A recently published text book entitled "Human Development in the Life Course: Melodies of Living" brings a fresh perspective to the question of what makes us each distinctive. Drawing on philosophy, history and natural sciences, it proposes a new theoretical foundation for the psychology of individual human development.
"The book puts a strong emphasis on individual experiences of the world and their transformation into our inner lives. In this, it describes as well the ways we adapt and change from early childhood to old age while some parts of us still stay the same - constituting our own personal melodies of living" explains Dieter Ferring Professor of Psychology at the University of Luxembourg, one of the book's authors.
"The book features the study of individual life courses in their social and cultural environment, with particular emphasis on how people create and interpret signs and symbols to make sense of it all," he continues.
"Human Development in the Life Course: Melodies of Living" was written by a collaboration of six psychologists including Dieter Ferring and Professor Jaan Valsiner of Clark University, Massachusetts and Visiting Professor at the University of Luxembourg. They were joined by Professor Tania Zittoun of the Université de Neuchatel, Switzerland; Professor Dankert Vedeler of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim; ProfessesorJoão Salgado of Instituto Superior da Maia, Portugal and Professor Miguel M. Gonçalves of the Universidad de Minho, Portugal.