This topically organized, research-based text covers the physical, cognitive and psychosocial aspects of human development, with attention to all periods of the life span. Its topical organization makes this text an alternative to traditional, chronologically-organized development texts. By combining topical and chronological approaches, it presents life-span development as a "motion picture" rather than as a series of individual "snapshots," thus preserving the integrity of the life-span development concept. Although in the second edition the basic perspective remains unchanged, the authors have sharpened the focus on themes such as the importance of the fit between person and environment and added emphasis on cultural and subcultural diversity in development. Because of the complexity of many of the issues in human development, Sigelman and Shaffer have aimed for a book that is readable and yet scholarly.