Evolutionary Perspectives on Infancy (Evolutionary Psychology)

✍ Scribed by Sybil L. Hart (editor), David F. Bjorklund (editor)

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 379
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This unique volume is one of the first of its kind to examine infancy through an evolutionary lens, identifying infancy as a discrete stage during which particular types of adaptations arose as a consequence of certain environmental pressures. Infancy is a crucial time period in psychological development, and evolutionary psychologists are increasingly recognizing that natural selection has operated on all stages of development, not just adulthood. The volume addresses this crucial change in perspective by highlighting research across diverse disciplines including developmental psychology, evolutionary developmental psychology, anthropology, sociology, nutrition, and primatology. Chapters are grouped into four sections:

1. Theoretical Underpinnings
2. Brain and Cognitive Development
3. Social/Emotional Development
4. Life and Death

Evolutionary Perspectives on Infancy sheds new light on our understanding of the human brain andthe environments responsible for shaping the brain during early stages of development. This book will be of interest to evolutionary psychologists and developmental psychologists, biologists, and anthropologists, as well as scholars more broadly interested in infancy.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Part I: Introduction
Chapter 1: Infancy Through the Lens of Evolutionary Developmental Science
1.1 What Evolved and What Develops?
1.1.1 The Emergence of Adaptations
1.1.2 Deferred Adaptations
1.1.3 Ontogenetic Adaptations
1.1.4 Infant Adaptations as Emergent Properties
1.2 Who Is an Infant?
1.3 Overview of the Book
References
Part II: Foundations
Chapter 2: Human Evolution and the Neotenous Infant
2.1 Heterochrony as an Engine of Evolutionary Change
2.2 Neoteny in Human Evolution
2.3 Neotenous Motor and Physical Features and Their Consequences for Infant Survival
2.3.1 The Effects of Kindchenschema
2.3.2 Sex Differences in the Effects of Kindchenschema
2.4 Neoteny and Brain Development
2.5 Cognitive Neoteny: The Benefit of Neural and Cognitive Inefficiency
2.5.1 The Adaptive Value of Neural Inefficiency
2.5.2 The Adaptive Value of Poor Memory
2.6 Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: Infant Brain Development and Plasticity from an Evolutionary Perspective
3.1 Brain Development in Infancy
3.1.1 General Primate Development
3.1.1.1 Macaque
3.1.1.2 Chimpanzee
3.1.1.3 Human
3.1.2 Uniquely Human Features of Infant Brain Development
3.2 Neuroplasticity and Atypical Development
3.3 Brain Development in Human Evolution
3.3.1 Extinct Hominins
3.3.2 Genetic Changes in the Human Lineage
3.4 Causes and Consequences of Brain Plasticity in Infancy
References
Chapter 4: Childbirth and Infant Care in Early Human Ancestors: What the Bones Tell Us
4.1 The Evolution of Human Birth and the Problem with the Obstetrical Dilemma
4.2 What Was Birth Like in Our Ancestors?
4.2.1 Birth in the Last Common Ancestor of Humans and African Great Apes
4.2.2 Birth in Early Hominins (Ardipithecus and Australopithecus)
4.3 Brain Development in Early Hominins
4.4 Weaning Age in Early Hominins
4.5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: Infant Mortality
5.1 Evolutionary and Historical Mortality Rates
5.1.1 Defining and Measuring Infant Mortality
5.1.2 Hunter-Gatherer IMR
5.1.3 Historic IMR
5.1.4 Non-human Primate IMR
5.1.5 Agriculturalist IMR
5.2 EEA Causes of Infant Mortality
5.3 Evolutionary Consequences of EEA Infant Mortality
5.4 Modern Changes to IMR
5.5 Future Directions
References
Part III: Social Context of Infant Development
Chapter 6: An Unusually Human Time: Effects of the Most Social Stage on the Most Social Species
6.1 How Did We Get to Be So Social?
6.2 The Evolution of Development
6.2.1 A Brief Note on Primate Infancies
6.2.2 An Overview of Human Life History
6.2.2.1 Caring for Many Infants
6.2.2.2 The Neonatal Stage
6.3 Infancy from a Physical Perspective
6.4 Infancy from a Behavioral Perspective
6.5 Infancy as the Most Social Stage
6.5.1 An Odd Asynchrony
6.5.1.1 Motorically Altricial
6.5.1.2 Cognitively Precocial
6.6 Prenatal Learning
6.6.1 The Ambient Life of a Fetus
6.6.2 Very Early Experience
6.6.3 Prenatal Learning of Maternal Vocalization
6.6.4 Neonatal Learning
6.7 A Mind for Care
6.7.1 Alloparents
6.8 Closing Thoughts
References
Chapter 7: Attachment and Caregiving in the Mother–Infant Dyad: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology Models of their Origins in the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness
7.1 Nurslings as Proximate Influences on Maternal Caregiving
7.2 Lactation-Based Cohesion
7.3 Mothers’ Milk and Infant Survival in the EEA
7.4 Ancestral Women and Infants
7.5 Lactation-Based Caregiving
7.6 Lactation-Based Caregiving and Cohesion Come to Conclusion
7.7 The Cradle of Attachment
7.8 Transition from Lactation-Based Cohesion to Child-to-Mother Attachment
7.9 Caregiving of Weanlings and Mother-to-Child Attachment
7.10 Conclusions and Suggestions for Future Research
References
Chapter 8: How Reliance on Allomaternal Care Shapes Primate Development with Special Reference to the Genus Homo
8.1 Setting the Plio-Pleistocene Stage
8.2 Growing Up as a Cooperative Breeder – Callitrichid-Hominin Parallels
8.3 The Hominin Infant’s to-Do List
8.3.1 First Order of Business: Appeal to Mother
8.3.2 Attract Others
8.3.3 Vocal Control and More Flexible Vocalizing
8.3.4 Incorporate Others’ Preferences
8.3.5 Add Psychological Dimensions to Kindchenschema
8.4 New Dimensions to Social Learning
8.4.1 Expanded Avenues
8.4.2 Emotionally Modern and Mentalizing Mentees
8.4.3 Concern for Reputation and Learning
8.5 Conclusions
References
Chapter 9: Evolutionary Perspectives on Infant-Mother Conflict
9.1 Theoretical Approaches to Mother-Offspring Conflict
9.2 Prenatal Conflict
9.2.1 Genetic Quality and Spontaneous Abortions
9.2.2 Genomic Imprinting
9.2.3 Fetal Microchimerism
9.2.4 Conflict Over Resources Directed to Fetus
9.3 Postnatal Conflict
9.3.1 Infanticide and Child Abandonment
9.3.2 Breastfeeding and Conflict
9.3.3 Weaning Conflict
9.4 Conclusions
References
Chapter 10: Niche Construction in Hunter-Gatherer Infancy: Growth and Health Trade-Offs Inform Social Agency
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Organizing Constructs in Evolution, Ecology, and Development
10.2.1 Developmental Niche Construction (DNC)
10.2.2 Human Developmental Ecology (HDE)
10.2.3 Problems and Methods in Hunter-Gatherer Niche Reconstruction
10.3 The Ecological Niche of Efe Hunter-Gatherer Development
10.3.1 A Phylogenetic View: Reconstructing the Efe Evolutionary Niche
10.3.2 An Adaptive View: Genetic and Epigenetic Signals of CBHG Development
10.4 Developmental Plasticity and Somatic Capital – Forager Infancy in an Evolutionary Ecological Niche
10.4.1 Trade-Offs in Growth and Health: The Hungry Immune System
10.4.2 Trade-Offs Within Growth: A Different Investment in Size
10.4.3 Life History Trade-Offs of Small Size and Slow Growth
10.4.4 How Can a Small Hunter-Gatherer Infant Compete?
10.5 The Sociocultural Niche of Efe Hunter-Gatherer Development
10.5.1 Socially Distributive Care and Changing Infant Capacities for Agency
10.5.2 Attachments and Synchrony: Biobehavioral Perspective
10.5.3 Developmental Niche Construction as a Synchronous Process
References
Chapter 11: Evolutionary Perspectives on the Role of Early Attachment Across the Lifespan
11.1 Key Features of the Social and Physical Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA)
11.1.1 Attachment as a Middle-Level Evolutionary Theory
11.2 Life History Theory
11.2.1 Lifespan Attachment-Evolutionary Models of Social Development
11.2.1.1 Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper’s Model
11.2.1.2 Chisholm’s Model
11.2.1.3 Del Giudice’s Model
11.2.1.4 Ellis’ Model
11.2.1.5 Hazan/Zeifman’s and Kirkpatrick’s Models
11.3 Stepping Back: How Attachment Theory Can Benefit from Incorporating Elements of Other Evolutionary Theories
11.4 Conclusion
References
Part IV: Cognitive and Social Cognitive Development
Chapter 12: Beyond the Language Module: Musicality as a Stepping Stone Towards Language Acquisition
12.1 Presumed Dissociation of Music and Language
12.2 Commonality Between Music and Language
12.3 Contributions of Musicality to Human Language Acquisition
12.3.1 Perception of Frequency Structure
12.3.1.1 Musical Chord and Formant Perception
12.3.1.2 Melody and Pitch Contour Perception
12.3.2 Rhythm Perception
12.4 Evolutionary Roots of Musicality and Its Relationship with Language
12.4.1 Frequency Structure Perception
12.4.1.1 Analysis of Musical Chords and Vowel Formants
12.4.1.2 Analysis of Pitch Contour
12.4.2 Rhythm Perception
12.5 Evolutionary Roots of Language from the Perspectives of Musicality
12.6 Conclusion
References
Chapter 13: What Is Unique in Infant Thinking About Others? Infant Social Cognition from an Evolutionary Perspective
13.1 Understanding of Others’ Desires
13.1.1 Understanding Others’ Desires in Human Infants
13.1.2 Understanding Others’ Desires in Nonhuman Great Apes
13.2 Understanding Others’ Goals
13.2.1 Understanding Others’ Goals in Human Infants
13.2.2 Understanding Others’ Goals in Nonhuman Great Apes
13.3 Understanding Others’ Intentions
13.3.1 Understanding of Others’ Intentions in Human Infants
13.3.2 Understanding Others’ Intentions in Nonhuman Great Apes
13.4 Human Infant and Nonhuman Great Ape Differences and Similarities in Their Understanding of Others’ Desires, Goals, and Intentions
13.5 Understanding Others’ Beliefs
13.5.1 Understanding of Others’ Beliefs in Human Infants
13.5.2 Understanding of Others’ Beliefs in Nonhuman Great Apes
13.6 The Crucial Difference Between Humans and Great Apes
13.7 Future Directions
13.8 Conclusion
References
Chapter 14: Fear Learning in Infancy: An Evolutionary Developmental Perspective
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Theories of Fear Acquisition
14.2.1 Traditional Models
14.2.2 Nonassociative Models
14.2.3 Prepared-Learning Model
14.3 Fear Learning: An Evolutionary Developmental Approach
14.3.1 Attention Biases for Recurrent Threats
14.3.2 Limitations
14.4 Rapid Associative Learning for Recurrent Threats
14.5 Limitations
14.6 Concluding Remarks
References
Chapter 15: Jealousy and the Terrible Twos
15.1 Jealousy Protest in Infants
15.2 The Psychological Weapon
15.3 Jealousy Protest and the Attachment System
15.4 The 9-Month Revolution
15.5 Future Research: Beyond the Terrible Twos
References
Chapter 16: Caring for Others: The Early Emergence of Sympathy and Guilt
16.1 Sympathy
16.1.1 Sympathy in Infancy
16.1.2 Flexible Sympathy
16.2 Guilt
16.2.1 Feelings of Guilt
16.2.2 Displays of Guilt
16.3 Conclusions, Caveats, and Future Directions
16.3.1 Biases in Sympathy and Guilt
16.3.2 Other Prosocial Motives
16.3.3 Uniquely Human?
References
Glossary
Index