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PART I

The Foundation

This two-chapter part offers you the foundations for understanding the lifespan journey.

Chapter 1–The People and the Field introduces all the major concepts and themes in this course. In this chapter, I’ll describe our discipline’s basic terminology, provide a bird’s-eye view of the evolving lifespan, offer a framework for how to think about world cultures, and highlight some new twenty-first-century life stages. Most important, in this chapter you will learn about the themes, theories, and research strategies that have shaped our field. Bottom line: Chapter 1 gives you the tools you will need for understanding this book.

Chapter 2–Prenatal Development, Pregnancy, and Birth lays the foundation for our developing lives. Here, you will learn about how a baby develops from a tiny clump of cells, and get insights into the experience of pregnancy from the point of view of mothers and fathers. This chapter describes pregnancy rituals in different cultures, discusses the impact of prenatal issues such as stress and infertility, and offers an in-depth look at the miracle of birth.