Cover: How Children Develop, 7th Edition by Robert S. Siegler; Jenny Saffran; Elizabeth Gershoff

How Children Develop

Seventh Edition  ©2024 Robert S. Siegler; Jenny Saffran; Elizabeth Gershoff Formats: Achieve, Read & Practice, E-book, Print

Authors

  • Headshot of Robert S. Siegler

    Robert S. Siegler

    Robert Siegler is the Schiff Foundations Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research focuses on how children learn mathematics. He is author of the cognitive development textbook Children’s Thinking and has written or edited several additional books on child development. His books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German, Spanish, French, Greek, Hebrew, and Portuguese. He has presented keynote addresses at the conventions of the Cognitive Development Society, the Japanese Psychological Association, the German Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the Conference on Human Development. He also has served as Associate Editor of the journal Developmental Psychology, co-edited the cognitive development volume of the 1998 and 2006 editions of the Handbook of Child Psychology, and served on the National Mathematics Advisory Panel from 2006 to 2008. Dr. Siegler received the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 2005, was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2010, was named Director of the Siegler Center for Innovative Learning at Beijing Normal University in 2012 and was elected to the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 2016.

  • Headshot of Jenny Saffran

    Jenny Saffran

    Jenny R. Saffran is the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor and College of Letters & Science Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and is an investigator at the Waisman Center. Her research is focused on learning in infancy and early childhood, with a particular emphasis on language. Dr. Saffran’s research has been continually funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for over 20 years. She has received numerous awards for her research and teaching, including the Boyd McCandless Award from the American Psychological Association for early career contributions to developmental psychology and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation. In 2015, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

  • Headshot of Elizabeth Gershoff

    Elizabeth Gershoff

    Elizabeth Gershoff is the Amy Johnson McLaughlin Centennial Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences and Associate Director of the Population Research Center, both at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on how parental and school discipline affect child and youth development and on how parent education and early childhood education programs, such as the federal Head Start program, can improve the lives of at-risk children. Dr. Gershoff has been awarded numerous federal grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute for Mental Health, and the National Science Foundation to support her research. She was lead author of the volume Societal Contexts of Child Development, which won the 2014 Society for Research on Adolescence Social Policy Award for Best Edited Book, and of a new book, Ending the Physical Punishment of Children: A Guide for Clinicians and Practitioners. She was an Associate Editor at the journal Developmental Psychology and is President-Elect of the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice, which is Division 37 of the American Psychological Association. She is an internationally recognized expert on the effects of physical punishment on children, and her research on the topic has been recognized with a Lifetime Legacy Achievement Award from the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago and the Nicholas Hobbs Award from Division 37 of the American Psychological Association.

Table of Contents

1. An Introduction to Child Development
2. Prenatal Development and the Newborn Period
3. Biology and Behavior
4. Theories of Cognitive Development
5. Perception, Action, and Learning in Infancy
6. Development of Language and Symbol Use
7. Conceptual Development
8. Intelligence and Academic Achievement
9. Theories of Social Development
10. Emotional Development
11. Attachment to Others and Development of Self
12. The Family
13. Peer Relationships
14. Moral Development
15. Gender Development
16. Conclusions

Product Updates

Summer 2026 

The Summer 2026 update introduces new AI-powered learning tools that help students build understanding through guided practice and personalized feedback. With Guided Reading and Guided Quiz Review, instructors can provide more interactive learning experiences while supporting student success within their existing course workflow.

  • Guided Reading: Transforms textbook reading into an assignable interactive learning experience. Students explain concepts in their own words and receive personalized, real-time feedback. By turning reading into a guided conversation, it builds deeper understanding and engagement without adding any instructor workload.
  • Guided Quiz Review: In the current Multi-Take Quiz setting, this new AI-powered tool helps students master concepts. It reduces guessing and gives personalized formative feedback between quiz attempts. By guiding students through their learning journey, it strengthens understanding and improves performance—without adding extra work for instructors.

COVID-19 Pandemic: The authors explore effects of the pandemic on pregnancy and the birth experience (Chapter 2), physical growth in infancy and early childhood (Chapter 3), perceptual development (Chapter 5), emotional development and mental health (Chapter 10), family and peer relationships (Chapters 12 and 13), and more.

Replicability: Chapter 1 addresses the replicability crisis that has emerged in psychology and other scientific disciplines, and presents efforts to improve methodologies. This discussion continues throughout the text in discussions of relevant research findings.

Gender Development: The authors highlight new insights into gender and sexual development, particularly in Chapter 15: Gender Development, including differences in areas such as cognitive ability and achievement, communication, and aggression.

Technology and Social Media: The text continues to follow the impact of technology and social media use, particularly in discussions of the bioecological context (Chapter 9) and friendships (Chapter 13).

Authors

  • Headshot of Robert S. Siegler

    Robert S. Siegler

    Robert Siegler is the Schiff Foundations Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research focuses on how children learn mathematics. He is author of the cognitive development textbook Children’s Thinking and has written or edited several additional books on child development. His books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German, Spanish, French, Greek, Hebrew, and Portuguese. He has presented keynote addresses at the conventions of the Cognitive Development Society, the Japanese Psychological Association, the German Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the Conference on Human Development. He also has served as Associate Editor of the journal Developmental Psychology, co-edited the cognitive development volume of the 1998 and 2006 editions of the Handbook of Child Psychology, and served on the National Mathematics Advisory Panel from 2006 to 2008. Dr. Siegler received the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 2005, was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2010, was named Director of the Siegler Center for Innovative Learning at Beijing Normal University in 2012 and was elected to the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 2016.

  • Headshot of Jenny Saffran

    Jenny Saffran

    Jenny R. Saffran is the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor and College of Letters & Science Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and is an investigator at the Waisman Center. Her research is focused on learning in infancy and early childhood, with a particular emphasis on language. Dr. Saffran’s research has been continually funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for over 20 years. She has received numerous awards for her research and teaching, including the Boyd McCandless Award from the American Psychological Association for early career contributions to developmental psychology and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation. In 2015, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

  • Headshot of Elizabeth Gershoff

    Elizabeth Gershoff

    Elizabeth Gershoff is the Amy Johnson McLaughlin Centennial Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences and Associate Director of the Population Research Center, both at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on how parental and school discipline affect child and youth development and on how parent education and early childhood education programs, such as the federal Head Start program, can improve the lives of at-risk children. Dr. Gershoff has been awarded numerous federal grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute for Mental Health, and the National Science Foundation to support her research. She was lead author of the volume Societal Contexts of Child Development, which won the 2014 Society for Research on Adolescence Social Policy Award for Best Edited Book, and of a new book, Ending the Physical Punishment of Children: A Guide for Clinicians and Practitioners. She was an Associate Editor at the journal Developmental Psychology and is President-Elect of the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice, which is Division 37 of the American Psychological Association. She is an internationally recognized expert on the effects of physical punishment on children, and her research on the topic has been recognized with a Lifetime Legacy Achievement Award from the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago and the Nicholas Hobbs Award from Division 37 of the American Psychological Association.

Table of Contents

1. An Introduction to Child Development
2. Prenatal Development and the Newborn Period
3. Biology and Behavior
4. Theories of Cognitive Development
5. Perception, Action, and Learning in Infancy
6. Development of Language and Symbol Use
7. Conceptual Development
8. Intelligence and Academic Achievement
9. Theories of Social Development
10. Emotional Development
11. Attachment to Others and Development of Self
12. The Family
13. Peer Relationships
14. Moral Development
15. Gender Development
16. Conclusions

Product Updates

Summer 2026 

The Summer 2026 update introduces new AI-powered learning tools that help students build understanding through guided practice and personalized feedback. With Guided Reading and Guided Quiz Review, instructors can provide more interactive learning experiences while supporting student success within their existing course workflow.

  • Guided Reading: Transforms textbook reading into an assignable interactive learning experience. Students explain concepts in their own words and receive personalized, real-time feedback. By turning reading into a guided conversation, it builds deeper understanding and engagement without adding any instructor workload.
  • Guided Quiz Review: In the current Multi-Take Quiz setting, this new AI-powered tool helps students master concepts. It reduces guessing and gives personalized formative feedback between quiz attempts. By guiding students through their learning journey, it strengthens understanding and improves performance—without adding extra work for instructors.

COVID-19 Pandemic: The authors explore effects of the pandemic on pregnancy and the birth experience (Chapter 2), physical growth in infancy and early childhood (Chapter 3), perceptual development (Chapter 5), emotional development and mental health (Chapter 10), family and peer relationships (Chapters 12 and 13), and more.

Replicability: Chapter 1 addresses the replicability crisis that has emerged in psychology and other scientific disciplines, and presents efforts to improve methodologies. This discussion continues throughout the text in discussions of relevant research findings.

Gender Development: The authors highlight new insights into gender and sexual development, particularly in Chapter 15: Gender Development, including differences in areas such as cognitive ability and achievement, communication, and aggression.

Technology and Social Media: The text continues to follow the impact of technology and social media use, particularly in discussions of the bioecological context (Chapter 9) and friendships (Chapter 13).

The standard-setting introduction to child development—from researchers who lead the field.

How Children Develop provides an up-to-date introduction to child and adolescent development, integrating developmental theory, cross-cultural research, and real-world applications in a clear, accessible style. This edition expands coverage of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health in childhood and adolescence, and gender and sexual development.

Extend the learning experience with Achieve's integrated activities, assessments, and study tools for psychology.

With Achieve, we’re reimagining how psychology is taught and learned—focusing on the skills students need to succeed. Achieve combines engaging content with AI-powered tools to help students apply psychological concepts, and build habits that last beyond the course.

New in Achieve:

  • Foundational Skills Modules - (AI ethics, AI basics, note-taking, time management, using APA style and reading research)
  • Data Literacy Activities - (visual data, ethics, methods, statistics)
  • AI-Enabled Guided Reading - makes reading truly assignable 
  • AI-Enabled Guided Quiz Review - builds in practice between attempts
  • Short-Form Writing Tool with rubric-aligned prompts and auto-scoring feedback
  • Developing Lives 2.1 - Interactive Parenting Simulation: Students raise a virtual child from pregnancy through adolescence, making critical lifestyle and parenting choices that shape development. 

Each activity is designed to build skills, increase engagement, and support student success.

Success Stories

Here are a few examples of how Achieve has helped instructors like you improve student preparedness, enhance their sense of belonging, and achieve course goals they set for themselves.

Prof. Kiandra Johnson, Spelman College

See how the resources in Achieve help you engage students before, during, and after class.

Prof. Jennifer Duncan

Use diagnostics in Achieve for a snapshot into cognitive and non-cognitive factors that may impact your students’ preparedness.

Prof. Ryan Elsenpeter

Here’s why educators who use Achieve would recommend it to their peers.

Instructor Resources

Need instructor resources for your course?

Unlock Your Resources

Instructor Resources

Access Test Bank

You need to sign in as a verified instructor to access the Test Bank.

request locked icon

Test Bank for How Children Develop

Robert S. Siegler; Jenny Saffran; Elizabeth Gershoff | Seventh Edition | ©2024 | ISBN:9781319556174

Learn more about our Test Banks or Sign up for training.

Go To Test Bank

Download Resources

You need to sign in to unlock your resources.

request locked icon

Clicker Questions

request locked icon

Image Slides and Tables

request locked icon

Instructor's Resource Manual (.docx)

request locked icon

Lecture Slides

Achieve $114.99

ISBN:9781319456498

Access all your course tools in one place!

Retail: $114.99 Wholesale: $92.00
Student Access

ISBN:9781319456542

ISBN:9781319543204

ISBN:9781319563042

ISBN:9781319339425

ISBN:9781319565404

ISBN:9781319565374

ISBN:9781319544614

ISBN:9781319544591

If you can't find what you are looking for contact your sales rep.