Origins of the Social Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and Child Development

by Bruce J. Ellis

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Author: Bruce J. Ellis

Publisher: The Guilford Press

Hardcover:
ISBN 10: 1593851030
ISBN 13: 978-1593851033

Until now, evolutionary psychologists have focused largely on understanding adult behavior, giving little sustained attention to childhood. Developmental psychologists, for their part, have been wary of the perceived genetic determinism of evolutionary thinking. This important volume brings together an array of prominent developmental scientists whose work is explicitly driven by evolutionary concerns. Presenting sophisticated new models for understanding gene-environment interactions, the authors demonstrate how evolutionary knowledge can enhance our understanding of key aspects of cognitive, social, and personality development. Tightly edited chapters examine how different developmental mechanisms have evolved and what role they play in children's functioning and their adaptation to adult life. Essential topics covered include parent-child relationships, aggression, puberty, infant perception and cognition, memory, language, and more.

Review

"This is a timely and impressive volume from many of today’s leading scholars in the field of evolutionary developmental psychology, a perspective that is much misunderstood by mainstream developmental psychologists. The volume includes a nice mix of broad theoretical overviews of the discipline and detailed analyses of a wide range of social and cognitive phenomena. As such, it serves both to introduce the perspective to scholars and students who are unfamiliar with it and to illustrate the ways in which evolutionary thinking can inform the study of numerous aspects of development. It would make a marvelous textbook for instructors in search of something to stimulate and challenge the thinking of advanced undergraduate or graduate students interested in child development. Indeed, the next time I teach an advanced course in developmental psychology, I likely will build my syllabus around this book."--Laurence Steinberg, PhD, Department of Psychology, Temple University

"A cornucopia of new ideas on human development, Origins of the Social Mind is required reading for developmental psychologists."--Steven Pinker, PhD, Department of Psychology, Harvard University

"This volume represents the cutting edge of transdisciplinary scholarship. Relying on the theories and methods of evolutionary psychology, it broadens the reach of this emerging discipline to the field of child development. Particularly provocative are integrative, novel theories by Ellis and Belsky on topics of relevance to scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and parents. There is something here for everyone."--Kenneth A. Dodge, PhD, Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University

"An admirable illustration of the fertility of an evolutionary perspective to study human development. Many of the chapters are excellent and replete of new, stimulating ideas. It also brings together numerous viewpoints on a large number of topics of interest to developmentalists. I highly recommend this book to developmental psychologists and, more generally, to psychologists interested in an evolutionary approach to the mind."

, Infant and Child Development Published On: 2004-11-24

"The contributors to this text have excellent credentials, and Ellis and Bjorklund have done a thorough job editing the text. I was impressed with how incredibly well referenced the chapters are in the book....This is a novel text with many excellent contributing writers....The book is a landmark in the field because it applies evolutionary theory to child development and adds to the nature-nurture debate."

, PsycCRITIQUES Published On: 2004-11-24

About the Author

Bruce J. Ellis, PhD, spent the early years of his career at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand before taking up his current position as an Associate Professor of Family Studies and Human Development at the University of Arizona. He completed his doctoral work in evolutionary psychology at the University of Michigan and his postdoctoral work in the National Institute of Mental Health's Developmental Psychopathology Training Program at Vanderbilt University. The major focus of his research is on testing conditional adaptation models of the effects of early family environments on the timing of pubertal development and first sexual and reproductive activity. Dr. Ellis received the 1999 John F. Kennedy Center Young Scientist Award and has served on the editorial boards of Developmental Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Review, and Personal Relationships.

David F. Bjorklund, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University, where he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in developmental psychology since 1976. His research has focused primarily on children's cognitive development, particularly memory and strategy development. More recent interests include the adaptive nature of immaturity, deferred imitation in juvenile great apes, and evolutionary developmental psychology. Dr. Bjorklund is the author of several books, including The Origins of Human Nature: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology (with Anthony D. Pellegrini). He is a former Associate Editor of Child Development and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Journal of Cognition and Development, Developmental Review, Educational Psychology Review, Journal of Comparative Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Development, and School Psychology Quarterly.

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Origins of the Social Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and Child Development