Document Type
Article - postprint
Program
Psychology (Pitzer)
Publication Date
Summer 2003
Keywords
Human nature, Evolution, Development
Abstract
If we agree for a moment that there is such a thing as human nature, we immediately encounter an extraordinarily thorny question: Where does our nature come from? This question drives David Bjorklund and Anthony Pellegrini’s new book The Origins of Human Nature: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology. The question is so challenging, in part, because human nature reflects at least two conceptually distinct processes: evolution and development. The former, which operates across generations, allows the continued existence of characteristics that permitted survival and reproduction in our ancestors; the latter, which operates during a person’s lifetime, contributes to the appearance of all of our characteristics. The problem of facing students to human nature is how to understand the relationship between these processes and how they contribute to the appearance of our traits.
Rights Information
© 2003 University of Illinois Press
Recommended Citation
Moore, David S. "Trying to Fix the Development in Evolutionary Developmental Psychology." Review of The Origins of Human Nature: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology, by David F. Bjorklund and Anthony D. Pellegrini. The American Journal of Psychology 116.2 (2003): 299-307. Print.
Comments
Please note that this work is a book review of The Origins of Human Nature: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology, by David F. Bjorklund and Anthony D. Pellegrini. ISBN: 9781557988782
The content of this open-access post-print article is the same as that contained in the published article with the following reference:
Moore, D. S. (2003, Summer). Trying to fix the development in Evolutionary Developmental Psychology. The American Journal of Psychology, 299 – 307. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1423583