pCritical and Provocative Issues in Human Developmentem provides readers with an interesting, compelling, and stimulating exploration of why people behave in particular ways, struggle with certain problems, or manage to flourish while others flounder throughout different stages of the life span. It poses the question how is it that we become who we are-or who we believe ourselves to beppThe text is designed to introduce and describe the most significant issues in human development, as well as topics that often aren't considered or addressed within more traditional textbooks. The brief, self-contained chapters can be explored in any sequence and cover a broad range of thought-provoking issues, including why people risk their lives to help strangers, the burdens of being gifted, whether loneliness can stunt your growth, why people get high, how technology is changing human behavior, how global pandemics have altered human development, and so much more. Each topic has been selected to hig