Evolutionary Studies of Childhood

Abstract

Current research on the evolution of childhood is largely interdisciplinary, highlighting the significance of biosocial perspectives that integrate cross-cultural variation, growth and development, ecology, and adaptation. Evolutionary studies of childhood are integral to understanding how this life history stage compares to that of other mammals, in general, and to that of nonhuman primates, in particular. An understanding of how human childhood differs across primate taxa and fossil hominin species can inform our understanding of the evolution of growth and development, cognition, prosociality, and many other notable hallmarks of human evolution. Increasingly, evolutionary studies of childhood view this developmental phase as culturally diverse and biologically based. The evolution of childhood has been explored most notably within the domains of anthropology, psychology, and human development, and the readings selected here reflect those academic traditions. Much of the most relevant work in the evolutionary study of childhood focuses on the intersection between biological processes and social dynamics. For further discussions, not explicitly evolutionary in their approach, see Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies articles Archaeology of Childhood and Anthropology of Childhood.