behaviors in planning locomotion in challenging
contexts (Kretch & Adolph, 2017)
∙ Discussion of a recent study that examined a number of
predictors of motor milestones in the first year (Flensborg-
Madsen & Mortensen, 2017)
∙ Description of recent studies that indicated short-term train-
ing involving practice of reaching movements increased both
preterm and full-term infants’ reaching for and touching
objects (Cunha & others, 2016; Guimaraes & Tudelia, 2015)
∙ Inclusion of recent research indicating that providing reach-
ing experiences to 3-month-olds who had not previously
engaged in reaching behavior led to increased object explo-
ration and attention focusing at 5.5 months of age (Libertus,
Joh, & Needham, 2016)
∙ New coverage of a recent study that revealed 3-month-old
infants who participated in active motor training using
“sticky mittens” that allowed them to pick up toys engaged
in more sophisticated object exploration at 15 months of
age (Wiesen, Watkins, & Needham, 2016)
∙ Discussion of recent research that found children’s gross
and fine motor skills were associated with cognitive func-
tions such as memory and processing speed, as well as
math and reading achievement (Geertson & others, 2016)
∙ Description of a recent study of frail elderly adults in which
a high-intensity walking intervention reduced their frailty,
increased their walking speed, and improved their mobility
(Danilovich, Conroy, & Hornby, 2017)
∙ Coverage of recent research on older adults that found poorer
visual function was associated with (a) cognitive decline
(Monge & Madden, 2016; Roberts & Allen, 2016), and (b)
having fewer social contacts and engaging in less-challenging
social/leisure activities (Cimarolli & others, 2017)
∙ New coverage of the recent increased interest in using
stem-cell-based therapy to treat macular degeneration
(Hanus, Zhao, & Wang, 2016; Klassen, 2016)
∙ Description of recent research that found older adults’ hear-
ing problems are associated with less time spent out of
home and in leisure activities (Mikkola & others, 2016),
increased falls (Gopinath & others, 2016; Jiam, Li, &
Agrawal, 2016), and greater loneliness (Mick & Pichora-
Fuller, 2016)
∙ Coverage of a recent study in which older adults with a
hearing problem who used a hearing aid were less likely to
be lonely than their hearing-impaired counterparts who did
not use a hearing aid (Weinstein, Sirow, & Moser, 2016)
∙ Discussion of a recent study of 80- to 106-year-olds that
found a substantial increase in hearing loss in the ninth and
tenth decades of life (Wattanwar & others, 2017). In this
study, although hearing loss was universal in the 80- to
106-year-olds, only 59 percent wore hearing aids.
∙ Coverage of a recent study in which 3-month-olds who had
regular gentle tactile stimulation when they were fetuses
were more likely to have an easy temperament than their
counterparts who experienced irregular or no gentle tactile
stimulation as fetuses (Wang, Hua, & Xu, 2015)
∙ Discussion of a study that found the pain threshold in new-
borns was lower than that of adults (Goksan & others, 2015)
∙ Inclusion of a recent study that revealed kangaroo care was
effective in reducing neonatal pain (Seo, Lee, & Ahn, 2016)
∙ Discussion of a recent research review that concluded older
adults have a lower pain sensitivity, but only for lower pain
intensities (Lautenbacher & others, 2017)
∙ Coverage of a recent study in which older adults with more
severe pain performed more poorly on memory and execu-
tive function tasks than their older adult counterparts with
no pain or less pain (van der Leeuw & others, 2016)
∙ Inclusion of a national study that tracked percentages of
community-dwelling older adults with impaired taste, smell,
and touch (Correia & others, 2016)
Chapter 6: Cognitive Developmental
Approaches
∙ New coverage of a recent study of 5-month-olds that
found their better performance on an A-not-B task was
linked to how well they focused their attention on a dif-
ferent task, indicating that infants’ attention may be
involved in performance variations on the A-not-B task
(Marcovitch & others, 2016)
∙ Expanded and updated criticism of the innate view of the
emergence of infant morality with an emphasis on the
importance of infants’ early interaction with others and later
transformation through language and reflective thought
(Carpendale & Hammond, 2016)
Preface xxvii
∙ New discussion of a recent meta-analysis that linked greater
use of social networking sites to higher levels of narcissism
(Gnambs & Appel, 2017)
Chapter 7: Information Processing
∙ fourth-and fifth-grade students, including mindfulness and cog-
New content using a computer analogy to help explain the
connection between cognition and the brain, and how
humans process information, including new Figure 1
∙ improved children’s attention and self-regulation
New discussion of artificial intelligence and the emerging
field of developmental robotics that examines various devel-
opmental topics and issues using robots, including a new
photograph of a “human-like” baby robot (Cangelosi &
Schlesinger, 2015; Morse & Cangelosi, 2017)
∙ New research involving a 20-year longitudinal study of
adults from 42 to 97 years of age that revealed a greater
processing speed decline was associated with increased
mortality risk (Aichele, Rabbitt, & Ghisletta, 2015)
∙ Discussion of a recent study that found infants who initiated
joint attention at 14 months of age had higher executive
function at 18 months of age (Miller & Marcovitch, 2015)
∙ Coverage of a recent study in which hand-eye coordination
involving connection of gaze with manual action on objects
rather than gaze following alone predicted joint attention
(Yu & Smith, 2017)
∙ Description of a recent experimental study that revealed
yoga practice that included postures, breathing, and medita-
tion improved the attention and information processing of
older adults (Gothe, Kramer, & McAuley, 2017)
∙ Coverage of a recent study in which older adults who
engaged in mindfulness mediation regularly showed improve-
ments in goal-directed attention (Malinowski & others, 2017)
∙ Discussion of Patricia Bauer’s (2015) view of developmen-
tal changes in infantile amnesia.
∙ Expanded and updated coverage of Alan Baddeley’s important
concept of working memory, including coverage of its link to
improving many aspects of children’s cognitive and academic
development (Gerst & others, 2016; Peng & Fuchs, 2016)
∙ Description of recent research in which children’s verbal
working memory was linked to these aspects of both first-
and second-language learners: morphology, syntax, and
grammar (Verhagen & Leseman, 2016)
∙ Inclusion of recent research in which aerobic endurance was
linked to better working memory in older adults (Zettel-
Watson & others, 2017)
∙ Discussion of recent research with young, middle-aged, and
older adults that found all three age groups’ working memory
improved with training but that older adults improved less than
young adults who received the training (Rhodes & Katz, 2017)
∙ Coverage of research in which episodic memory perfor-
mance 10 years prior to clinical diagnosis of dementia pre-
dicted which individuals would have the disease
(Boraxbekk & others, 2015)
∙ Description of a recent study in which planning strategies
were associated with older adults’ prospective memory
(Wolff & others, 2016)
xxviii Preface
∙ Expanded and updated content on Mischel’s longitudinal
study of delay of gratification to include multiple outcomes
in adolescence and adulthood (Mischel, 2014; Moffitt, 2012)
∙ Discussion of a recent study in which a social and emotional
learning program focused on mindfulness and caring for others
was effective in improving a number of cognitive processes in
nitive control (Schonert-Reichl & others, 2015)
∙ Coverage of recent research in which mindfulness training
(Poehlmann-Tynan & others, 2016), achievement (Singh &
others, 2016), and coping strategies in stressful situations
(Dariotis & others, 2016)
∙ Description of two recent studies that found mindfulness train-
ing reduced public school teachers’ stress, improved their
mood at school and at home, and promoted better sleep (Crain,
Schonert-Reichl, & Roeser, 2017; Taylor & others, 2016)
∙ Coverage of a recent study of young children that found
executive function was associated with emergent literacy
and vocabulary development (Becker & others, 2014)
∙ New coverage of developmental changes in executive function
in early childhood, including recent research on executive
function and school readiness (Willoughby & others, 2017)
∙ Inclusion of research in which secure attachment to mothers
during the toddler years was linked to a higher level of exec-
utive function at 5 to 6 years of age (Bernier & others, 2015)
∙ Coverage of recent research in which experiencing peer
problems in early childhood was linked to lower executive
function later in childhood (Holmes, Kim-Spoon, & Deater-
Deckard, 2016)
∙ Updated coverage of the fuzzy-trace theory dual-process
model of adolescent decision making (Brust-Reneck & oth-
ers, 2017; Rahimi-Golkhandan & others, 2017; Reyna &
Zayas, 2014; Reyna & others, 2015)
∙ New research that indicated executive function predicted
increases in self-rated health in community-dwelling older
adults (McHugh & Lawlor, 2015)
∙ Discussion of a recent study in which executive dysfunction
was a strong predictor of having a stroke in cognitively
normal aging adults (Oveisgharan & Hachinski, 2015)
∙ Inclusion of recent research that found young adults made
better decisions than older adults in unfamiliar domains, but
not in familiar domains (Wayde, Black, & Gilpin, 2017)
∙ Coverage of a recent study in which older adults assessed
in 2013–2014 engaged in a higher level of abstract reason-
ing than their counterparts who were assessed two decades
earlier (Gerstorf & others, 2015)
∙ New discussion of a recent study of older adults working
low-complexity jobs that found those who experienced nov-
elty in their work (assessed through recurrent work-task
changes) had better processing speed and working memory
(Oltmanns & others, 2017)
∙ New content on the Baltimore Experience Corps program in
which older adults who volunteer in elementary schools
have improved cognitive and brain functioning (Carlson &
others, 2015; Parisi & others, 2012, 2014, 2015)
Another random document with
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across the clouds like spears of fire threatening revenge. The stone
has remained to the present day, and is known by the name of
“Koreno kardjo (dog) gambi” (stone).

PLATE XXXIV

The “Tjilbakuta” of the great emu ceremony, Arunndta tribe.

 “The moment the sacred object is completed, the Illiyakuta delegates
one of his group to act as its attendant or guardian.”

The snake is an important character in the mythology of practically

every tribe of Australia; in fact most of the permanent water-holes
are supposed to be inhabited by great serpents which guard the
supplies, destroy unlawful consumers or polluters thereof, and
frequently communicate with those spirit ancestors of the tribes who
are descended from the original snake-man still living in the sky. In
many cases the mythic snakes can be recognized in some
characteristic features of the landscape. Take, for instance, the great
artesian spring near Coward Springs Station which is known as
Blanche Cup. This is looked upon as the mouth of a snake, while the
hill immediately at the back of it (Mt. Hamilton) is its head. In
consequence the formation is called “Worma-Kadiabba” (snake’s
head) by the local Arrabonna tribe. The natives have a dread of
these imaginary snake-monsters and prefer not to visit a water-hole
at night; in fact, at any time, day or night, they feel safer in the
company of a man who is “related” to the snake, because he can
protect them and give them the right of approach. The snake is
possessed of evil and will molest any but its totemic “relatives.”
The fundamental conception of the kobong (or totem), so far as
the Australian aboriginal is concerned, is of a religious nature. In the
beginning of all things, the Aluridja say a number of exalted
creatures of human form came out of the earth and were gracious to
their tribes-people. Then appeared a menace in the shape of a
gigantic dog which chased the good people from one place to
another, until they decided to adopt the forms of various animals and
plants, and thereby became either too fleet for the dog or were not
recognized by it. Other good people now descended from the hills
and drove the dog back to its hiding place in a cave where the evil
spirit dwells. The newcomers kindled a fire at the mouth of the cave
and kept the evil beings in captivity whilst the original Deities re-
assumed the human form. Ever after, however, these good creatures
were able to alter their appearance from human to animal at will; but
each individual in his choice adhered to the particular animal or plant
which had saved him from the ravages of the great evil dog.
Eventually they formed themselves into flat slabs of stone or wood,
upon the surfaces of which they scratched the emblems of their
animal representation and the traditions of their long wanderings on
earth. The spirits of these Deities now live in the sky but can return
at any time to re-enter the slab generally known as the “tjuringa.”
Among the Minning at Eucla the larger of these objects are known as
“wagal-wagal,” the smaller as “bobi,” whilst further west, in the
Laverton district, “kaidi” is the prevailing word. It is true, the tjuringa
is not known to all tribes; in which case the Deities are supposed to
have entered such natural objects as rocks, hills, and conspicuous
trees.
The Roper River natives believe that their deified forbears were
molested not by a dog, but by a hideous old woman or witch, who,
by the influence of evil, entrapped them and subsequently ate them.
On one occasion, however, a party of warriors were successful in
decoying her away from her haunts and slaying her. The jubilant
victors decided to cut out the old woman’s tongue as a trophy, but as
they were thus engaged, the tongue flew out of the mouth and spun
round in the atmosphere above them, making a terrible noise as it
did so. The men chased the tongue, but it flew towards a beefwood
tree and embedded itself deeply in the butt; in vain they looked for it
and tried to cut it out; it had become part of the tree. Before
returning, however, the men took a piece of wood out of the tree,
shaped like the woman’s tongue, which they tied to a piece of human
hair-string and swung round their heads with joy. Behold their mixed
feelings of delight and fear when the piece of wood began to howl
with a voice like that of the slain witch! The tribe retained that piece
of wood as a sacred memento of their victory, and they gave to it the
name the witch was known by, namely “Kunapippi.” Nowadays this
object is the equivalent of the central Australian tjuringa.
All tribes recognize the existence of deified ancestors, now real or
spiritual, whom they regard as sacred and worship accordingly. All
ancestors stand in a definite, intricate, and intimate relationship to
some animal, plant, water-hole, or other natural object which they
have at some time or other represented; some indeed in the first
place appeared as animals and later took the human form. They are
now looked upon as being those powers who by virtue of sacred
ceremonial can produce the species they have at some time
incarnated, in plenty or allow it to proliferate. As a matter of fact,
some of the sorcerers of the tribes often declare that they can see
the inside of a sacred rock or tjuringa teeming with young, ready to
be produced.
The Arunndta refer to their “Knaninja” (i.e. “totem” Deities) as
“Altjerrajara,” meaning the Supreme Number; the Aluridja as
“Tukurata” or “Tukutita”; and the Dieri as “Muramura.”
Just as the “totem” ancestor is connected with an animal, plant, or
other natural object, and is embodied in the sacred form of the
tjuringa, so the individual who traces his descent from such ancestor
recognizes a close and mysterious affinity between himself and the
tjuringa which has become his by heredity; henceforth it becomes his
sacred talisman which protects him from evil and procures for him
the means of maintaining his existence.
The emblematic representation of the deified ancestor, based
upon the form of an animal or plant living to-day and in some way
“connected” with the individual, is the “kobong” of the north-western
tribes first referred to by Sir George Grey.
The “totem” is very dear and sacred to the native, and is religiously
protected by him. I well remember on one occasion on the Alberga
River I discovered a small black and yellow banded snake which I
killed. An Aluridja man who was attached to the party at the time was
greatly shocked at this, and, with genuine sorrow, told me that I had
killed his “brother.” Turning to an Arunndta he lamented aloud:
“Kornye! Nanni kallye nuka kalla illum,” which literally translated
means: “Oh dear! This brother of mine is dead.”
One thing is always essential and that is that a native performs
frequent, prolonged, and reverential ceremonies, remote from the
women and children, and in the presence of his tjuringa. Under these
conditions the tjuringa is believed to have powers similar to those of
the Deity it embodies.
 When not in use, the tjuringas are stored in caves, the entrances
to which are small and not easily discernible; the ground is
proclaimed taboo to any but initiated tjuringa holders and is strictly
regarded as a sanctum sanctorum. Although the sticks and stones
are the individual property of the tribesmen, the objects are generally
kept together, and only brought out during a religious ceremony. The
old men are the authorized custodians of the sacred collection. The
female tjuringas are included, because even though a woman may
possess one, she must never see it; if she does, accidentally or
otherwise, she is in imminent danger of being killed. No unauthorized
hunter is allowed near the prohibited area under any pretext at all;
even if an animal he has wounded should by accident make for the
sacred ground to breathe its last, the hunter is required by tribal law
and usage to sacrifice it to the divine factors incorporated in the
tjuringa, by leaving it on the spot.
 PLATE XXXV

Flashlight photograph of “Illiya Tjuringa” or great emu ceremony, Arunndta

tribe.

“The chief emu man is distinguished by an extra large head-dress called the
‘Illiya Altjerra Kuta.’...”
 When on the warpath, a warrior always craves to carry his tjuringa
with him, even though this is not always possible. He firmly believes
that with the talisman kept on his person, or at any rate knowing that
it is nearby, no deadly missile thrown by an enemy will penetrate his
body. The mere knowledge of the fact that his opponent has a
tjuringa with him, and he not, is sufficient to make a coward of the
bravest fighter. Should he be wounded or take ill, one of his “totem-
brothers” endeavours to produce a tjuringa, from which, if the
medicine man considers it necessary, a little powder is scraped and
handed to the patient to swallow with water.
With regard to “totem” animals which form the objects of hunting
expeditions, a man is allowed to kill and eat thereof with some
restriction. He must kill only one animal at a time, and only in
accordance with the method prescribed by the tribal fathers and
handed down to them by tradition. This is usually a straightforward
hunting method, with as little loss of blood as possible. If much blood
should flow, the hunter is obliged to cover it without delay with sand.
If possible, other men should cut up the carcase, and only certain
portions be handed to the “brother” of the slain animal.
Each tribe has an endless variety of objects (animal, vegetable,
terrestrial, meteoric, mythic, and so forth), which may figure as a
“totem.” Any one of these may be the primary motive of a separate
cult or sacred ceremony, but here again the variety is usually
reduced to the number corresponding to the most sanctimonious and
most useful creations affecting the affairs of the particular tribe.
The ceremonies take the form of either a direct worship or a
prayer for increased productivity of a certain plant or animal, either
being offered to the Knaninja or “totem” ancestors living as spirits in
the sky. Usually the two ideas are embodied in one grand ceremony,
and the method of procedure is governed by tradition. Such
ceremonies have been particularly elaborated by the Arunndta tribe,
who refer to them by the same name as that of the sacred object,
namely “Tjuringa”; less frequently they call them “Intitjuma,” the latter
name being applied more to ceremonies without worship.
 The Tjuringa ceremonies are divided into grades according to their
importance and sacredness. The water ceremony is ordinarily called
“Kwatje Tjuringa,” but if the “totem” spirit ancestor is invoked to
attend, it goes by the name of “Kwatje Tjuringa Knaninja”; if the
principal spirit ancestor is assumed to be present, the title becomes
“Kwatje Tjuringa Knaninja Knurrendora”; and finally the most sacred
water ceremony of all is the “Kwatje Tjuringa Altjerra Knaninja
Knurrendora.”
As a typical illustration we shall discuss the “Illiya Tjuringa” or
Great Emu Ceremony of the eastern Arunndta groups. The date of
the performance is decided by the senior emu “brother” of the tribe,
the oldest member who claims to be related to the Illiya Knaninja.
Somewhat extensive preparations are made beginning a few days
prior to the opening event. Only fully initiated men take part, but the
women are allowed to witness certain of the most awe-inspiring
stages from a distance. Whilst the younger men are out collecting
leaves, out of which they make the down later to adorn the bodies of
the performers, the older men prepare the sacred ground. Others
slay a number of brown hawks, off which they pull the feathers and
then pluck the down. A suitable site having been selected, the old
men clear it by removing all grass and bush from the surface and
smoothing the sand with their feet. The “brothers” who claim
relationship alike to the great Emu-Man, the Emu-Knaninja, and the
emu itself, thereupon proceed to anoint the sacred ground with their
blood, for which purpose they puncture the median basilic vein of the
forearm with a quartzite chip and allow the fluid of kinship to sprinkle
upon the sand. It is surprising to see the amount of blood sacrificed
by the men on occasions like this; and time after time, when such is
required, the process is repeated. By examining the forearms of an
old stager, one can usually count a number of small scars along the
course of a vein indicating places where a perforation has at different
times been made. A venesection is made after much the same
manner among the various tribes.
The following Arunndta method will serve as an example. A
ligature of hair-string is in the first place tied tightly round the upper
arm, a little above the biceps muscle, after the style of a tourniquet to
check the flow of blood in the veins and thereby distend the vessels.
The man then makes a small longitudinal cut through the skin and
punctures the vein beneath it lengthwise; the blood spurts forth
immediately and is collected in the handle-pit of a shield. When the
flow is to be stopped, the native removes the ligature, and this in
most cases is all that is needed. Should, however, the blood
continue to come, he places a small amount of down over the
incision and presses it against the vein, or winds three or four
strands of fur-string around it. The little pad of down is usually left on
the arm until it dries and falls off. None of the women are allowed to
witness this operation, which is called “Ilgarukna.” The blood, when it
is to be used as an adhesive for the down-decoration, is applied with
a small brush (“ipinja”) made of twigs tied together with fur-string.
Vide Plate XXXIII.
The principal among the emu group is called “Illiyakuta,” and it is
he who directs the performance. He takes his followers to a secluded
place, such as a clump of timber or down a creek-bed, and there the
wooden tjuringas belonging to the ceremony are produced and
painted afresh with red ochre and emu fat.
Down is made out of the white, felty leaves and twigs of Kochia
bush, which the Arunndta call “kemba.” Small quantities of these are
placed upon a flat slab of stone and pounded with a pebble. The
fluffy material which results is next mixed and rubbed by hand with
powdered kaolin or ochre according to the colour required, the white
being known as “wadua,” the red as “wanjerra.”
A sacred object is now constructed which encloses the painted
tjuringas and is called the “Tjilbakuta.” It is about three feet high and
is made in the following way. The tjuringas are laid one on top of the
other and bound together with many lengths of human hair-string,
which completely obscure the shape of the separate pieces. A thick
layer of the stalks of the kangaroo grass (Anthistiria) is laid around
the parcel and kept in position with a few lengths of twine, and then
the whole structure is covered with great masses of human hair-
string wound spirally from top to bottom. A cylinder results which is
decorated with alternate vertical bands of red and white vegetable
down. Into the top of this Tjilbakuta one bundle of emu feathers and
one of black cockatoo tail-feathers are stuck; and often additional
plumes are hung beneath them. The moment the sacred object is
completed, the Illiyakuta delegates one of his group to act as its
attendant or guardian. For the time being his body is decorated with
symmetrically placed, curved ochre bands upon the chest and
vertical bands down the arms; at a later stage he ornaments his
body more elaborately, prior to taking part in the principal
performance; but all the time he remains in his place of hiding beside
the Tjilbakuta. Vide Plate XXXIV.
At the sanctified place close by the other men have been stacking
firewood at different points to illuminate the proceedings during the
evening. Occasionally, too, the Illiyakuta group of men cover a
portion of the ground with a coloured emblem of the traditional emu.
Early in the afternoon of the festive day the men who will take part
in the ceremony at night begin to prepare themselves. Many of the
non-performers help them.
Large quantities of down, both vegetable and birds’, are used to
decorate the bodies. The design is shaped much like a cobbler’s
apron, extending from the neck down the front to the level of the
knees. The greater part of this surface is red, but it is lined with white
and split along the centre by two parallel lines of white. The back is
not decorated at all. The entire surface of the face, including the eye-
lids and beard, is thickly covered with down which is white, except
for an oval red patch around the mouth.
The principal attraction, however, of the sacred emu ceremony is
the head-dress, which is both elaborate and imposing. To prepare it,
the attendant combs back the actor’s hair with his fingers, and
interlaces it with stalks of grass and small twigs in such a way that a
tall conical structure results right on top of the head. This is made
secure and of a uniform exterior by winding much human hair-string
around it, at the same time taking in a plume of emu feathers at the
apex of the cone. The headgear is completely enveloped in red and
white down, extending upwards from the head as alternate vertical
bands. The chief emu-man is distinguished by an extra large
headdress called the “Illiya Altjerra Kuta”; this measures a good
three feet in length, and it embodies, between the apex and the emu
plume, deeply enshrouded with hair-string and down, the sacred
“Illiya Tjuringa.” Other members who are of the same rank as the
“Tjilbakuta” guardian, wear their insignia beneath the emu feathers in
the form of a sickle-shaped rod, which carries at each of its points a
tuft of white cockatoo feathers. All performers cover their person with
a dog-tail appendage which hangs from a thin waistband of human
hair-string. And lastly, they all tie bundles of eucalyptus twigs, with
the leaves attached, to their legs just above the ankles. If possible,
old or half-dried leaves are selected in order that a more pronounced
rustling is produced when the men move about; the noise is made to
imitate the rustle of the wiry feathers of an emu. Vide Plate XXXV.
At nightfall the Tjilbakuta is removed from the hiding place and
planted on the edge of the ensanguined patch. The guardian is thus
given an opportunity to slip away and to attend to his ceremonial
toilet, which is similar to that of the rest of the Tjilbakuta group. When
he returns, the performance is about to begin, and all except he
leave the ground.
The stacks of wood are set fire to by invisible hands, and, so soon
as the flames flare upwards, the silence is broken by the booming
note of a bull-roarer, which is produced some distance off in the
bush.
The Tjilbakuta guardian sits beside the object like a statue, with
his eyes rivetted to the ground immediately in front of him. From
behind him the thud of stamping feet and the rustle of dry leaves
announce the coming of the official performers, while from the other
side the non-performing members step from the darkness and take
up their position by squatting between two fires. When the decorated
men come into view, the latter start beating their boomerangs
together in perfect time to the stamping of the feet of the advancing
actors. They come as a body of five or six rows, one behind the
other, each man holding his hands locked behind his back and
uttering a deep guttural note resembling a pig’s grunt. The folded
hands held over the stern represent the tail, the guttural noise the
call of the emu.
 The Illiyakuta, wearing the tall Illiya Altjerra Kuta, is in the front
row, and he is attended on either side by a Tjilbakuta man. The chief
now starts a chant: “Immara janki darrai,” and all the others,
including the sitting men, join in; the same is repeated several times.
When the two parties are opposite each other, the performers
quicken the pace of their stamping and extend their arms sideways,
thereby widening their ranks. After this they retreat to behind the
Tjilbakuta and one hears a shrill chirping note resembling the cry of a
young emu.
The interpretation of this act needs no special elucidation. The
decorated performers are those of the tribe’s manhood who, in all
matters pertaining to the emu, have a right to communicate, through
the Tjilbakuta, with the astral emu ancestor living in the great
celestial domain of the ancestral spirits, which is known as
“Altjerringa.” They are invoking the benign Knaninja or originator of
their particular “totem” species to increase the numbers of emu on
earth for the exclusive benefit of their tribe. It is the Illiyakuta who
imagines that he receives the favourable response from above, and,
when it comes, it is he who imitates the cry of a young emu. It often
happens, however, that the chief persuades himself to believe that
the Great Spirit had not heeded the appeal, in which case the last-
mentioned cry is wanting. The ceremony is repeated time after time.
Altjerringa, it will be observed, is a compound word consisting of
“Altjerra,” the Supreme Spirit, and “inga,” a foot or trail. The implied
idea is that Altjerringa is the “walk-about” of the spirit ancestors,
where they walk, and have always walked, and where the spirits of
all tribes-people eventually hope to find their way.
After this act, the performance becomes less restrained and takes
more the form of a corrobboree. Some of the men seize firebrands
from the burning stacks and hurl them in the direction of the
women’s camp. From the moment of the sounding of the bull-roarer
at the beginning of the ceremony until now the women sat huddled
together, with their faces buried in their hands, thoroughly cowed by
the portentous happenings. When the firebrands come whizzing
through the air and crash into the branches of the trees around them,
sending sparks flying in all directions, they are almost beyond
themselves with fear. But just at this juncture the men call upon them
to look towards the festive ground and behold them dancing. In
obedience to the order, the women’s fears are dispelled and soon
superseded by a noticeable enravishment. They feast their eyes
upon the array of manhood in gala dress, and it is not long ere they
pick up the rhythm of a dance by beating time to the step. Provided
the Tjilbakuta has been removed to a place of secrecy, well out of
reach of accidental discovery, the men entreat the women to come
up and join in the song. Thus the sublime is eventually reduced to
commonplace, and the remainder of the night passes in joviality.
To refer briefly to a vegetable ceremony, we shall select the yam
or “Ladjia Tjuringa Knaninja.” The preparations are much the same
as those of the emu ceremony. An enclosure is first made in a
secluded spot with branches, in the centre of which the “totem” or
Knaninja “stick” is erected. Several men immediately set about to
decorate it with vegetable down as previously described. The design
in this case consists of vertical rows of red circles upon a yellow
ochre background. In addition, a large plume of split eagle-hawk
feathers is stuck into the top of the stick. All ordinary performers
wear conical head-gears or “tdela” made of Cassia twigs, into the
apices of which tightly bound bundles of grass stalks (“gortara”) are
fixed carrying plumes of emu feathers (“mangalingala”) (Plate
XXXVI, 1). Other men have squat, cylindrical bark structures called
“elbola” placed over their heads, which are elaborately decorated
with vertical coils of human hair-string and coloured down.
One of the principal actors represents the “Kuta Knaninja.” His
head-gear consists of two long kutturu, tied together with hair-string
and completely covered with gum leaves, the whole being
subsequently besmeared with blood and decorated with coloured
down. As the assistants are dressing this character, they keep up a
chant sounding like “Winni kutcherai.” Vide Plate XXXVI, 2.
The leading figure is the “Ingada Ladjia Knaninja,” who wears a tall
vertical head-piece which contains the tjuringa of the Ladjia
Knaninja. The tjuringa is, however, not visible, but is covered with
pieces of bark, securely tied over it with hair-string, the whole being
richly decorated with vertical bands of red and white down.
 The Great Spirit of the Yam, called “Knaninja Tjilba Ladjia,” when
he leaves Altjerringa, takes up his abode in a cave near Mount
Conway, where the tjuringas are kept, but at night, before the fires
are lit, he is supposed to come to the ceremonial ground and occupy
the decorated “totem” stick described above. During the performance
he is surrounded by all the ordinary performers, who are known as
“Tjilba Ingarrega,” and are directly under the guidance of the Ingada
and Kuta Knaninja.
A group of men who are not decorated sit near one of the fires and
sing while the performers are thus encircling the Ladjia stick:

“Imbanai yinga
Wi ma bana Ladji di bana
Yammana wi ma bana
Jai ra ja ja
Jai ja ja na
Wi ba na na
De a re a ja betja,”

the voices finally fading away to an almost inaudible whisper.

If the Great Spirit, Ladjia Altjerra Knaninja, is gracious, the tap-root
of the yam will be sent deep down into the earth near the Jay River
and from there spread its laterals all over the country to supply the
needs of the tribe.
When some of the most sacred ceremonies are performed, the
oldest “relatives” of the presiding Knaninja often construct a coloured
drawing upon the consecrated ground, whose purpose is similar to
that of the “totem” stick above described. The drawing is executed in
coloured down, both vegetable and bird. A space of suitable size,
often measuring many feet in length, is cleared of grass and stones,
and sprinkled with water, when it is ready to receive the down. In the
case of, say, the “Ladjia Tjuringa,” the design takes the form of a
number of concentric circles alternately red and white, from the
outermost of which six equally spaced groups of red and white lines
stand out radially. The enclosing border of the design consists
entirely of white down. Vide Plate XXXVII.
 Once constructed, this drawing, which is known as “Etominja,” is
zealously guarded by one of the old men. If, peradventure, an
unauthorized person happens upon the sanctified place, he is killed
and buried immediately beneath the spot occupied by the design;
thereupon the ground is smoothed again and the Etominja re-
constructed. Nobody in camp ever hears what became of the
person, and should any relative track him in the direction of the area
known to be tabooed, he is horror-stricken and runs away.
While the old men are re-constructing the Etominja, they sing to
the Knaninja as follows:

“Yedimidimi
Dakarai pa ma taka,
Pa mitu min jai, jin tarai,
Ja ra nai malgada, ja ranai.”

The next, and probably the most important, group of religious

ceremonies is that dealing with Sex-Worship. For years past
peculiarly shaped stones have been found in caves and among the
possessions of the Australian aborigines whose shape was strikingly
suggestive of a phallus, but hitherto no actual phallic ceremonies
have been observed. It was my good fortune to witness such among
the Aluridja, Arunndta, Dieri, and Cambridge Gulf tribes. From
enquiries made of the old men, it appears that in former days this
form of worship was practised considerably more than it is
nowadays. New stone phallus are rarely made by the present tribes;
those in their possession have generally been inherited from
previous generations. The old men have the phallus in their keeping,
and they are very loth to either produce or part with them.
The natives of the King Sound district in the north-west believe the
origin of the phallus to be as follows: In the early times a scourge
was raging among their forefathers, from the effects of which many
were daily dying, when a hairy man and his mate, a woman of
ordinary human form, came to earth from above. The evil was due to
the exhalation of poisonous breath from the gaping jaws of a green
monster resembling a crocodile. The stranger relieved the sufferers
from the awful curse by showing them how to perform an operation
upon their person which taught them to endure pain and protected
them against future ravages of the pestilence. This great and
benevolent stranger then took his departure, but left his name to
designate the surgical operation which to the present day is
performed upon the male members of the tribe; the name, strange
though it may seem, is “Elaija”; and it is known, at any rate, as far
east as Port George IV. But the tribe had become so weak through
the terrible havoc the disease had wrought that the old men called
him back and entreated him to stay. Elaija, however, took from a
dillybag his female companion was carrying, a stone carved after the
shape of a mutilated member, which he gave the name of
“Kadabba.” When the old men gazed upon this object, they took
fright and appealed to Elaija, but the good fellow had vanished. The
stone has remained with the tribe ever since, and through the divine
property Elaija endowed it with, their threatened extinction was
eluded. Moreover, they continued to practise the operation on all
young men because it made their members like the Kadabba of
Elaija, which they knew had the power of multiplying their kind. And
so the Kadabba became a sacred object whose procreative power
they have learned to worship, thinking that by such observance they
would augment their own capacities of sex. Vide Fig. 7.
 Fig. 7. Stone phallus, Northern Kimberleys, Western Australia (× 1/2).

One often reads, and I was under the same impression myself
until I became better acquainted with the tribes, that the Australian
natives do not connect the knowledge of conception with any
intercourse which might have taken place between the sexes. This I
find is not altogether correct, although usually the younger people
are kept in complete ignorance on the subject. No doubt strangers
are treated similarly when they put any pertinent questions to the old
men on matters of sex. The old men believe in the duality of human
creation, the spiritual and the material; sexuality is regarded as the
stimulus of corporeal reproduction, but the spirit quantity is derived
through mystic and abstract influences controlled by a “totem”-spirit
or Knaninja. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising to note
that the ceremonies of the phallus are transacted principally by the
old men of the tribe who aim at the rejuvenation of their waning
powers.
It is interesting to see the old men preparing for a ceremony which
is to be dedicated to a Knaninja or Spirit of Sex, because they all
endeavour to conceal the white hairs of their beards by rubbing
powdered charcoal into them. The bark of the cork tree (Hakea) is
used for the purpose; pieces of it are charred, crushed between the
palms, and applied where needed. It is astounding what a difference
this process makes to the appearance, and some of the old grey-
beards really look as though they had been made twenty years
younger by magic.
In the eastern MacDonnell Ranges stands a cylindro-conical
monolith whose origin is believed to be as follows: Many generations
ago, the paternal ancestors of the Arunndta walked from a district
situated, as near as one can gather, somewhere in the
neighbourhood of Ediowie; they were known as the “Kukadja,” and
were characterized by the enormous dimensions of their organs.
These old men or Tjilba of the tribe migrated northwards to beyond
Tennant’s Creek and settled in the productive “Allaia” country which
surrounds the Victoria River. In that same district one finds, even at
the present day, cave drawings of human beings with the anatomical
peculiarities referred to (Fig. 8). At a later time, the head-man of the
Kukadja, named “Knurriga Tjilba,” returned southwards to the
Macdonnell Ranges. While roaming the hills, he espied two young
women sitting on the side of a quartzite cliff, and without deliberation
began to approach them. He was in the act of making lewd overtures
when the guardian of the girls, a crow ancestor, caught sight of him
and hurled a boomerang at him. The missile struck the great man
and cut off the prominent portion of his body, which in falling stuck
erect in the ground. The force of the impact was so great that the
man bounced off the earth and fell somewhere near Barrow’s Creek.
He bled so profusely that a clay-pan soon filled with his blood. Thus
his followers found him, and overcome with sorrow they opened the
veins of their arms to mix their blood with his. Then all the members
of the party jumped into the pool and disappeared for ever.
 Fig. 8. Ochre drawing of “Kukadja” men, north of Wickham River, Northern
Territory (× 1/3).

The severed portion of the old man’s body, however, remained just
where it fell and turned to stone. It has long been known as “Knurriga
Tjilba Purra.”
The two young women can also still be detected in the cliff as
prominent rock formations.
The stone has been protected by the tribe as long as the old men
can remember, because they realize that it contains an inexhaustible
number of unborn tribes-people. These mythic, foetal elements are
generally recognized to exist in certain objects of phallic significance,
and are called “rattappa.” The medicine men maintain that they can
at times see the dormant living matter in the stone. It is on that
account that it is regarded as sacred, and every now and then very
secret and worshipful ceremonies are transacted near its base, the
main objects of which are to multiply the future membership of the
tribe and to preserve the sexual powers of the old men.
 The Tjilba Purra naturally figures prominently in some of their
ceremonies. In fact, it is reproduced and worn upon the head of the
leading man during the functions. The sacred effigy consists of an
upright column, about two feet high, composed of a stout bundle of
grass stalks, in the centre of which the tjuringa is contained. It is
decorated with alternating bands of red and white down throughout
its length. This upright column represents the “Tjilba” or revered
ancestor whose spirit is invoked to “sit” in the tjuringa; at the top of it
a plume of wiry emu feathers, well powdered with charcoal (“unjia”)
to give it a youthful appearance, takes the place of the forbear’s hair
and beard. Standing at an angle with the central column, a similar
though slightly smaller structure is intended for the “Purra” or
phallus; it carries a plume of white cockatoo feathers at its end to
represent the glans. Vide Plate XXXVIII, 2.
A landmark, of similar significance as the Tjilba Purra of the
Arunndta, exists on the Roper River in the Northern Territory; it is a
pillar of sandstone known as “Waraka.” Waraka is also the name of
the great Spirit Father of the tribe. In very early times this man came
to earth in a semi-human form, and made the country abound in
game, animals, birds, and fish. Then he found a woman on the
shores of Carpentaria Gulf who remained with him as his wife. Many
children came of the union; and Waraka’s mate has since been
looked upon as the mother of the tribe. The woman’s name was
“Imboromba,” and to this day the tribe takes its name after her.
Warraka had an enormous sex characteristic which was so
ponderous that he was obliged to carry it over one of his shoulders.
Eventually the organ became so huge that Warraka collapsed and
sank into the earth. His burden remained, but turned to stone, and is
now looked upon by the local natives as the great symbol of Nature’s
generative power which first produced their game supplies and then
the original children of the tribe; it is revered accordingly.
The Kukata have a somewhat similar legend of the origin of a
stone of phallic significance, the name of the possessor of the large
organ being “Kalunuinti.”
In the extreme north-western corner of Australia, in the Glenelg
River district, the natural stone is replaced by an artificially