Book contents
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Reviews
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Boxes
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1 Introduction to Evolutionary Psychology
- 2 Principles of Evolutionary Change
- 3 Sexual Selection
- 4 The Evolution of Human Mate Choice
- 5 Cognitive Development, Modularity and Innateness
- 6 Social Development and Morality
- 7 The Evolutionary Psychology of Social Behaviour: Kin Relationships and Conflict
- 8 The Evolutionary Psychology of Social Behaviour: Reciprocity and Conflict
- 9 Evolution, Thought and Cognition
- 10 The Evolution of Language
- 11 The Evolution of Emotion
- 12 Evolutionary Psychopathology and Darwinian Medicine
- 13 Evolution and Individual Differences
- 14 The Evolution of Culture
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
5 - Cognitive Development, Modularity and Innateness
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2025
Book contents
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Reviews
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Boxes
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1 Introduction to Evolutionary Psychology
- 2 Principles of Evolutionary Change
- 3 Sexual Selection
- 4 The Evolution of Human Mate Choice
- 5 Cognitive Development, Modularity and Innateness
- 6 Social Development and Morality
- 7 The Evolutionary Psychology of Social Behaviour: Kin Relationships and Conflict
- 8 The Evolutionary Psychology of Social Behaviour: Reciprocity and Conflict
- 9 Evolution, Thought and Cognition
- 10 The Evolution of Language
- 11 The Evolution of Emotion
- 12 Evolutionary Psychopathology and Darwinian Medicine
- 13 Evolution and Individual Differences
- 14 The Evolution of Culture
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
Summary
Rather than thinking of nature versus nurture it is better to think about interactions between genes and the environment. The Santa Barbara School of evolutionary psychology proposed that human cognition is the result of innately specified domain-specific mental modules. Babies have certain expectations of the way that the physical world operates. Infants of at least three months of age have the knowledge that objects exist independently of their ability to perceive them. Babies have preference for face-like stimuli from birth and learn the details of human faces rapidly. Young children have an understanding of the role of mental states as a cause of behaviour. This skill, known as theory of mind, becomes more sophisticated as children develop. It is measured by a number of tasks such as false belief task and the eyes test, in which participants are required to judge how people feel from looking at their eyes.
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- Information
- Evolutionary PsychologyAn Introduction, pp. 117 - 140Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Further Reading
Bjorklund, D. F. (2021). How Children Invented Humanity: The Role of Development in Human Evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. An introduction to cognitive development with a focus on developmental plasticity.Google Scholar
Gopnik, A. (2016). The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us about the Relationship between Parents and Children. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. An easy to read, yet profound reinvestigation of childhood and parenting.Google Scholar
Gopnik, A., Meltzoff, A. N. and Kuhl, P. K. (1999). How Babies Think. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. A good, popular introduction to research on infants.Google Scholar
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