Author : Melvin Konner
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 964 pages
File Size : 23,46 MB
Release : 2010-05-31
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780674045668
A comprehensive Darwinian interpretation of human development which examines both the cross-cultural and universal characteristics of our growth from infancy to adolescence.
Author : Anne H. Weaver
Publisher : UNM Press
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 12,26 MB
Release : 2012-04-15
Category : Juvenile Fiction
ISBN : 0826344445
Ancient relics--stone tools, bones, footprints, and even DNA--offer many clues about our human ancestors and how they lived. At the same time, our kinship with our human ancestors lies as much in their sense of humor, their interactions with others, their curiosity and their moments of wonder, as it does in the shape of their bones and teeth. And the evolution of human behavior left no direct fossil traces. Children of Time brings this vanished aspect of the human past to life through Anne Weaver's scientifically- informed imagination. The stories move through time, following the lives of long-ago hominins through the eyes of their children. Each carefully researched chapter is based on an actual child fossil--a baby, a five-year- old, a young adolescent, and teenagers. The children and their families are brought to life through illustrator Matt Celeskey's vividly rendered paleoenvironments where they encounter saber-toothed cats, giraffids, wild dogs, fearsome crocodiles, and primitive horses. Their adventures invite readers to think about what it means to be human, and to speculate on the human drama as it unfolds in many dimensions, from social organization and technology to language, music, art, and religious consciousness. Visit the website at www.children-of-time.com.
Author : Jonathan Tweet
Publisher : Feiwel & Friends
Page : 40 pages
File Size : 31,17 MB
Release : 2016-09-06
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 1250134110
Where did we come from? It's a simple question, but not so simple an answer to explain—especially to young children. Charles Darwin's theory of common descent no longer needs to be a scientific mystery to inquisitive young readers. Meet Grandmother Fish. Told in an engaging call and response text where a child can wiggle like a fish or hoot like an ape and brought to life by vibrant artwork, Grandmother Fish takes children and adults through the history of life on our planet and explains how we are all connected. The book also includes comprehensive backmatter, including: - An elaborate illustration of the evolutionary tree of life - Helpful science notes for parents - How to explain natural selection to a child
Author : Brenna Hassett
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 385 pages
File Size : 32,35 MB
Release : 2024-04-02
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 1472975723
Growing Up Human reveals how our evolutionary history has shaped a phenomenon experienced by all readers – childhood. Tracking our evolutionary history, anthropological science has begun to unravel one feature that sets us apart from the many animals that came before us – our uniquely long childhoods. Growing Up Human looks at how we have diverged from our roots to stay 'forever young' and how the evolution of childhood is a critical part of the human story. Beginning with the ways animals invest in their offspring, anthropologist Brenna Hassett moves through the steps of making a baby, from pair-bonding to hidden ovulation, points where our species has repeatedly stepped off the standard primate path. From the mystery of monogamy to the minefield of modern parenting advice, Hassett explains how differences between humans and our closest cousins have led to our messy mating systems, dangerous pregnancies, and difficult births, and what these tell us about our babies we are trying to build. Using observations of our closest primate relatives, archaeological relics, and the bones and teeth of our ancestors, Growing Up Human explores the evolution of our childhood right down the fossil record. In our species, investment doesn't stop at birth, and examining every aspect of our care and feeding, from the chemical composition of our milk to formal education, reveals what we have evolved our weird and wonderful childhoods for.
Author : Courtney L. Meehan
Publisher : University of New Mexico Press
Page : 371 pages
File Size : 32,93 MB
Release : 2016-05-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0826357016
This collection is the first to specifically address our current understanding of the evolution of human childhood, which in turn significantly affects our interpretations of the evolution of family formation, social organization, cultural transmission, cognition, ontogeny, and the physical and socioemotional needs of children. Moreover, the importance of studying the evolution of childhood has begun to extend beyond academic modeling and into real-world applications for maternal and child health and well-being in contemporary populations around the world. Combined, the chapters show that what we call childhood is culturally variable yet biologically based and has been critical to the evolutionary success of our species; the significance of integrating childhood into models of human life history and evolution cannot be overstated. This volume further demonstrates the benefits of interdisciplinary investigation and is sure to spur further interest in the field.
Author : David F. Bjorklund
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 393 pages
File Size : 29,66 MB
Release : 2020-10-30
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 0190066881
Infants and children are the often-ignored heroes when it comes to understanding human evolution. Evolutionary pressures acted upon the young of our ancestors more powerfully than on adults, and changes over the course of development in our ancestors were primarily responsible for the species and the people we have become. This book takes an evolutionary developmental perspective, emphasizing that developmental plasticity--the ability to change our physical and psychological selves early in life--is the creative force in evolution, with natural selection serving as a filter, eliminating novel developmental outcomes that did not benefit survival. This book is about becoming--of becoming human and of becoming mature adults. Bjorklund asks, "How can an understanding of human development help us better understand human evolution?" Then, turning the relation between evolution and development on its head, Bjorklund demonstrates how an understanding of our species' evolution can help us better understand current development and how to better rear successful and emotionally healthy children.
Author : Darcia Narváez
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 508 pages
File Size : 49,42 MB
Release : 2012-11-29
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 0199755051
The field of cognitive psychology has expanded rapidly in recent years, with experts in affective and cognitive neuroscience revealing more about mammalian brain function than ever before. In contrast, psychological problems such as ADHD, autism, anxiety, and depression are on the rise, as are medical conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and autoimmune disorders. Why, in this era of unprecedented scientific self-knowledge, does there seem to be so much uncertainty about what human beings need for optimal development? Evolution, Early Experience and Human Development asserts that human development is being misshaped by government policies, social practices, and public beliefs that fail to consider basic human needs. In this pioneering volume, scientists from a range of disciplines theorize that the increase in conditions such as depression and obesity can be partially attributed to a disparity between the environments and conditions under which our mammalian brains currently develop and our evolutionary heritage. For example, healthy brain and emotional development depends to a significant extent upon caregiver availability and quality of care. These include practices such as breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and parental social support, which have waned in modern society, but nevertheless may be integral to healthy development. As the authors argue, without a more informed appreciation of the ideal conditions under which human brains/minds develop and function, human beings will continue to struggle with suboptimal mental and physical health, and as problems emerge psychological treatments alone will not be effective. The best approach is to recognize these needs at the outset so as to optimize child development. Evolution, Early Experience and Human Development puts forth a logical, empirically based argument regarding human mammalian needs for optimal development, based on research from anthropology, neurobiology, animal science, and human development. The result is a unique exploration of evolutionary approaches to human behavior that will support the advancement of new policies, new attitudes towards health, and alterations in childcare practices that will better promote healthy human development.
Author : Patrick Bateson
Publisher : Open Book Publishers
Page : 125 pages
File Size : 22,71 MB
Release : 2017-02-20
Category : Science
ISBN : 1783742518
The role of parents in shaping the characters of their children, the causes of violence and crime, and the roots of personal unhappiness are central to humanity. Like so many fundamental questions about human existence, these issues all relate to behavioural development. In this lucid and accessible book, eminent biologist Professor Sir Patrick Bateson suggests that the nature/nurture dichotomy we often use to think about questions of development in both humans and animals is misleading. Instead, he argues that we should pay attention to whole systems, rather than to simple causes, when trying to understand the complexity of development. In his wide-ranging approach Bateson discusses why so much behaviour appears to be well-designed. He explores issues such as ‘imprinting’ and its importance to the attachment of offspring to their parents; the mutual benefits that characterise communication between parent and offspring; the importance of play in learning how to choose and control the optimal conditions in which to thrive; and the vital function of adaptability in the interplay between development and evolution. Bateson disputes the idea that a simple link can be found between genetics and behaviour. What an individual human or animal does in its life depends on the reciprocal nature of its relationships with the world about it. This knowledge also points to ways in which an animal’s own behaviour can provide the variation that influences the subsequent course of evolution. This has relevance not only for our scientific approaches to the systems of development and evolution, but also on how humans change institutional rules that have become dysfunctional, or design public health measures when mismatches occur between themselves and their environments. It affects how we think about ourselves and our own capacity for change.
Author : Friedrich A. Kipp
Publisher :
Page : 142 pages
File Size : 11,14 MB
Release : 2005
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN :
In this accessible and groundbreaking work, Friedrich Kipp shows that childhood and youth--an extended period of nurture and protection from the struggle for existence--have been, and will continue to be, a necessary condition for human evolution. His observations confirm our intuitive feeling that this prolonged phase of human life holds the promise of our future. Kipp's comparative study of the juvenile stage in animals and humans also sheds surprising new light on the process of human evolution and our relation to the animal primates. In their earliest developmental stage, animals--and the animal primates in particular--display characteristics reminiscent of human children. However these more universal, humanlike characteristics are quickly lost as the animals adapt to specific ecological conditions. The animals' early closeness to the human form and their developmental trajectory away from the human suggests that the main trunk of the evolutionary tree is intimately associated with human evolution. CONTENTS: I. INTRODUCTION II. POSTNATAL DEVELOPMENT IN MAMMALS 1. Chronology 2. What Makes Early Independence Possible? 3. Behavioral Plasticity in Young Animals III. HUMAN CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 1. Characteristic Features of Postnatal Development Standing and learning to walk The use of the hand The ossification of the skull and the growth of the brain Dentition processes Sexual maturity and the adolescent growth spurt 2. The Meaning and Significance of Prolonged Youth 3. Human Plasticity IV. MORPHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE HEAD 1. Distinguishing Human and Mammalian Structural Types The structural type of the mammalian skull The structural type of the human head 2. The Morphology of the Simian Head and its Ontogeny The form of the simian head in early childhood 3. Conditions for the Development of the Human Head and Human Brain V. CARE OF THE YOUNG AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE CEREBRUM VI. PROTECTION FROM THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE IN HUMAN EVOLUTION VII. LOVE AND CARING VIII. HUMAN EVOLUTION RECONSIDERED 1. The Form of the Head 2. Cerebralization 3. The Position of the Foramen Magnum 4. Changes in the Structure of the Hand 5. The Larynx and its Appendages 6. Psychological Findings IX. THE FOSSIL EVIDENCE - A SURVEY 1. Homo Sapiens Fossils 2. Homo Neandertalensis 3. Steinheim Man 4. Homo Erectus 5. Australopithicus and Paranthropus 6. Other Fossils from the Tertiary 7. The Form of the Head in Fossil Hominid Children X. PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF UPRIGHT POSTURE XI. VOICE AND SPEECH 1. Mammal Vocalization 2. The Free Use of the Voice in the Human Being 3. The Organs of the Mouth in the Service of Language XII. HUMAN BEINGS TEACH THEIR ORGANS CONCLUSION Bibliography About the Author A Related Book
Author : Peter B. Gray
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 317 pages
File Size : 36,80 MB
Release : 2012-04-02
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0674064186
We've all heard that a father's involvement enriches the lives of children. But how much have we heard about how having a child affects a father's life? As Peter Gray and Kermyt Anderson reveal, fatherhood actually alters a man's sexuality, rewires his brain, and changes his hormonal profile. His very health may suffer—in the short run—and improve in the long. These are just a few aspects of the scientific side of fatherhood explored in this book, which deciphers the findings of myriad studies and makes them accessible to the interested general reader. Since the mid-1990s Anderson and Gray, themselves fathers of young children, have been studying paternal behavior in places as diverse as Boston, Albuquerque, Cape Town, Kenya, and Jamaica. Their work combines the insights of evolutionary and comparative biology, cross-cultural analysis, and neural physiology to deepen and expand our understanding of fatherhood—from the intense involvement in childcare seen in male hunter-gatherers, to the prodigality of a Genghis Khan leaving millions of descendants, to the anonymous sperm donor in a fertility clinic. Looking at every kind of fatherhood—being a father in and out of marriage, fathering from a distance, stepfathering, and parenting by gay males—this book presents a uniquely detailed picture of how being a parent fits with men's broader social and work lives, how fatherhood evolved, and how it differs across cultures and through time.
