#484 David Bjorklund - How Children Invented Humanity: The Role of Development in Human Evolution

Dr. David F. Bjorklund is a Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in developmental and evolutionary psychology. His books include The Origins of Human Nature: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology (with Anthony Pellegrini), Origins of the Social Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and Child Development (edited with Bruce Ellis), Why Youth is Not Wasted on the Young: Immaturity in Human Development, Child and Adolescent Development: An Integrative Approach (with Carlos Hernández Blasi), and Children’s Thinking: Cognitive Development and Individual Differences, now in its fifth edition. His new book is How Children Invented Humanity: The Role of Development in Human Evolution.

In this episode, we focus on How Children Invented Humanity. We discuss the relationship between evolution and development. We explore our extended period of development, and what distinguishes it from other species. We talk about behavioral plasticity, neoteny, behavioral genetics, innateness, and individual differences. We discuss play, and its importance for child development. We talk about what Piaget got right and what he got wrong, and the issues with thinking about development in stages. We ask what the relationship between development and the evolution of culture is. We talk about the importance of mothers in our evolution. We explore some sex differences in human development, attachment theory, and our most distinct social traits. Finally, we discuss some sources of evolutionary mismatch in modern societies, like social media, hyper-individualism, and formal educational practices, and what we can learn from hunter-gatherers. We also mention the negative psychological effects the covid-19 pandemic might be having on children.

Time Links:
00:00 Intro
00:32 Development and evolution
10:37 Our extended development
22:16 Behavioral plasticity
27:53 Innateness
34:02 Play
44:03 Piaget
48:42 Culture
52:29 Mothers
56:31 Developmental stages
1:05:01 Sex differences
1:09:14 Attachment theory
1:13:25 Our most distinct social traits
1:18:29 Evolutionary mismatch in WEIRD societies
1:27:43 The effects of the covid-19 pandemic
1:31:02 What we can learn from hunter-gatherers
1:35:24 Follow Dr. Bjorklund’s work!

Follow Dr. Bjorklund’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/2UeCwMs
Academia.edu profile: https://bit.ly/2D0sdBg
Articles on Researchgate: https://bit.ly/2IIHBYk
Books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2TWi1PB
How Children Invented Humanity: https://amzn.to/3rH1EZk