The evolution of childhood : relationships, emotion, mind / Melvin Konner.

Includes index

Includes bibliographical references (p. 757-916)

Prologue -- The structure of this book -- Six paradigms -- 1. Introduction -- Some premises -- Some history -- Evolution and modification of behavior -- Evolution of ontogeny in the human animal -- Levels of causation in the explanation of behavior -- pt. I. Evolution : the phylogenetic origins of childhood : wherein we learn how the laws of evolution produced the shape of human social and emotional development -- 2. Paradigms in the evolution of development -- Neo-Darwinian theory--the adaptationist paradigm -- Life history theory -- Evolutionary allometries -- Heterochrony in the phylogeny of development -- The evolution of developmental genes (evo-devo) -- Phyletic reorganization in brain evolution -- Developmental ethology -- Evolutionary developmental psychology -- Interlude 1 : thinking about birdsong -- 3. Brains evolving -- Expansion and organization in brain evolution -- Vertebrate body plans and behavioral advances -- The emergence of mammalian brain and behavior -- Developmental keys to psychosocial evolution -- 4. Ape foundations, human revolution -- Ape evolution and behavior -- Hominin evolution and behavior -- Hominin brain evolution -- Evolving human life histories -- Hominin behavior, social organization, and culture -- 5. The evolution of human brain growth -- Neonatal status and early brain growth -- Humanizing anthropoid brain growth -- Hominin ontogeny -- Heterochrony in hominin evolution -- Transition 1 : neurological models of psychosocial function -- The limbic system model -- The orbitofrontal cortex and the somatic marker hypothesis -- The polyvagal model -- The mirror-neuron system -- Lateralized higher functions -- Imperfect models --

pt. II. Maturation : anatomical bases of psychosocial growth : wherein we see how neural and endocrine systems guide the paths of development called for by natural selection -- 6. Paradigms in the study of psychosocial growth -- The neurogenetics of animal models and human disease -- Neuroembryology -- Developmental neuroendocrinology -- Postnatal brain development -- Developmental behavior genetics -- Neurological individuality -- Interlude 2 : thinking about bipedal walking -- 7. The growth of sociality -- The "fourth trimester" and the presocial baseline -- The rise and fall of early crying -- Smiling and mutual gaze -- 8. The growth of attachment and the social fears -- Universals of human attachment and social fear -- Animal studies -- Biological mechanisms -- 9. The growth of language -- A language acquisition device -- Cross-cultural and other evidence -- Biological foundations -- Early anatomical preparedness -- The role of learning -- 10. The growth of sex and gender differences -- Gender identity -- Sex differences in aggression -- Cross-cultural studies -- Neuroendocrine foundations -- 11. The transition to middle childhood -- An evolutionary approach -- Cognition in middle childhood -- A biological model -- 12. Reproductive behavior and the onset of parenting -- Biological changes in puberty and adolescence -- Is individual age at puberty a facultative adaptation? -- Control of the onset of puberty -- Growth and change in the adolescent brain -- The psychological impact of body changes -- Adolescent hormones in sexuality and aggression -- Cross-cultural regularities -- A role for romantic love? -- Ideals and abstractions -- The onset of parenting--maternal care -- Paternal care and the pair bond -- Interlude 3 : thinking about growing up gay -- Transition 2 : plasticity evolving -- Selection for plasticity and resilience --

pt. III. Socialization : the evolving social context of ontogeny : wherein we discern the contributions of social life to developing relationships and emotions -- 13. Paradigms in the study of socialization -- Laws of learning -- Early experience effects and the sensitive period question -- Ethology, field primatology, and sociobiology -- Ethnology and quantitative cross-cultural comparison -- Historiography and historical demography -- 14. Early social experience -- Early handling, stress, and stimulation -- Postweaning isolation and crowding -- Social deprivation in monkeys -- The neurobiology of social perturbation in monkeys -- Experience in the etiology of psychopathology -- Early deprivation in human childhood -- 15. The evolution of the mother-infant bond -- Maternal care in mammals -- Mother and infant primates, including humans -- Mother-infant relations among !Kung hunter-gatherers -- Mother-infant relations in other hunter-gatherers -- Reconstructing maternal care : phylogeny and history -- Attachment theory and the mother-infant bond -- Interlude 4 : thinking about maternal sentiment -- 16. Cooperative breeding in the extended family -- Helpers at the nest -- Allocare in nonhuman primates -- Nonmaternal care among !Kung hunter-gatherers -- Nonmaternal care in other hunter-gatherers -- Cooperative breeding in the human species -- Normative adoption and fosterage in human societies -- The physiology of alloparental care -- Social context and mother-infant interactions -- Cooperative breeding beyond hunters and gatherers -- 17. Male parental care -- Male parental investment and reproductive success -- Paternal investment, social organization, and ecology in nonhuman species -- The paternal role among !Kung hunter-gatherers -- Paternal roles in other hunter-gatherers -- Paternal roles in non-hunter-gatherers -- Observable patterns and their possible significance -- Subsistence adaptation and family organization -- The United States and other industrial cultures -- Dads and cads -- Plasticity and its physiological limits -- Interlude 5 : thinking about "oedipal" conflicts -- 18. Relations among juveniles -- Theoretical considerations -- Juvenile social relations in selected mammals -- Relations among juveniles in !Kung hunter-gatherers -- Relations among juveniles in other hunter-gatherers -- Relations among juveniles since the hunting-gathering era -- Functional considerations -- Developmental mechanisms -- 19. Play, social learning, and teaching -- The evolution of play -- The development of human play -- The evolutionary neurobiology of play -- Intelligent players -- Play, learning, and culture -- Social learning, imitation, and teaching -- Toward a neurobiology of social learning -- Teaching : uniquely human? -- 20. The contexts of emerging reproductive behavior -- The development of sexual behavior in monkeys and apes -- Adolescence among the !Kung hunter-gatherers -- Adolescence in other hunter-gatherers -- Broader cross-cultural patterns of premarital sex -- Parent-offspring conflict over arranged marriage -- Adolescent sexuality in the industrial world -- Secular trends in growth and maturation -- Secular trends and adolescent behavior -- Interlude 6 : thinking about incest avoidance and taboos -- 21. Stress and resilience in the changing family -- Basic stress physiology -- Stress in infancy and childhood -- Stress in early life as a signal for facultative adaptation -- Stress and resilience on the island of Dominica -- Mortality, attachment, and loss -- Stress and resilience in exceptional situations -- Child abuse and neglect in western industrial states -- Evolutionary considerations in abuse and neglect -- Changing family structure in western industrial states -- Abuse, neglect, and adolescent aggression -- Stress and coping in human development -- 22. Hunter-gatherer childhood--the cultural baseline -- Generalizations and challenges -- The hunter-gatherer childhood model -- Hunter-gatherer childhood in evolutionary context -- Evaluating the divergences -- Conclusion : facultative adaptation, discordance, or both? -- Transition 3 : does nonhuman culture exist? -- Defining the extremes -- The approach from material culture -- The approach from socially learned local variation -- The approach from teaching and cultural learning -- The approach from language and symbol -- The approach from history --

pt. IV. Enculturation : the transmission and evolution of culture : wherein we come to understand what culture changes -- 23. Paradigms in the study of enculturation -- Laws of learning, expanded -- Culture and personality -- The Whiting model -- Broader cross-cultural analyses -- Extensions and modifications of the model -- Challenges to the role of early experience -- Culture and mind -- Interlude 7 : thinking about the question "how?" -- 24. The culture of infancy and early childhood -- Culture in utero? -- Cross-cultural variation in infant care -- Possible mechanisms of influence -- Language acquisition and language learning -- 25. The culture of subsistence -- Work, play, and cultural transmission -- Children's work in farming cultures -- 26. The culture of middle childhood -- Enculturation among the Gusii of Kenya -- Enculturation processes beyond conventional learning -- Enculturation by children -- Inculcating morality? -- Children and religion -- 27. The culture of gender in childhood and adolescence -- Culture stretches biology -- Cultural tradition in adolescent development -- 28. Evolutionary culture theory -- Cultural macroevolution -- The Meme model and the question of coherence -- Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman -- Lumsden and Wilson -- Boyd and Richerson -- The Durham model -- Defining culture -- Applying the model -- Some models compared -- Interlude 8 : thinking about boys at war -- 29. Universals, adaptation, enculturation, and culture -- Universals of human behavior and culture -- A culture acquisition device -- A model of culture in biological context --

pt. V. Conclusion : wherein we see, as through a glass darkly, how human relationships and emotions may actually emerge -- 30. The ultimate epigenetic enterprise -- A general theory? -- Chaos, self-organization, and complexity -- A theory of generative variation -- Selection, epigenetics, and development -- Reprise -- Epilogue -- References -- Acknowledgments -- Index.

Takes a comprehensive Darwinian interpretation of human development. Looking at the entire range of human evolutionary history, Konner tells the story of how cross-cultural and universal characteristics of our growth from infancy to adolescence became rooted in genetically inherited characteristics of the human brain--From publisher description.