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Homo Paedens? Did Kids Invent the Human Species?

  • Melvin Konner
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 12. Januar 2022
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Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture
Aus der Zeitschrift Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture Band 5 Heft 2

Abstract

The evolution of development (“evo-devo”) has become a central concern in both evolu­tionary and developmental research, and human immaturity is no less a proper focus for evolutionary analysis than that of other species-if anything, it is more so. Two new books by David F. Bjorklund, a founder of evolutionary developmental psychology, summarize what we know now and propose that children invented our species. Due to the new phe­nomenon of partly heritable epigenetic modification of genes and the old one of the Bald­win Effect (by which plasticity leads to new selective forces on genes), this claim must be at least partly true. The inherent plasticity of children’s behavior, including play, accelerat­ed the evolution of humanity as instantiated in the human brain. Evolution cannot be understood without extensive reference to development, and nothing in childhood makes sense except in the light of evolution.

Keywords: evolution; development; “evo-devo,” immaturity; plasticity; play; life history theory; adaptation; evolutionary developmental psychology; David F. Bjorklund
Published Online: 2022-01-12
Published in Print: 2021-12-01

© 2022 by Academic Studies Press

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Titelei
  2. Table of Contents
  3. TARGET ARTICLE
  4. Adaptive Imagination: Toward a Mythopoetic Cognitive Science
  5. RESPONSES TO TARGET ARTICLE
  6. The Problem of Equating Content with Process in the Mythopoetic Model
  7. Mythopoetic Cognition Is a Form of Autobiographical Simulation
  8. Neurocognitive and Evolutionary Perspective on Adaptive Imagination
  9. The Perils of MC, Lost in the Forest of DM
  10. Appetence, Key Stimuli, and Core Affects: Foundational Elements of Human Behavior and Mind
  11. Collective, Joint, and Shared Imagination?
  12. Narrative in Mind
  13. The Importance of Narrative and Intuitive Thought in Navigating Our Realities
  14. Evolution of Imagination: From Completely Involuntary to Fully Voluntary
  15. Asma and Shakespeare on Dual Cognition
  16. REJOINDER
  17. The Strangest Sort of Map: Reply to Commentaries
  18. ARTICLE
  19. Dad Jokes and the Deep Roots of Fatherly Teasing
  20. REVIEW ESSAYS
  21. Angus Fletcher’s Other Literary Darwinism
  22. Homo Paedens? Did Kids Invent the Human Species?
  23. BOOK REVIEWS
  24. Brett Cooke. Tolstoy’s Family Prototypes in War and Peace
  25. Jeremy DeSilva. A Most Interesting Problem: What Darwin’s Descent of Man Got Wrong and Right about Human Evolution
  26. Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It
  27. Paul van Helvert and John van Wyhe. Darwin: A Companion
  28. Jürgen Renn. The Evolution of Knowledge: Rethinking Science for the Anthropocene
  29. ARTICLE REVIEWS
  30. Audiovisual Media
  31. Cultural Theory
  32. Life Narratives
  33. Literature
  34. Evolutionary Perspectives on Music
  35. Paleoaesthetics
  36. Popular Culture
  37. Contributors
https://doi.org/10.26613/esic.5.2.250
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
evolution; development; “evo-devo,” immaturity; plasticity; play; life history theory; adaptation; evolutionary developmental psychology; David F. Bjorklund

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Titelei
  2. Table of Contents
  3. TARGET ARTICLE
  4. Adaptive Imagination: Toward a Mythopoetic Cognitive Science
  5. RESPONSES TO TARGET ARTICLE
  6. The Problem of Equating Content with Process in the Mythopoetic Model
  7. Mythopoetic Cognition Is a Form of Autobiographical Simulation
  8. Neurocognitive and Evolutionary Perspective on Adaptive Imagination
  9. The Perils of MC, Lost in the Forest of DM
  10. Appetence, Key Stimuli, and Core Affects: Foundational Elements of Human Behavior and Mind
  11. Collective, Joint, and Shared Imagination?
  12. Narrative in Mind
  13. The Importance of Narrative and Intuitive Thought in Navigating Our Realities
  14. Evolution of Imagination: From Completely Involuntary to Fully Voluntary
  15. Asma and Shakespeare on Dual Cognition
  16. REJOINDER
  17. The Strangest Sort of Map: Reply to Commentaries
  18. ARTICLE
  19. Dad Jokes and the Deep Roots of Fatherly Teasing
  20. REVIEW ESSAYS
  21. Angus Fletcher’s Other Literary Darwinism
  22. Homo Paedens? Did Kids Invent the Human Species?
  23. BOOK REVIEWS
  24. Brett Cooke. Tolstoy’s Family Prototypes in War and Peace
  25. Jeremy DeSilva. A Most Interesting Problem: What Darwin’s Descent of Man Got Wrong and Right about Human Evolution
  26. Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It
  27. Paul van Helvert and John van Wyhe. Darwin: A Companion
  28. Jürgen Renn. The Evolution of Knowledge: Rethinking Science for the Anthropocene
  29. ARTICLE REVIEWS
  30. Audiovisual Media
  31. Cultural Theory
  32. Life Narratives
  33. Literature
  34. Evolutionary Perspectives on Music
  35. Paleoaesthetics
  36. Popular Culture
  37. Contributors
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