The Evolution of Childhood: Relationships, Emotion, Mind

Description

This book is an intellectual tour de force: a comprehensive Darwinian interpretation of human development. Looking at the entire range of human evolutionary history, Melvin Konner tells the compelling and complex story of how cross-cultural and universal characteristics of our growth from infancy to adolescence became rooted in genetically inherited characteristics of the human brain. All study of our evolution starts with one simple truth: human beings take an extraordinarily long time to grow up. What does this extended period of dependency have to do with human brain growth and social interactions? And why is play a sign of cognitive complexity, and a spur for cultural evolution? As Konner explores these questions, and topics ranging from bipedal walking to incest taboos, he firmly lays the foundations of psychology in biology. As his book eloquently explains, human learning and the greatest human intellectual accomplishments are rooted in our inherited capacity for attachments to each other. In our love of those we learn from, we find our way as individuals and as a species. Never before has this intersection of the biology and psychology of childhood been so brilliantly described. "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution," wrote Dobzhansky. In this remarkable book, Melvin Konner shows that nothing in childhood makes sense except in the light of evolution. Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Prologue The Structure of This Book Six Paradigms Chapter 1. Introduction Some Premises Some History Evolution and Modification of Behavior Evolution of Ontogeny in the Human Animal Levels of Causation in the Explanation of Behavior Part I. Evolution: The Phylogenetic Origins of Childhood Chapter 2. Paradigms in the Evolution of Development Neo-Darwinian Theory—The Adaptationist Paradigm Life History Theory Evolutionary Allometries Heterochrony in the Phylogeny of Development The Evolution of Developmental Genes (Evo-Devo) Phyletic Reorganizationin Brain Evolution Developmental Ethology Evolutionary Developmental Psychology Interlude 1: Thinking about Birdsong Chapter 3. Brains Evolving Expansion and Organization in Brain Evolution Vertebrate Body Plans and Behavioral Advances The Emergence of Mammalian Brain and Behavior Developmental Keys to Psychosocial Evolution Chapter 4. Ape Foundations, Human Revolution Ape Evolution and Behavior Hominin Evolution and Behavior Hominin Brain Evolution Evolving Human Life Histories Hominin Behavior, Social Organization, and Culture Chapter 5. The Evolution of Human Brain Growth Neonatal Status and Early Brain Growth Humanizing Anthropoid Brain Growth Hominin Ontogeny Heterochrony in Hominin Evolution Transition 1: Neurological Models of Psychosocial Function The Limbic System Model The Orbitofrontal Cortex and the Somatic Marker Hypothesis The Polyvagal Model The Mirror-Neuron System Lateralized Higher Functions Imperfect Models Part II. Maturation: Anatomical Bases of Psychosocial Growth Chapter 6. Paradigms in the Study of Psychosocial Growth The Neurogenetics of Animal Models and Human Disease Neuroembryology Developmental Neuroendocrinology Postnatal Brain Development Developmental Behavior Genetics Neurological Individuality Interlude 2: Thinking about Bipedal Walking Chapter 7. The Growth of Sociality The “Fourth Trimester” and the Presocial Baseline The Rise and Fall of Early Crying Smiling and Mutual Gaze Chapter 8. The Growth of Attachment and the Social Fears Universals of Human Attachment and Social Fear Animal Studies Biological Mechanisms Chapter 9. The Growth of Language A Language Acquisition Device Cross-Cultural and Other Evidence Biological Foundations Early Anatomical Preparedness The Role of Learning Chapter 10. The Growth of Sex and Gender Differences Gender Identity Sex Differences in Aggression Cross-Cultural Studies Neuroendocrine Foundations Chapter 11. The Transition to Middle Childhood An Evolutionary Approach Cognition in Middle Childhood A Biological Model Chapter 12. Reproductive Behavior and the Onset of Parenting Biological Changes in Puberty and Adolescence Is Individual Age at Puberty a Facultative Adaptation? Control of the Onset of Puberty Growth and Change in the Adolescent Brain The Psychological Impact of Body Changes Adolescent Hormones in Sexuality and Aggression Cross-Cultural Regularities A Role for Romantic Love? Ideals and Abstractions The Onset of Parenting—Maternal Care Paternal Care and the Pair Bond Interlude 3: Thinking about Growing Up Gay Transition 2: Plasticity Evolving Selection for Plasticity and Resilience Part III. Socialization: The Evolving Social Context of Ontogeny Chapter 13. Paradigms in the Study of Socialization Laws of Learning Early Experience Effects and the Sensitive Period Question Ethology, Field Primatology, and Sociobiology Ethnology and Quantitative Cross-Cultural Comparison Historiography and Historical Demography Chapter 14. Early Social Experience Early Handling, Stress, and Stimulation Postweaning Isolation and Crowding Social Deprivation in Monkeys The Neurobiology of Social Perturbation in Monkeys Experience in the Etiology of Psychopathology Early Deprivation in Human Childhood Chapter 15. The Evolution of the Mother-Infant Bond Maternal Care in Mammals Mother and Infant Primates, Including Humans Mother-Infant Relations among !Kung Hunter-Gatherers Mother-Infant Relations in Other Hunter-Gatherers Reconstructing Maternal Care: Phylogeny and History Attachment Theory and the Mother-Infant Bond Interlude 4: Thinking about Maternal Sentiment Chapter 16. Cooperative Breeding in the Extended Family Helpers at the Nest Allocare in Nonhuman Primates Nonmaternal Care among !Kung Hunter-Gatherers Nonmaternal Care in Other Hunter-Gatherers Cooperative Breeding in the Human Species Normative Adoption and Fosterage in Human Societies The Physiology of Alloparental Care Social Context and Mother-Infant Interactions Cooperative Breeding beyond Hunters and Gatherers Chapter 17. Male Parental Care Male Parental Investment and Reproductive Success Paternal Investment, Social Organization, and Ecology in Nonhuman Species The Paternal Role among !Kung Hunter-Gatherers Paternal Roles in Other Hunter-Gatherers Paternal Roles in Non-Hunter-Gatherers Observable Patterns and Their Possible Significance Subsistence Adaptation and Family Organization The United States and Other Industrial Cultures Dads and Cads Plasticity and Its Physiological Limits Interlude 5: Thinking about “Oedipal” Conflicts Chapter 18. Relations among Juveniles Theoretical Considerations Juvenile Social Relations in Selected Mammals Relations among Juveniles in !Kung Hunter-Gatherers Relations among Juveniles in Other Hunter-Gatherers Relations among Juveniles since the Hunting-Gathering Era Functional Considerations Developmental Mechanisms Chapter 19. Play, Social Learning, and Teaching The Evolution of Play The Development of Human Play The Evolutionary Neurobiology of Play Intelligent Players Play, Learning, and Culture Social Learning, Imitation, and Teaching Toward a Neurobiology of Social Learning Teaching: Uniquely Human? Chapter 20. The Contexts of Emerging Reproductive Behavior The Development of Sexual Behavior in Monkeys and Apes Adolescence among the !Kung Hunter-Gatherers Adolescence in Other Hunter-Gatherers Broader Cross-Cultural Patterns of Premarital Sex Parent-Offspring Conflict over Arranged Marriage Adolescent Sexuality in the Industrial World Secular Trends in Growth and Maturation Secular Trends and Adolescent Behavior Interlude 6: Thinking about Incest Avoidance and Taboos Chapter 21. Stress and Resilience in the Changing Family Basic Stress Physiology Stress in Infancy and Childhood Stress in Early Life as a Signal for Facultative Adaptation Stress and Resilience on the Island of Dominica Mortality, Attachment, and Loss Stress and Resilience in Exceptional Situations Child Abuse and Neglect in Western Industrial States Evolutionary Considerations in Abuse and Neglect Changing Family Structure in Western Industrial States Abuse, Neglect, and Adolescent Aggression Stress and Coping in Human Development Chapter 22. Hunter-Gatherer Childhood—The Cultural Baseline Generalizations and Challenges The Hunter-Gatherer Childhood Model Hunter-Gatherer Childhood in Evolutionary Context Evaluating the Divergences Conclusion: Facultative Adaptation, Discordance, or Both? Transition 3: Does Nonhuman Culture Exist? Defining the Extremes The Approach from Material Culture The Approach from Socially Learned Local Variation The Approach from Teaching and Cultural Learning The Approach from Language and Symbol The Approach from History Part IV. Enculturation: The Transmission and Evolution of Culture Chapter 23. Paradigms in the Study of Enculturation Laws of Learning, Expanded Culture and Personality The Whiting Model Broader Cross-Cultural Analyses Extensions and Modifications of the Model Challenges to the Role of Early Experience Culture and Mind Interlude 7: Thinking about the Question “How?” Chapter 24. The Culture of Infancy and Early Childhood Culture in Utero? Cross-Cultural Variation in Infant Care Possible Mechanisms of Influence Language Acquisition and Language Learning Chapter 25. The Culture of Subsistence Work, Play, and Cultural Transmission Children’s Work in Farming Cultures Chapter 26. The Culture of Middle Childhood Enculturation among the Gusii of Kenya Enculturation Processes beyond Conventional Learning Enculturation by Children Inculcating Morality? Children and Religion Chapter 27. The Culture of Gender in Childhood and Adolescence Culture Stretches Biology Cultural Tradition in Adolescent Development Chapter 28. Evolutionary Culture Theory Cultural Macroevolution The Meme Model and the Question of Coherence Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman Lumsden and Wilson Boyd and Richerson The Durham Model Defining Culture Applying the Model Some Models Compared Interlude 8: Thinking about Boys at War Chapter 29. Universals, Adaptation, Enculturation, and Culture Universals of Human Behavior and Culture A Culture Acquisition Device A Model of Culture in Biological Context Part V. Conclusion Chapter 30. The Ultimate Epigenetic Enterprise A General Theory? Chaos, Self-Organization, and Complexity A Theory of Generative Variation Selection, Epigenetics, and Development Reprise Epilogue References Acknowledgments Index