[New FCS Paper!] Where innovations flourish

BaYaka children cooking (Republic of Congo). Photo by Sarah M. Pope

We're thrilled to share our new paper, "Where innovations flourish: an ethnographic and archaeological overview of hunter–gatherer learning contexts", out now in Evolutionary Human Sciences.

This terrific review paper — written by FCS members Sheina Lew-Levy, Annemieke Milks, Noa Lavi, Sarah Pope, and David Friesem — explores contemporary hunter–gatherer child and adolescent contributions to tool innovation.

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Where innovations flourish: an ethnographic and archaeological overview of hunter–gatherer learning contexts

Sheina Lew-Levy, Annemieke Milks, Noa Lavi, Sarah Pope, and David Friesem

Abstract: Research in developmental psychology suggests that children are poor tool innovators. However, such research often overlooks the ways in which children's social and physical environments may lead to cross-cultural variation in their opportunities and proclivity to innovate. In this paper, we examine contemporary hunter–gatherer child and adolescent contributions to tool innovation. We posit that the cultural and subsistence context of many hunter–gatherer societies fosters behavioural flexibility, including innovative capabilities. Using the ethnographic and developmental literature, we suggest that socialisation practices emphasised in hunter–gatherer societies, including learning through autonomous exploration, adult and peer teaching, play and innovation seeking may bolster children's ability to innovate. We also discuss whether similar socialisation practices can be interpreted from the archaeological record. We end by pointing to areas of future study for understanding the role of children and adolescents in the development of tool innovations across cultures in the past and present.

[Paper Spotlight] Effects of a mixed‐subsistence diet on the growth of Hadza children

A new paper by Trevor Pollom, Kristen Herlosky, Alyssa Crittenden and colleagues examines the effects of a mixed-subsistence diet on the growth of Hadza children. Out now in the American Journal of Human Biology.

Effects of a mixed‐subsistence diet on the growth of Hadza children

Trevor R. Pollom Chad L. Cross Kristen N. Herlosky Elle Ford Alyssa N. Crittenden

Abstract:

Introduction: We investigated the preliminary effects of dietary changes on the anthropometric measurements of child and adolescent Hadza foragers.

Methods: We conducted a cross‐sectional study comparing height and weight of participants (aged 0‐17 years) at two time points, 2005 (n = 195) and 2017 (n = 52), from two locations: semi‐nomadic “bush camps” and sedentary “village camps”. World Health Organization (WHO) calculators were used to generate standardized z‐scores for weight‐for‐height (WHZ), weight‐for‐age (WAZ), height‐for‐age (HAZ), and BMI‐for‐age (BMIFAZ). Cross tabulations were constructed for each measurement variable as a function of z‐score categories and the variables year, location, and sex.

Results: Residency in a village, and associated mixed‐subsistence diet, was associated with favorable growth, including greater WAZ (P  < .001), HAZ (P  < .001), and BMIFAZ (P = .004), but not WHZ (P = .717). Regardless of residency location, participants showed an improved WAZ (P = .021) and HAZ (P  < .001) in the 2017 study year. We found no sex differences.

Discussion and Conclusion: These preliminary findings suggest that a mixed‐subsistence diet may confer advantages over an exclusive wild food diet, a trend also reported among other transitioning foragers.

[Paper Spotlight] Two new papers by Clark Barrett

Clark's on a roll with two terrific new papers.

Towards a Cognitive Science of the Human: Cross-Cultural Approaches and Their Urgency. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Link.

Abstract: While a major aim of cognitive science is to understand human cognition, our conclusions are based on unrepresentative samples of the world’s population. A new wave of cross-cultural cognitive science has sought to remedy this with studies that are increasing in scope, scale, and visibility. Here, I review the state of this new wave of research. The portrait of human cognition that emerges is one of variations on a theme, with species-typical capacities shaped by culture and individual experience. The new wave has expanded our understanding of processes underlying human variation and cumulative cultural change, including mechanisms of social learning and cultural transmission. Less consensus has been reached, however, on the cognitive foundations of human nature. The promise of cross-cultural cognitive science will not be fully realized unless we continue to be more inclusive of the world’s populations and strive for a more complete cognitive portrait of our species.

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Deciding what to observe: Thoughts for a post-WEIRD generation.

Evolution and Human Behavior. Link.

Abstract: The evolutionary social sciences (ESSs) are thriving, and seem to have entered a period of normal science. This is a good time to examine our own practices, theoretical and empirical, and to ask how we might improve. Here I review papers published in the past five years in EHB to explore major trends in the field. Theoretically, the popularity of certain topics (cooperation, mating, life history) has led to great progress, but might have narrowed our theoretical vision. Empirically, most research is still conducted in WEIRD populations, with a smaller mode of research in small-scale societies, and very little in the middle. I offer suggestions for broadening our theoretical and empirical scope, centered around the project of constructing a representative map of the human psychological and behavioral phenome.