Students'
Page
On this page users can answer multiple
choice questions (MCQs) from each chapter.
Interview with Alan M. Slater and J. Gavin Bremner
Q: How did you first become interested in developmental psychology?
JGB: "My interest developed when I did an advanced course in developmental psychology in my final undergraduate year at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. The course (taught by Bob Grieve and Roger Wales) revealed to me the fascination of developmental questions, and although my initial ph.d. plans were in neuropsychology, I made the move to developmental psychology after a term."
AMS: "I did my undergraduate degree at Swansea and I became particularly interested in visual perception, with a particular focus on its origins and development. Vision is unique amongst the senses in that there is no way in which it can be used before birth - there's no patterned visual input in the womb! - and my interest in its development became the focus of my PhD at Durham where I spent many happy hours discussing theoretical issues with John Findlay. Infant perception is still a major research interest of mine, but the combination of 'infant' and 'perception' meant that I could apply for jobs both in Perception and Developmental Psychology, and I got a developmental job, without really knowing much about the subject!"
Q: What have you learnt about the subject from teaching undergraduate students?
AMS: "An enormous amount - you can't give lecture courses on a subject unless you know something about it! So it is from teaching undergraduates that my interest in the subject began and developed. It seems to me that developmental psychology is one of the most fascinating areas of knowledge and research, and undergraduates keep you 'on your toes' - the fear that a student will ask a question to which you can't give any kind of meaningful answer is one that diminishes over the years, but never quite goes away!"
JGB: "Well, first of all, teaching lead me to learn areas of developmental psychology that I would not otherwise have known about. However, in the process of working out how to present findings to students I have often been led to think about the work in a new way. Somehow the discipline of describing work precisely to others leads to a new look at it which is useful to my own research."
Q: It must have been quite an undertaking, putting together a new introduction to developmental psychology. Why did you decide to do it?
AMS: "I get to see lots of textbooks on developmental psychology, and when a new one arrives the first thing I do is look at those areas where I feel I am reasonably competent and up to date. With a textbook with one or a few authors it is invariably the case that some areas are covered very well, and others very poorly - one can be an expert in a few areas, but not all. Putting together a new introduction that is a genuine textbook, but where the chapters are written by the world's leading authorities, was a very appealing opportunity."
JGB: "I am constantly frustrated
by single author introductory texts, since it usually takes
only 5 minutes to find weak areas or areas that contain wrong
information. It is very rare to find a single individual or
even a pair who can cover the enormous breadth of the topic
in a knowledgeable way. Thus the idea of an introductory text
written by experts on each area or topic had a great appeal."
Q: How did you identify the best authors for each
chapter?
AMS: "Gavin and I first got together and decided exactly how we would structure what we felt would be the ideal introductory textbook, and we sorted out the contents and the chapters. We then compiled a list of 3 or 4 of the world's leading experts in each topic with a view to asking them to write the chapters we wanted. Initially, we thought that we would get lots of rejections, but we were very pleasantly surprised when the majority of our invitees accepted, and we never had to ask anyone who wasn't an expert - however busy people are I guess it's interesting to write on one's areas of expertise."
Q: What distinctive contribution to the study of the subject does the book make?
JGB: "I think the unique
feature is the product of our strategy in selecting authors
and then in exercising tight editorial control on each chapter.
We hope the outcome is an introductory text that is both integrated
and highly authoritative. The book is an up-to-date and accurate
account of our state of knowledge across the breadth of the
discipline."
