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The authors of this book are
already respected and well-published scholars in the field of
developmental psychology. They
have written extensively on human development from the “standard
social sciences” model. This
current work, as its inner flap explains, is the first book-length
attempt to extend evolution-based psychology to developmental
psychology. The authors
add, “Although much had been written about psychological developmental
issues from an evolutionary perspective, we found no over-arching
evolutionary perspective in developmental psychology” (p. 3). The book’s primary position is explained in this way:
“[A]n understanding of human evolution provides the framework
for an understanding of psychological functioning and development” (p.
9). For the purposes of this review,
the book can be divided into two major sections.
In the first section, which is comprised of five chapters, the
principles of general evolutionary psychology are considered and
explained, and the concept of evolved adaptations is explicated.
A developmental systems perspective is used to describe
gene-environment interactions. The
history of evolutionary theory as it applies to human development is
discussed, as are issues of timing (sequencing) and the development of
cognitive abilities in primates and humans.
With that grounding, five of the six remaining chapters address
specific topics in developmental psychology.
In Chapter 6 the authors
consider what is known and hypothesized about human learning.
The issue of modularity, or domain-specific learning, is fully
explored. This is an
especially important area for evolutionary psychologists, because it
addresses the question of how and what we can learn, how we think about
our world, and even the limits of what can be thought.
Contrary to John Locke’s position that humans are born tabula
rasa, all the evidence suggests that infants are born prepared to learn
certain tasks and information at specific stages of development, and
less disposed to learn other types of information. Human thought and consciousness
is qualitatively different from that of other species.
How have humans come to develop such a robust intellect? “We believe, as do many others, that the evolution of the
human species’ unique intelligence was motivated by the need to deal
with other members of our social group” (p. 193).
So begins a very profound chapter on social cognition.
The authors do an excellent job of bringing together and
presenting theory and research findings. The brilliant work of Michael Tomasello and his colleagues is
given a prominent position in this chapter.
The important concept known as “theory of mind” deserves, and
gets, special attention. “We
view theory of mind as a set of cognitive abilities that are necessary
for sophisticated social interaction in human groups” (p. 215).
The hypothesis that the “theory of mind module” (TOMM) itself
involves a variety of modules (e.g., an “intentionality detector,”
an “eye direction detector,” and a “shared attention module”)
provides a very interesting discussion.
The question of whether only humans have “theory or mind” is
also considered, with the conclusion that “Despite more than 20 years
of research, comparative psychologists have not reached a consensus on
whether species other than humans possess the cognitive abilities
necessary for theory of mind” (p. 208). This observation in the chapter’s
summary offers an especially interesting point of view: When one thinks of the great
intellectual accomplishments of the human species, he or she tends to
focus on the invention some new form of technology, the discovery of a
medical procedure or a cure for a debilitating disease, or on abstract
or mathematical discoveries such as Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Yet our species’ most remarkable form of intelligence, at least
in the big picture, may be reflected in our day-to-day interactions with
other people. (p. 218) In the following chapter, the
authors discuss Trivers’s now well known parental investment theory,
and provide extensions to this theory that bring in the roles of
grandparents, alloparents and general public supports in modern
societies. Interesting
asides are a discussion of birth order and incest avoidance tendencies. Of particular and practical significance is the authors’ excellent concluding chapter. Here is provided a concise but comprehensive integration of evolutionary principles and standard human developmental psychology. A relatively brief section of six pages, appropriately entitled, “Basic Principles of Evolutionary Developmental Psychology,” provides a clear statement of what is known and in what direction we should head from here. The principles are (pp. 335-340):
For those who already appreciate the perspective of evolutionary psychology, this book will be a welcome integration of developmental issues. For those whose background is developmental psychology, the book will likewise be a welcome integration of evolutionary principles with the standard social sciences model. |