How Children Invented Humanity

Abstract

I use the commentaries of Legare, Clegg, and Wen and of Frankenhuis and Tiokhin as jumping-off points to discuss an issue hinted at both in my essay and their commentaries: How a developmental perspective can help us achieve a better understanding of evolution. I examine briefly how neoteny may have contributed to human morphology; how developmental plasticity in great apes, and presumably our common ancestor with them, may have led the way to advances in social cognition; and how the "invention" of childhood contributed to unique human cognitive abilities. I conclude by acknowledging that not all developmentalists have adopted an evolutionary perspective, but that we are approaching a time when an evolutionary perspective will be implicit in the thinking of all psychologists.

Frontal brain maturation and the stability of children’s shyness

“…Neoteny has been hypothesized as an evolutionary process and an important element to social cognitive development in humans. The presumed function of extending childhood is to allow additional time for learning to take place particularly during childhood when the brain is highly plastic (Bjorklund, , , ; Gallese, ). Accordingly, developmental immaturity is thought to have allowed humans the time to develop social cognitive skills (e.g., Bjorklund, ).…”

“…The presumed function of extending childhood is to allow additional time for learning to take place particularly during childhood when the brain is highly plastic (Bjorklund, , , ; Gallese, ). Accordingly, developmental immaturity is thought to have allowed humans the time to develop social cognitive skills (e.g., Bjorklund, ). We argue that some aspects of shyness (i.e., approach‐avoidance conflict) may thus reflect a neotenous phenotype resulting from delayed brain maturation (Schmidt & Poole, ).…”

Family Context, Parenting and Child Development: An Epigenetic Approach

“…The idea outlined in the previous paragraph is compatible with a key approach in our current understanding of psychological development, namely evolutionary developmental psychology. Bjorklund (2018b) argues that our long period of immaturity, which he describes as the invention of childhood by the species sapiens sapiens, lies at the heart of those cognitive skills considered to be exclusively human. Given the developmental importance of this period of immaturity and plasticity, which is so characteristic of the human species, it could be said that the genetic inheritance of each member of that species is exactly the opposite of genetic determinism, since it reflects their neurological openness to the influence of contextual variables, which leave their mark on each individual's epigenome through the interaction internalisation process.…”

“…As it was highlighted in the introduction, epigenetic processes are critical to enabling organisms to respond to their environment through changes in genome expression, and constitute a key part of normal biology (Nilsson et al 2018). Today, there is general acceptance of the concept of "behavioural epigenetics" (Bjorklund 2018b), which contains a marked developmental element. The analysis carried out by Cirulli (2021) highlights some interesting evidence that shows the contribution made by parenting to DNA methylation processes and complements the above-mentioned behavioural epigenetics approach.…”

Evolution and Ontogenesis: The Deontic Niche of Human Development

“…Human newborns are both altricial and precocial: they are born in small numbers but they are helpless and dependent, so that caregivers must make a substantial investment in each offspring. The newborn brain evolved to be underdeveloped in comparison with other primates, and this "postnatal neuroembryology" (Konner, 2010, p. 126) provides a flexibility and plasticity that other primates lack and means that neurogenesis and learning take place in a complex social environment (Bjorklund, 2018). Indeed, only after a year or more does the human infant achieve the motor abilities of a newborn great ape, and so caregivers are obliged to serve many physiological and psychological functions.…”