Books by Jerome Kagan

"Nearly two thousand years ago a physician named Galen of Pergamon suggested that much of the variation in human behavior could be explained by an individual's temperament. Since that time, inborn disp"

"Nearly two thousand years ago a physician named Galen of Pergamon suggested that much of the variation in human behavior could be explained by an individual's temperament. Since that time, inborn disp"

In this thought-provoking book, psychologist Jerome Kagan urges readers to sally forth from their usual comfort zones. He ponders a series of important nodes of debate while challenging us to examine what we know and why we know it. Most critically he presents an elegant argument for functions of mind that cannot be replaced with sentences about brains while acknowledging that mind emerges from brain activity. A A A Kagan relies on the evidence to argue that thoughts and emotions are distinct from their biological and genetic bases. In separate chapters he deals with the meaning of words, kinds of knowing, the powerful influence of social class, the functions of education, emotion, morality, and other issues. And without fail he sheds light on these ideas while remaining honest to their complexity. A A Thoughtful and eloquent, Kagan's On Being Human places him firmly in the tradition of Renaissance essayist Michel de Montaigne, whose appealing blend of intellectual insight, personal storytelling, and careful judgment has attracted readers for centuries.

In the distinctive manner that has made him one of the most influential forces in developmental psychology, Kagan challenges scientific commonplaces about mental processes, pointing in particular to the significant but undervalued role of surprise and uncertainty in shaping behavior, emotion, and thought.

Do the first two years of life really determine a child's future development? Are human beings motivated only by pleasure? Do people have stable traits, like intelligence, fear, anxiety, and temperament? This book, by one of the founders of developmental psychology, takes on the powerful assumptions behind these questions-and proves them mistaken.

Kagan demonstrates that innovative research methods in the behavioral sciences and neurobiology, together with a renewed philosophical commitment to rigorous empiricism, are transforming our understanding of human behavior. He calls into question a number of techniques that have been mainstays of psychological investigation.

Infancy presents the long-awaited report of the authors' 6-year study of infant day care that will affect future thinking on the cognitive and emotional processes in infancy and later growth. In this edition the statistical summary has been removed from the appendix to shorten the work and make it more appealing to the general reader.

How can the richness of individual lives be captured by the objective methods and statistical analyses of developmental research? Some of the leaders in developmental research pursue the answers to this question in this book. Each chapter is followed by a commentary and discussion by Marian Radke Yarrow.

The research reported here provides reliable evidence on, and knowledge about, mathematics and science instruction that emphasizes student understanding. The book presents a summary of the concepts, findings, and conclusions of NCISLA research from 1996-2001

Kagan and Snidman summarize the results of this unique inquiry into human temperaments, one of the best-known longitudinal studies in developmental psychology. These results reveal how deeply certain fundamental temperamental biases can be preserved over development.

The world-famous Harvard psychologist challenges many of psychology's most deeply held assumptions about human development,arguing, for example, that early experience does not inexorably shape our lives and that the influence of the family is more subtle than has been supposed.