American Psychological Assn.

Chaos and its influence on children's development; an ecological perspective.

How does crowding, noise, family instability, unpredictability in routines, and other aspects of overstimulation effect children? This volume, the result of an interdisciplinary conference at Cornell University, explores the role of such chaos in child development. Edited by Evans (human ecology, Cornell U.) and Wachs (psychology, Purdue U.), it first looks at overstimulation at the level of the home, school, and child care environments. It then broadens the focus to look at neighborhood chaos and the parents' work environment, and finally at the cultural level — covering topics like the role of poverty and the refugee experience. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Child development at the intersection of emotion and cognition.

Emotion-cognitive integration is an emerging area of research in psychology that counters the traditional reductionist study of either. In a dozen chapters introduced by Calkins (human development, family studies, and psychology, U. of North Carolina at Greensboro) and Bell (psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State U., Blacksburg), international contributors present ways of thinking about how to conceptualize and study these processes in the early developmental stages. E.g., proposed models focus on the links between cognitive and emotional control, or the neurochemical connection between desire and concept development. The implications of this work for functioning in school and social settings are discussed. Michael I. Posner (U. of Oregon, Eugene) is the series editor. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Prosocial motives, emotions, and behavior; the better angels of our nature.

To help counter the widespread celebration and justification of inhumanity, scholars of psychology, most North American but some European, draw together theoretical and empirical studies on how and why people act to benefit other people and society as a whole. Their topics include evolutionary perspectives, neuroscience meets social psychology, the effortful and energy-demanding nature of prosocial behavior, helping relations as status relations, the subjective experience of generosity, compassionate love as a prosocial emotion, whether forgiveness is integral to a science of close relationships, empathy and intergroup relations, and a needs-based model of reconciliation. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Responsible test use; case studies for assessing human behavior, 2d ed.

Written for use in undergraduate and graduate measurement courses and training assessment practitioners such as school psychologists and educational diagnosticians, this reference contains 85 training cases to demonstrate different problems related to test use. Eyde, a personnel research psychologist at the US Office of Personnel Management, et al. use the case studies to show how to use tests responsibly and professionally, identifying common misuses in the areas of test selection, administration, scoring, reliability, interpretation, reporting, and improper training. This edition has 28 new cases, and three test settings not covered in the previous editions: computer and internet testing formats, forensic, and cross-cultural/English language learners. Revised cases cover counseling and training, education, employment, mental health, neuropsychology, and speech-language-hearing settings. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Strengthening couple relationships for optimal child development; lessons from research and intervention.

Contributors from diverse theoretical traditions integrate perspectives from developmental psychology, developmental psychopathology, and family research as they explore theories and interventions related to the impact of couple relationships on children and families. Part I explores the effects of the couple relationship on parenting processes, family dynamics, and the developing child, with chapters on assessing young children's perceptions of marital conflict, and shared child rearing in nuclear, fragile, and kinship family systems. Part II examines key factors that shape couple functioning before and during the transition to parenthood. Part III describes intervention programs designed to promote healthy couple and family relationships in circumstances such as divorce, marital conflict, and parental depression. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)