Key Topics in Lifespan Development offers a compact, critical, and contemporary introduction to lifespan psychology, weaving theory into an evolving story that shows how human beings emerge, change, and grow across the lifespan through complex physical, neurological, motor, cognitive, emotional, social, and individual processes.

The book captures development for all of humanity, regardless of continent, social background, or ethnicity, with careful attention to research methodologies and emerging topics across cultures. Structured across five clear sections, it introduces key theories - including classic frameworks alongside new perspectives from indigenous, feminist, embodied, and evolutionary psychology - then explores development across five core domains: physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and individual differences. It examines how research is conducted, the real-world impacts of lifespan development on contemporary society - including media, technology, changing demographics, and neurodiversity - and where the field is heading next. Each section includes key terms, further reading, and bullet-point summaries of core content, supported by a complete online glossary.

Providing a clear, concise, and highly readable introduction to this fascinating discipline, this book equips readers with the concepts, findings, and resources to continue their learning journey. It is an essential course text for all introductory classes in developmental psychology and related disciplines at both undergraduate and master's levels.

Sebastian Paul Suggate is an Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Otago in New Zealand, where his teaching focuses on the foundations of child and adolescent development, thought and language. His research interests span reading and language development, fine motor skills and their links to learning, mental imagery development, and media usage, with over 50 peer-reviewed papers and several books published, and work featured in outlets including the BBC, the New York Times, and Der Spiegel.