Background: Young children often use magical explanations to account for ordinary phenomena (e.g.... more Background: Young children often use magical explanations to account for ordinary phenomena (e.g., “The sun's not out today because it is mad”). We labeled these explanations supernatural thinking. Previous research reports that supernatural thinking attributed to preschool‐age children evokes both positive affect and perceptions of helplessness from both adults and older (14‐17 years old) but not younger (10‐13 years old) adolescents. In this study, we asked if cues of cognitive immaturity are more influential in affecting adolescents' judgments of children than physical cues (faces). Method: 245 adolescents aged between 10 and 17 rated pairs of children who physically and/or cognitively resembled either a 4‐ to 7‐year‐old or an 8‐ to 10‐year‐old child in three between‐subject conditions (Consistent, Inconsistent, Faces‐Only) for 14 traits classified into four trait dimensions (Positive Affect, Negative Affect, Intelligence, Helplessness). Results: For both younger and olde...
A comprehensive book supported by extensive research studies and data, Bjorklund's text prese... more A comprehensive book supported by extensive research studies and data, Bjorklund's text presents the broadest coverage of topics in cognitive development. Unlike other books, Bjorklund shows readers how developmental function can help explain individual differences in cognition by covering both the typical pattern of change in thinking observed over time and the individual differences in children's thinking in infancy and childhood. A major theme of this book is the continuous transaction between the embodied child embedded in a social world: although a child is born prepared to make some sense of the world, his or her mind is also shaped by forces in the physical and social environment.
Contents: K.K. Harnishfeqer, D.F. Bjorklund, Children's Strategies: A Brief History. P. Willa... more Contents: K.K. Harnishfeqer, D.F. Bjorklund, Children's Strategies: A Brief History. P. Willatts, Development of Problem-Solving Strategies in Infancy. T.H. Folds, M. Footo, R.E. Guttentag, P.A. Ornstein, When Children Mean to Remember: Issues of Context Specificity, Strategy Effectiveness, and Intentionality in the Development of Memory. D.F. Bjorklund, J.E. Muir, W. Schneider, The Role of Knowledge in the Development of Children's Strategies. M.L. Howe, J.T. O'Sullivan, The Development of Strategic Memory: Coordinating Knowledge, Metamemory, and Resources. P.H. Miller, The Development of Strategies of Selective Atten- tion. M.H. Ashcraft, Strategic Processing in Children's Mental Arithmetic. J. Bisanz, J. LeFevre, Strategic and Nonstrategic Processing in the Development of Mathematical Cognition. B. Gholson, D. Morgan, A.R. Danel, The Development of Analogical Problem Solving: Strategic Processes in Schema Acquisition and Transfer R. Garner, Children's Use of Strategies in Reading D.F. Bjorklund, K.K. Harnishfeger, Children's Strategies: Their Definition and Origins.
For human hypersociality to evolve required that natural selection operate both at the levels of ... more For human hypersociality to evolve required that natural selection operate both at the levels of the individual and the group as described by multilevel selection theory. According to the social brain hypothesis, increased social cognition was the driving force in human social-cognitive evolution. Infants evolved “psychological weapons” designed to obtain attention and caregiving from adults. According to Tomasello’s shared intentionality theory, infants view others as intentional agents, as reflected in shared attention beginning around 9 months, and later, between 3 and 5 years of age, in collective intentionality, in which children establish a group-minded “we” with other people. The development and evolution of hypersociality is reflected in: treating others as intentional agents, perspective taking, empathy, normativity, social learning, prosociality (helping, sharing, sense of fairness), and collaboration. Each of these and other social-cognitive abilities were necessary for the evolution of a hypersocial species and evolved as a result of changes in great ape ontogeny.
Background: Young children often use magical explanations to account for ordinary phenomena (e.g.... more Background: Young children often use magical explanations to account for ordinary phenomena (e.g., "The sun's not out today because it is mad"). We labeled these explanations supernatural thinking. Previous research reports that supernatural thinking attributed to preschool-age children evokes both positive affect and perceptions of helplessness from both adults and older (14-17 years old) but not younger (10-13 years old) adolescents. In this study, we asked if cues of cognitive immaturity are more influential in affecting adolescents' judgments of children than physical cues (faces). Method: 245 adolescents aged between 10 and 17 rated pairs of children who physically and/or cognitively resembled either a 4- to 7-year-old or an 8- to 10-year-old child in three between-subject conditions (Consistent, Inconsistent, Faces-Only) for 14 traits classified into four trait dimensions (Positive Affect, Negative Affect, Intelligence, Helplessness). Results: For both younger and older adolescents, cognitive cues had a greater influence on judgments than facial cues. However, only the older adolescents demonstrated a positive bias for children expressing immature supernatural thinking. Conclusions: Adopting an evolutionary developmental perspective, we interpreted this outcome in late (but not early) adolescence as preparation for potential parenthood.
There are many aspects of young children’s thinking that are immature on the surface but have ada... more There are many aspects of young children’s thinking that are immature on the surface but have adaptive value for the young learner, a form of cognitive neoteny. These include young children’s self-centered, or egocentric, perspective; inefficient aspects of memory; tendencies to copy all relevant and irrelevant actions of adult models (overimitation); tendencies to overestimate their abilities; and strong propensity to play. Also included are special abilities to learn, and even create, language, due, in part, to aspects of immature cognition. Ancient human adults retained many youthful characteristics including behavioral plasticity, curiosity, play, imagination, and optimism. These characteristics, coupled with enhanced reasoning and executive function, have led to advances in material and intellectual culture far surpassing anything achieved by other species and to the evolution of the modern human mind.
Evolutionary developmental biology, or Evo Devo, examines how developmental mechanisms affect evo... more Evolutionary developmental biology, or Evo Devo, examines how developmental mechanisms affect evolutionary change. Heterochrony refers to genetic-based differences in developmental timing. One important type of heterochrony for humans is neoteny, which refers to the retention of juvenile traits into later development. Humans are a neotenous species, as seen in infants’ features of “babyness,” which promote attention and caring from adults, extending the primate prenatal brain growth rate well past birth, and a reduction of reactive aggression relative to great apes, which facilitated increased cooperation among group members. Homo sapiens extended the time it takes to reach adulthood by inventing new two life stages—childhood and adolescence. The social and cognitive abilities of Homo sapiens’ youth may be well suited to the childhood and adolescent stages and to the attainment of skills necessary for developing into functional adults.
Differences between modern and ancient environments sometimes cause evolutionary mismatches. Many... more Differences between modern and ancient environments sometimes cause evolutionary mismatches. Many children are following an exceptionally slow life history strategy and as a result are safer and engage in less risky behavior than in the past (safetyism), although many are more psychologically fragile and less resilient. Excessive use of social media is associated with poorer physical and mental health, including increases in depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Today’s adolescents display hyper-individualism that emphasizes personal freedom and achievement. The relative lack of social bonding in individualistic societies is associated with increases in loneliness and mental health problems and can sometimes be exaggerated by social media use. Modern schools represent a mismatch with the environments of our forechildren. Similarly, young children’s exposure to digital media may have detrimental effects on subsequent learning and psychological development. Parents and educators can identify problems associated with evolutionary mismatches and design environments that make the lives of children happier.
Abstract In this chapter, we examine the evolution of human parenting and evolved mechanisms for ... more Abstract In this chapter, we examine the evolution of human parenting and evolved mechanisms for parents’ investment in children and children’s solicitation of investment from parents. We discuss the role of our ancestral hunter/gatherer lifestyle in the evolution of the human family, noting that most psychological research has been conducted with WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) societies, substantially different from the environment in which humans evolved. We examine the diversity of conditions across cultures in which children are raised and discuss the role of children’s plasticity in adapting to diverse rearing environments. Lastly, we present life history theory as a framework for explaining how developmental plasticity in interaction with the local ecology produces adaptive individual differences, and we examine these differences in a wide range of rearing environments.
Background: Young children often use magical explanations to account for ordinary phenomena (e.g.... more Background: Young children often use magical explanations to account for ordinary phenomena (e.g., “The sun's not out today because it is mad”). We labeled these explanations supernatural thinking. Previous research reports that supernatural thinking attributed to preschool‐age children evokes both positive affect and perceptions of helplessness from both adults and older (14‐17 years old) but not younger (10‐13 years old) adolescents. In this study, we asked if cues of cognitive immaturity are more influential in affecting adolescents' judgments of children than physical cues (faces). Method: 245 adolescents aged between 10 and 17 rated pairs of children who physically and/or cognitively resembled either a 4‐ to 7‐year‐old or an 8‐ to 10‐year‐old child in three between‐subject conditions (Consistent, Inconsistent, Faces‐Only) for 14 traits classified into four trait dimensions (Positive Affect, Negative Affect, Intelligence, Helplessness). Results: For both younger and olde...
A comprehensive book supported by extensive research studies and data, Bjorklund's text prese... more A comprehensive book supported by extensive research studies and data, Bjorklund's text presents the broadest coverage of topics in cognitive development. Unlike other books, Bjorklund shows readers how developmental function can help explain individual differences in cognition by covering both the typical pattern of change in thinking observed over time and the individual differences in children's thinking in infancy and childhood. A major theme of this book is the continuous transaction between the embodied child embedded in a social world: although a child is born prepared to make some sense of the world, his or her mind is also shaped by forces in the physical and social environment.
Contents: K.K. Harnishfeqer, D.F. Bjorklund, Children's Strategies: A Brief History. P. Willa... more Contents: K.K. Harnishfeqer, D.F. Bjorklund, Children's Strategies: A Brief History. P. Willatts, Development of Problem-Solving Strategies in Infancy. T.H. Folds, M. Footo, R.E. Guttentag, P.A. Ornstein, When Children Mean to Remember: Issues of Context Specificity, Strategy Effectiveness, and Intentionality in the Development of Memory. D.F. Bjorklund, J.E. Muir, W. Schneider, The Role of Knowledge in the Development of Children's Strategies. M.L. Howe, J.T. O'Sullivan, The Development of Strategic Memory: Coordinating Knowledge, Metamemory, and Resources. P.H. Miller, The Development of Strategies of Selective Atten- tion. M.H. Ashcraft, Strategic Processing in Children's Mental Arithmetic. J. Bisanz, J. LeFevre, Strategic and Nonstrategic Processing in the Development of Mathematical Cognition. B. Gholson, D. Morgan, A.R. Danel, The Development of Analogical Problem Solving: Strategic Processes in Schema Acquisition and Transfer R. Garner, Children's Use of Strategies in Reading D.F. Bjorklund, K.K. Harnishfeger, Children's Strategies: Their Definition and Origins.
For human hypersociality to evolve required that natural selection operate both at the levels of ... more For human hypersociality to evolve required that natural selection operate both at the levels of the individual and the group as described by multilevel selection theory. According to the social brain hypothesis, increased social cognition was the driving force in human social-cognitive evolution. Infants evolved “psychological weapons” designed to obtain attention and caregiving from adults. According to Tomasello’s shared intentionality theory, infants view others as intentional agents, as reflected in shared attention beginning around 9 months, and later, between 3 and 5 years of age, in collective intentionality, in which children establish a group-minded “we” with other people. The development and evolution of hypersociality is reflected in: treating others as intentional agents, perspective taking, empathy, normativity, social learning, prosociality (helping, sharing, sense of fairness), and collaboration. Each of these and other social-cognitive abilities were necessary for the evolution of a hypersocial species and evolved as a result of changes in great ape ontogeny.
Background: Young children often use magical explanations to account for ordinary phenomena (e.g.... more Background: Young children often use magical explanations to account for ordinary phenomena (e.g., "The sun's not out today because it is mad"). We labeled these explanations supernatural thinking. Previous research reports that supernatural thinking attributed to preschool-age children evokes both positive affect and perceptions of helplessness from both adults and older (14-17 years old) but not younger (10-13 years old) adolescents. In this study, we asked if cues of cognitive immaturity are more influential in affecting adolescents' judgments of children than physical cues (faces). Method: 245 adolescents aged between 10 and 17 rated pairs of children who physically and/or cognitively resembled either a 4- to 7-year-old or an 8- to 10-year-old child in three between-subject conditions (Consistent, Inconsistent, Faces-Only) for 14 traits classified into four trait dimensions (Positive Affect, Negative Affect, Intelligence, Helplessness). Results: For both younger and older adolescents, cognitive cues had a greater influence on judgments than facial cues. However, only the older adolescents demonstrated a positive bias for children expressing immature supernatural thinking. Conclusions: Adopting an evolutionary developmental perspective, we interpreted this outcome in late (but not early) adolescence as preparation for potential parenthood.
There are many aspects of young children’s thinking that are immature on the surface but have ada... more There are many aspects of young children’s thinking that are immature on the surface but have adaptive value for the young learner, a form of cognitive neoteny. These include young children’s self-centered, or egocentric, perspective; inefficient aspects of memory; tendencies to copy all relevant and irrelevant actions of adult models (overimitation); tendencies to overestimate their abilities; and strong propensity to play. Also included are special abilities to learn, and even create, language, due, in part, to aspects of immature cognition. Ancient human adults retained many youthful characteristics including behavioral plasticity, curiosity, play, imagination, and optimism. These characteristics, coupled with enhanced reasoning and executive function, have led to advances in material and intellectual culture far surpassing anything achieved by other species and to the evolution of the modern human mind.
Evolutionary developmental biology, or Evo Devo, examines how developmental mechanisms affect evo... more Evolutionary developmental biology, or Evo Devo, examines how developmental mechanisms affect evolutionary change. Heterochrony refers to genetic-based differences in developmental timing. One important type of heterochrony for humans is neoteny, which refers to the retention of juvenile traits into later development. Humans are a neotenous species, as seen in infants’ features of “babyness,” which promote attention and caring from adults, extending the primate prenatal brain growth rate well past birth, and a reduction of reactive aggression relative to great apes, which facilitated increased cooperation among group members. Homo sapiens extended the time it takes to reach adulthood by inventing new two life stages—childhood and adolescence. The social and cognitive abilities of Homo sapiens’ youth may be well suited to the childhood and adolescent stages and to the attainment of skills necessary for developing into functional adults.
Differences between modern and ancient environments sometimes cause evolutionary mismatches. Many... more Differences between modern and ancient environments sometimes cause evolutionary mismatches. Many children are following an exceptionally slow life history strategy and as a result are safer and engage in less risky behavior than in the past (safetyism), although many are more psychologically fragile and less resilient. Excessive use of social media is associated with poorer physical and mental health, including increases in depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Today’s adolescents display hyper-individualism that emphasizes personal freedom and achievement. The relative lack of social bonding in individualistic societies is associated with increases in loneliness and mental health problems and can sometimes be exaggerated by social media use. Modern schools represent a mismatch with the environments of our forechildren. Similarly, young children’s exposure to digital media may have detrimental effects on subsequent learning and psychological development. Parents and educators can identify problems associated with evolutionary mismatches and design environments that make the lives of children happier.
Abstract In this chapter, we examine the evolution of human parenting and evolved mechanisms for ... more Abstract In this chapter, we examine the evolution of human parenting and evolved mechanisms for parents’ investment in children and children’s solicitation of investment from parents. We discuss the role of our ancestral hunter/gatherer lifestyle in the evolution of the human family, noting that most psychological research has been conducted with WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) societies, substantially different from the environment in which humans evolved. We examine the diversity of conditions across cultures in which children are raised and discuss the role of children’s plasticity in adapting to diverse rearing environments. Lastly, we present life history theory as a framework for explaining how developmental plasticity in interaction with the local ecology produces adaptive individual differences, and we examine these differences in a wide range of rearing environments.
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