This comprehensive overview of social and personality development reflects theories, research and practical wisdom that social developmentalists have to offer. The author attempts to help students understand the processes that underlie developmental change, and illustrates that people develop in different social contexts, which helps determine who they become. The book describes and explains the processes by which unsocialized infants are integrated into the society and subculture in which they live. Though the book has a theoretical emphasis and is research-oriented, practical implications of such are integrated throughout the text. The book illustrates how the outcomes of social development depend very heavily on interactions among the social systems that children and adolescents experience.