Altering Fate: Why the Past Does Not Predict the Future - Hardcover

"Altering Fate will rattle the fixtures--in psychology, public policy, and in daily life. Here is a provocative and compelling challenge to the popular presumption of fixed paths of development. With high style and scholarly integrity, Lewis not only demonstrates the problems inherent in the current constructions of our life trajectories, but opens us to the manifold potentials of a more contextual, fluid and protean view of human nature." --Kenneth Gergen, PhD, Mustin Professor of Psychology, Swarthmore College, author of Saturated Self

"Altering Fate is a stunning book. It is daring and well-informed in its rejection and refutation of simple 'causal' models of human development, but the objective of the book is not just to establish an alternative 'contextualist' view. Michael Lewis's aim is much more humane than that. It is to argue for human meaning making, self-construction, and consciousness as central in human development. And he argues with skill, with detailed knowledge, and with a deep sense of moral responsibility. This book speaks not only to professional psychologists, but to anybody trying to understand how the theories of development we construct change not only our public policies, but our personal interaction with the young. Bravo!" --Jerome Bruner, PhD, Research Professor of Psychology; Senior Research Fellow in Law, New York University, author of Acts of Meaning

"In a rich, rewarding, intellectual odyssey, Lewis challenges the orthodox paradigm of psychological development. Engaging in an exciting, but logical intellectual adventure, he exposes the myth of continuous development as little more than our need as selves to believe in continuity. Concepts of traditional development characterized by linearity, gradualism, causality and direction towards a goal, are shown to be sterile. Lewis substitutes a fertile, 'contextual' model, involving the dynamic interaction of individual and environment in an adaptive, ongoing process. His exciting formulation leads to a radical reorientation of programs for social action. This literary, aesthetically pleasing work will educate laymen and scientists alike." --Ira B. Black, MD, author of Information in the Brain: A Molecular Perspective

Michael Lewis, PhD, is University Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Director of the Institute for the Study of Child Development at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He is also Professor of Psychology, Education, Cognitive Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Social Work at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where he serves on the Executive Committee of the Center for Cognitive Science and is an Associate of the Center for Mathematics, Science and Computer Education. Dr. Lewis is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and is currently in the top 1.5% of scientists referenced in the Social Science Index. He is a recipient of the Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from the APA, the Hedi Levenback Pioneer Award from the New York Zero-to-Three Network, and the Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Child Development Award from the Society for Research in Child Development. Dr. Lewis has published over 450 journal articles and book chapters and 35 books, including The Rise of Consciousness and the Development of Emotional Life, which won the William James Book Award from APA Division 1 (Society for General Psychology), Social Cognition and the Acquisition of Self, Children's Emotions and Moods, Shame: The Exposed Self, and Altering Fate.