Focusing on the psychological foundations and implications of deafness, this volume provides a scholarly overview of research concerning deaf individuals, deafness, and related topics. Taken together, the chapters offer a coherent picture of the scientific issues facing deafness researchers and the relationships between biology, language, cognition, and social processes in the deaf. Contributors were encouraged to provide forthright but balanced examinations of the goals, methodologies, and interpretations of research relevant to their topics, while at the same time considering broader theoretical motivations and implications of relevant findings. Drawing on the expertise of the authors, this book provides a more comprehensive and integrative approach to deafness than previous volumes. Most books in the field either have applied perspectives and goals or have focused primarily on sign language, deaf education, or some other restricted domain. This book is broader, including "cutting-edge" research from "cutting-edge" researchers. Although the book is intended primarily as a scholarly work, it combines depth and breadth of coverage making it an appropriate text for graduate and upper level undergraduate courses on the psychology of deafness and a resource book and supplement for courses on exceptional children, normal development, and education of the deaf.