ABSTRACT
Some of our readers may be habitual ‘Preface-skippers,’ and if that applies to you we do refer you back to the Preface so that the rationale for this book and our general approach to it are clear. As one would expect from an introductory chapter, our purpose here is to set the context within which the following chapters are embedded. After giving some consideration to the nature of developmental psychology, the main body of the chapter is devoted to a consideration of some ways of knowing about children: knowing them from various philosophical and theoretical perspectives, knowing them in a cultural sense and knowing them as beings placed in historical contexts. Throughout this book, we will be using the word ‘child’ in a generic sense to include all stages of development from conception through infancy, childhood and adolescence.
