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The EAS Business Meeting : Saturday Nov. 22nd, 12:15-1:30 pm, Franciscan A

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Middle Childhood in Comparative Perspective

Wednesday November 19th 2:00 - 3:45 pm, Continental Parlor 5

Paper Session,  EAS Affiliated

Abstract: Middle childhood is recognized by developmental psychologists as a distinct developmental stage between early childhood and adolescence, defined by increasing cognitive development, emotional regulation and relative social independence. Adults have increasing expectations of children during middle childhood as reflected in Sheldon’s White’s description of this stage as “the age of reason and responsibility”. Developmentally, the onset of middle childhood is defined by Piaget’s “5 to 7 transition” with the end marked by the onset of puberty. Middle childhood is generally associated with importance and identification with same sex groups, thus providing a basis for Freud’s notion of a latency period during childhood.

From an evolutionary perspective, middle childhood is consistent with what biologists have refer to as the juvenile phase, during which individuals who are not yet reproductively capable are responsible for feeding themselves but are still under the social influence and of their parents. On the other hand, while the dramatic biological changes associated with puberty provides a clear basis for understanding the end of middle childhood, the biological (either somatic or neurological) underpinnings of the 5 to 7 transition have remained obscure until quite recently, leaving the universal nature of middle childhood in doubt.

Recent findings of the onset of cortical maturation starting around the age of 6 suggests that the 5 to 7 transition is closely related to the timing of brain development. The loss of juvenile teeth and the onset of adrenarche (increase in the adrenal production of the neurosteroid DHEAS) at about the same time index somatic changes associated with the transition. Thus middle childhood in human now appears to be marked by reliable physiological changes of adrenarche on one end and gonadarche on the other, providing a substrate for the evolution of middle childhood.

If middle childhood represents a biologically defined stage of human development, we would expect to see the following: 1) the social, emotional and intellectual behaviors associated with middle childhood in our society should be evident across cultures; and 2) the timing of middle childhood should begin at a relatively similar time across cultures, but with cessation depending on the timing of reproductive maturation which is affected by nutritional status.

In this session we examine middle childhood in evolutionary and cross-cultural perspective. In the first part, papers will focus on primatological, paleontological, and hormonal aspects of middle childhood as part of the evolution of human life history. In the second half of the session, papers will examine evidence for biological and behavior regularities associated with middle childhood across a range of different cultures. This session takes a holistic approach, integrating, biological social and cultural perspectives, while as the same time using new tools to look at the closely linked biological (hormones, growth and developmental) behavioral and cultural factors during this key transitional childhood period. In doing so we hope to shed light on what is an important but neglected stage of human development.

Organizer and Chair: Ben Campbell, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Participants

Alan Mann, Princeton University.

Jennifer Thompson, UNLV.

Ben Campbell, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Karen Kramer, Harvard University.

Mark Flinn, U of Missouri.

David Lancy, Utah State University.

Discussant: Thomas Weisner, UCLA.

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Current Research in Evolutionary Anthropology, I

Wednesday November 19th 4:00 - 5:45 pm, Continental Parlor 9

Paper Session,  EAS sponsored

Abstract: The papers in this session apply modern evolutionary theory to a diverse set of anthropological questions and contexts, exemplifying the 2008 theme of "inclusion, collaboration, and engagement" by their cross-disciplinary nature, demonstrating connections and collaborations between primatology, evolutionary biology, and diverse anthropologies, including cultural, biological, ecological, and economic. The papers in this session highlight current research from Africa, India and South America, and cover diverse topics including religion, social status, fertility, lifespan, cooperation, the evolution of primate intelligence, cultural transmission, and the importance of father's investment to children. Part 2 is an associated poster session that continues to highlight the diversity of current research in evolutionary anthropology by extending the geographical and topical coverage of this session.

Organizer  and Chair: John Patton, CSU - Fullerton

Participants

Bram Tucker, University of Georgia.

Christopher von Rueden, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Douglas Jones, University of Utah.

Wesley Allen-Arave, University of New Mexico.

Ulrich Reichard, Southern Illinois University.

Eric Schniter, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Mary Shenk, University of Missouri.

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Collaboration in the Study of Childhood: Anthropological Perspectives on Learning

Thursday, November 20th: 1:45 to 3:30 PM, Continental Parlor 8

Invited Symposium sponsored by the Society for Psychological Anthropology and Evolutionary Anthropology Society.

Organizers: Suzanne Gaskins, John Bock, & David Lancy

While there is a complex literature about learning in children’s everyday lives and their socialization into adults’ worlds, the impact of this research often limited. Within many subfields, the study of children holds marginal status, and those who study children often work in isolation. In the spirit of inclusion, collaboration and engagement, this panel will look at learning in childhood from four very different perspectives. The goal of this panel, and a related panel at last year’s meetings, is to support a conversation about learning that will inform all anthropologists who study children and will encourage research that incorporates different perspectives through the sharing of theoretical arguments, methods, and findings.

Contributors              

David F. Lancy, Utah State University, Introduction

Kerry Ossi, SUNY SB, “Learning from an Evolutionary Perspective”

Elinor Ochs, UCLA, “Learning from a Language Socialization Perspective”

Leslie Moore, Ohio State University, “Learning from an Anthropology and Education Perspective”

Jon Wolseth, Luther College, “Learning from the Streets”

John Bock, CSU Fullerton, Discussant

Robert Levine, Harvard, Discussant

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Evolutionary Perspectives on Health and Nutrition

Friday, November 23rd, 8:00-9:45 am, Lombard

Organized Paper session, EAS sponsored

Abstract: Health research is generally conducted under a variety of paradigms within public health and nutrition that seek to modify behaviors leading to disease and death.  These approaches have in common the goal of modifying behavior to optimize outcomes generally associated with improved health.  Alternatively, life history theory (LHT) provides a framework that addresses how organisms allocate time and energy, given constraints, in a way that also optimizes an outcome – that of fitness, or some fitness proxy.  Given the costs and benefits of behavioral decisions and ecological constraints, it is expected that optimal allocations will vary across the life course, by gender and in response to local environmental conditions.  Unlike traditional health behavior research, an evolutionary approach would suggest that, rather than maximizing health or longevity, humans make tradeoffs that have both long and short term health consequences.  Here we employ this perspective to examine a variety of health and nutrition issues, including how food choice, acquisition and sharing affect growth and nutrition and body condition, the relationship between health care expenditures and health outcomes, risk behavior, and the effect of ecology on age at first reproduction.  These papers fit well within this year’s theme of “Inclusion, Collaboration, and Engagement” as they seek to examine how evolutionary anthropology relates to other disciplines such as public health and nutrition, as well as to contemporary social problems. 

Organizers: Brooke Scelza and Dawn Neill

Participants

Brooke Scelza, UCLA, “Foraging in the Bush and the Shop: A Mixed Strategy for Optimizing Nutrition.”

Deborah Schechter, University of Washington, “Expected Lifespan and Attitudes towards Risk Behavior and Long-term Goals.”

Colette Berbesque and Frank W. Marlowe, Florida State University, “Sex Differences in Hadza Food Preferences, Acquisition, and Consumption”

Donna L. Leonetti, University of Washington, “Age at First Reproduction in the Context of Differing Kinship Ecologies”

Bobbi Low, University of Michigan, “Impacts of Health Measures on Infant-Child Mortality and HIV Prevalence Transnationally.”

Heather Bonander and Rob Quinlan, Washington State University,”Extrinsic Mortality, Life-history Trade-offs and the Development of Long-term Health Risks.”

Mike Alvard, Texas A&M University “Variability in the Nutritional Status of Lamalera Children”

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Current Research in Evolutionary Anthropology, II

Friday, November 21st, 10:15-12:00 am, Plaza A

Poster session, EAS Sponsored

Organizer: Mike Alvard.

Participants

Carolyn Hodges, University of California, Santa Barbara ”Perceptions of Dominance and Attractiveness in Male Voices Suggest Functional Specificity in Signal Attention”.

Cameron Griffith, Indiana University ”Evaluating Archaeological Visibility through Agent-Based Modeling and GIS: recent developments with the HOMINIDS ABM”.

Thomas Flamson, UCLA “Conversational Humor and Social Networks in Rural Brazil”.

Jonathan Stieglitz, University of New Mexico, “Female Partner-directed Violence among the Tsimane’ of Bolivia”.

Sarah Mathew and Robert Boyd, UCLA “Non-participation and Human Cooperation: When

Does the Choice to Opt Out of the Joint Venture Favor the Invasion of Altruistic Punishers?”

Rebecca Bird, Stanford University “Anthropogenic Fire Mosaics and Biodiversity in the Western Desert of Australia”.

Matthew Bridges, California State University, Fullerton, “Development of Political Competency in an Egalitarian Society in the Ecuadorian Amazon”.

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Human Behavior in Evolutionary Perspective

Friday, November 21, 10:15 AM - 12:00 PM

Poster Session, EAS Sponsored

Chair: Carl McCabe

Participants: Dawn Neill |  Peter Gray |  Ethan Cochrane |  Stacey Rucas |  Carolynn Fitterer |  Rikki Murphy |  Alissa Miller |  Cynthia Marquez |  Kersti Harter |  Michelle Dillon |  Michelle Kline |  Daniel Hruschka |  Jordan Serin |  Henry Lyle |  Carl McCabe

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Religion in Evolutionary Perspective

Saturday, November 22nd 8:00-11:45 am, Continental Parlor 4

Organized paper session, EAS recommended

Abstract: Anthropological characterizations of religion traditionally involve one of two positions: a uniquely human capability that distinguishes us from other animals; and an archaic deficient mind-state superseded by rationalism and science. Neither does justice to the nature of human religion as seen from many viewpoints.  One of these is the evolutionary perspective, from which a wide range of experimental and theoretical discussions reveal religion as a phenomenon rich in evolutionary implications.  These discussions may approach religion as a complex by-product(s) that emerges from other behavioral, cognitive, and emotional adaptations (Atran, Kirkpatrick).  Some propose evolutionary perspectives from insights into the nature of cooperation in groups, as well as the larger matter of the origin and nature of culture (Boyd and Richardson).  Others have specifically targeted whether some religious phenomena could be naturally selected and whether selection could be favored at the level of the individual or group (Bering, DS Wilson). Yet others have focused on mechanisms for religious phenomena and their roots in related behavioral and cognitive systems of other animal species, hominids and Neanderthals.

The papers in this panel consider religion from approaches informed by evolutionary perspectives, beginning with animal behaviors called rituals and displays, their most complex communicative capabilities.  Neglecting pre-adaptations and homologies in the animal world constitutes serious shortcomings in most approaches to understanding religion.  Roots of religious behavior can be seen in the empathy and death-related behaviors of modern apes and in evidence of symbolic rituals in our hominid ancestors and Neanderthals.  The attachment system is a phylogenetically ancient system that is also a mechanism for some of our most cherished human psychological capacities related to the interpersonal realm (infant-mother attachment, adult pair-bonding, theory of mind), anchored in our evolved capacity to become emotionally attached to others.  Attachment is discussed as a foundation for the systems of social cooperation found in humans.  An interesting aspect of this is how an attachment to a deity may be a mechanism for cultural group selection, expanding work of Bowlby, DS Wilson, EO Wilson and others.  Archaeological evidence suggests the emergence of several stages of human ritual capacities, leading to the worldwide presence of shamanic practices in the Middle/Late Paleolithic era.  These are examined in terms of exaptations of hominid ritual capacities and their integration through expanded features of human ritual. 

This session encourages papers that apply the principles of evolutionary theory in assessing the bases for both the universal features of human religion and the pre-adaptations in the animal world. Whether one considers religion good or bad, an adaptation or parasitic on human nature, evolutionary criteria can be applied to substantiate such claims. Regardless of their perspective on religion, we encourage authors to identify the pre-adaptations of religious features, as well as distinguish different types of exaptations: co-opted adaptations, features acquired through natural selection for one function that become co-opted to fulfill another function; and spandrels, where the exaptation derived from the non-selected consequences of features that were adaptive.

Chair: Michael J Winkelman, Arizona State University

Organizers: Michael J Winkelman and Carol P Weingarten

Participants

Michael Winkelman, ASU, Introduction

Barbara King, College of William & Mary “Roots of Religion in Primate Behavior.”

James Chisholm, University of Western Australia,”Evolution, Attachment, and Religion.”

Michael Winkelman, ASU, “Hominid Religious Evolution: Triangulation from Chimpanzee Rituals and Shamanic Universals.”

Discussant: Kathleen Gibson, University of Texas Medical School

(Break)

Dwight Read, UCLA, “Religious Thought as the Default Condition for Homo sapiens.”

William Irons, Northwestern, “The Commitment Theory of Religion.”

Carol Weingarten, University of Pennsylvania “The Attachment System and Cooperation in Religious Groups.”

Ross Maxwell, Institute for Historical Study, “The Evolution of Cooperation, Trust and Moral Systems.”

Montserrat Soler, Rutgers University “Ties That Bind? Exploring the Impact of Religious Signaling on Social Cohesion.”

Phillips Stevens, State University of New York, Buffalo “Is the Evil Witch a Product of Our Evolutionary Biology?”

John Baker, Moorpark College “Wired and Programmed, Destined or Doomed? Biocultural Insights into the Future of Religiosity.”