Formative Experiences by Carol M Worthman

Formative Experiences by Carol M Worthman

The authors offer a unique exploration of the formative effects of children's early life experiences, with an emphasis on interactions among neurodevelopmental, behavioural and cultural dynamics. Multidisciplinary case studies focus on specific periods of development, or windows of susceptibility, during which care giving and other cultural practices potentially have a long-lasting impact on brain and behaviour. Chapters describe in detail: how social experience interacts with neurodevelopmental disorders; how epigenetic mechanisms mediate the effects of early environment; the interaction of temperament and environmental influences; the implications of early life stress or trauma for mental health and well-being; and the cultural shaping of sexual development and gender identity. The final section translates insights from this work into a fresh appraisal of child-rearing practices, clinical interventions and global public health policy that affect the mental health and well-being of children around the world.

“A wonderful book for all professionals whose work touches the lives of children and their caregivers, and others in allied fields!” – TBerry Brazelton, Brazelton Touchpoints Center and Harvard Medical School
“A rich and highly diverse collection of papers that illuminate some of the complex puzzles lying at the interface of development, experience, and biology. Scholars interested in the new evidence on epigenetic processes, Williams syndrome, and cultural influences should profit from this volume.” – Jerome Kagan, Harvard University
“Formative Experiences is a marvelous collection on the frontier of knowledge about the role of the environment in social and emotional development. Its range of contributions – from the developmental psychobiology laboratory to the exotic cross-cultural field study and the clinical challenges of psychological suffering – make it unique, and the distinction of its authors make it indispensable. It sets a new standard for multilevel analysis in this rich and exciting realm of science.” – Melvin Konner, author of The Evolution of Childhood: Relationships, Emotion, Mind
"Interdisciplinary cross-cultural research on the formative impact of experiences in childhood, including bullying and other stresses." –Chronicle of Higher Education
"...The multidisciplinary approach encourages a transactional view of developmental plasticity and variation and includes both animal and ethnographic studies. Excellent commentaries follow many of the chapters and provide undergraduates with excellent models of critiques and discussions... Highly recommended..." --J. Mercer, emerita, Richard Stockton College, CHOICE
"....Formative Experiences is a must-have for scholars interested in the biology of child development in cross-cultural context. It does a remarkable job of capturing the key points of what must have been a fascinating conference.... Formative Experiences would be an excellent catalyst for an interdisciplinary seminar on child development.... provide a broad playing field for graduate students in anthropology, developmental psychology, human biology, genetics, medicine, neurobiology, and related disciplines....." --Mark V. Flinn, University of Missouri, American Journal of Human Biology

Carol M. Worthman, Ph.D., is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Laboratory for Comparative Human Biology at Emory University. She combines laboratory, field, and population research for the study of biocultural dynamics in human development, reproduction, and mental and physical health. Her research has spanned twelve countries, including Kenya, South Africa, Nepal, Egypt, Japan, and Papua New Guinea, as well as rural, urban, and semi-urban areas of the United States. Paul M. Plotsky, Ph.D., is the GlaxoSmithKline Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University. Plotsky has adjunct appointments in the departments of cell biology and psychology and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He is on the faculty of the Graduate Program in Neuroscience, the Endocrine Training Program, the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, and the undergraduate Neurobiology and Behavior Program. His research is focused on the interaction between genes and the perinatal environment in shaping the developing nervous system. Using rodent and nonhuman primate models in collaboration with clinical researchers, he has developed animal models of vulnerability to a variety of psychiatric and medical diseases. Daniel S. Schechter, M.D., is the Director of the Consult-Liaison and Parent-Infant Research Units of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Service at the Children's Hospital, University Hospitals of Geneva, and the University of Geneva, Faculty of Medicine, Switzerland. He is also Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the Division of Developmental Neuroscience and Behavior, and Director of Child Research at the Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research of the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. The focus of his research is the understanding of the psychological and neurobiological processes that underlie the intergenerational transmission of violence, trauma, and associated psychopathology during formative early development and in the context of the parent-child relationship. He is currently prospectively exploring pre- and post-natal predictors of individual differences in general child outcome and in response to psychosocial intervention. Constance A. Cummings, Ph.D., is project director of the non-profit Foundation for Psychocultural Research, which supports interdisciplinary research and scholarship in anthropology, psychiatry, and the behavioral neurosciences, with an emphasis on the interactions between biology and culture. She received her doctorate in theoretical linguistics from New York University.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521895033
ISBN 10	0521895030
Title	Formative Experiences
Author	Carol M Worthman
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2010-04-07
Number of pages	624
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.