Introduction to special issue: ‘Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals’

Gopnik, Alison; Frankenhuis, Willem E.; Tomasello, Michael

doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0489

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Recent theories highlight that the extended childhood that humans enjoy may be an adaptation in its own right, fostering flexibility and extended learning 22 ; cuteness in younger children may be one facilitating mechanism through which extended nurturing and learning occurs, by attracting others’ attention and interest, and allowing children freedom to explore. Future research could explore a broader age range of face stimuli to gain insight into how long children’s cuteness influences adults’ interest and how that interest changes over development.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kindchenschema and cuteness elicit interest in caring for and playing with young children, but less so when children are masked

Doebel

Stucke

Pang

2022

Sci Rep

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Cuteness in the young has long been theorized to elicit care and protection. Most research on this topic has focused on human infants, despite theories suggesting that cuteness may elicit broader social interest that could support learning and development beyond infancy. In four experiments (N = 531 adults, 98 children), we tested whether ‘kindchenschema’—facial features associated with cuteness—and perceived cuteness elicit interest in playing with and caring for children, and whether masks disrupt these processes. Participants viewed images of children’s faces, masked or unmasked. Kindchenschema correlated with perceived cuteness and age, and these variables predicted adults’ interest in playing with and caring for children. Masks did not reduce cuteness ratings or interest in children, although they weakened relations between perceived cuteness and interest, and between perceived age and interest. Cuteness and related signals may guide adults’ interactions with children, fostering learning and development.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kindchenschema and cuteness elicit interest in caring for and playing with young children, but less so when children are masked

Doebel

Stucke

Pang

2022

Sci Rep

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“…Finally, the evolution of neoteny depends heavily on collective emotions to know what matters for child and alloparents, and what needs to be done next (collective emotions). In sum, allocare formed a large, often the largest part of anatomically modern human life in the Pleistocene (Gopnik et al, 2020). We learned collective intentionality in childhood.…”

Section: Childhood Revisitedmentioning

confidence: 98%

Language, Childhood, and Fire: How We Learned to Love Sharing Stories

Lauer

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Stories do not fossilize. Thus, exploring tales shared during prehistory, the longest part of human history inevitably becomes speculative. Nevertheless, various attempts have been made to find a more scientifically valid way into our deep human past of storytelling. Following the social brain hypothesis, we suggest including into the theory of human storytelling more fine-grained and evidence-based findings (from archaeology, the cognitive sciences, and evolutionary psychology) about the manifold exaptation and adaptation, genetic changes, and phenotypic plasticity in the deep human past, which all shaped the emergence of storytelling in hominins. We identify three preconditions for humans sharing stories: first, the long evolution of language in the different taxa as one of the preconditions of ostensive signaling; second, the pivotal role of childhood in the evolution of collaborative intentionality; and third, the role of fireside chats in the rise of elaborative (i.e., narrative) sharing of stories. We propose that humans, albeit perhaps no other hominins learned to understand others through sharing stories, not only as intentional agents, but also as mental ones.

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“…Gopnik argues that humans have taken a similar approach via adaptive changes to their life history (Gopnik, et al, 2020). Long childhoods present an extended opportunity for exploratory learning before a period of adulthood where we put to use what we have learned.…”

Section: "Knowing Whatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foundations of Intelligence in Natural and Artificial Systems: A Workshop Report

Millhouse,

Moses,

Mitchell

2021

Preprint

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In March of 2021, the Santa Fe Institute hosted a workshop as part of its Foundations of Intelligence in Natural and Artificial Systems project. This project seeks to advance the field of artificial intelligence by promoting interdisciplinary research on the nature of intelligence. During the workshop, speakers from diverse disciplines gathered to develop a taxonomy of intelligence, articulating their own understanding of intelligence and how their research has furthered that understanding. In this report, we summarize the insights offered by each speaker and identify the themes that emerged during the talks and subsequent discussions.

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Introduction to special issue: ‘Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals’

Cited by 15 publications

References 32 publications

Kindchenschema and cuteness elicit interest in caring for and playing with young children, but less so when children are masked

Kindchenschema and cuteness elicit interest in caring for and playing with young children, but less so when children are masked

Language, Childhood, and Fire: How We Learned to Love Sharing Stories

Foundations of Intelligence in Natural and Artificial Systems: A Workshop Report

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