Like every animal, human offspring evolved to fit into their communities, but social fittedness for mammals requires a supportive early nest that fosters socio-emotional intelligence, self-regulation, and sympathy. Within a supportive environment, children naturally develop orientations that facilitate prosocial behaviours within the community. We use the evolved developmental niche (EDN), apparent in 95% of human history as small-band hunter-gatherers, for a baseline representative of human evolution. In these societies, children grow into cooperative, agile moral actors. We compare the EDN with five modern approaches to young child group care and make suggestions to early caregivers on how to provide, in the modern world, what children evolved to need.
Evolved Developmental Niche Provision Report: Moral Socialization, Social Thriving, and Social Maladaptation in Three Countries
