[tt] D.C. Geary: Evolutionary Theory and Education

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D.C. Geary: Evolutionary Theory and Education
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, pp. 5024-8. (Elsevier, 
2001).
http://web.missouri.edu/~gearyd/IESBS.pdf

1. Introduction

In recent years, Darwin's (1859) theory of evolution has guided the 
theoretical and empirical research of an increasing number of social and 
behavioral scientists, an approach that is often called evolutionary 
psychology. The goals here are to consider how evolutionary theory and 
research in evolutionary psychology can be used to understand children's 
academic development and to explore related educational issues. Before 
these issues can be fully appreciated, an overview of the evolutionary 
approach to cognition and development is needed.

2. Evolution and Cognition

One basic assumption of evolutionary psychologists is that natural 
selection has resulted in the evolution of cognitive competencies that 
facilitated the survival and reproduction of our ancestors (Cosmides and 
Tooby 1994). It is further assumed that most of these competencies are 
modular and domain specific, that is, they are supported by neural and 
cognitive systems that are designed to process only certain types of 
information. For example, there are dedicated neural and cognitive systems 
that process basic language sounds (e.g., 'ba,' 'pa') and different 
systems that process other types of information, such as the visuospatial 
information involved in navigating in the environment. There are, of 
course, more general cognitive systems that coordinate and integrate the 
workings of these specialized systems (Smith and Jonides 1999), but 
research in evolutionary psychology tends to be focused on domain-specific 
cognitive modules, such as those associated with language.

The issues of modularity, domain specificity, and the number and 
organization of any associated cognitive systems are currently debated. 
Nonetheless, it is clear that there is some degree of inherent and modular 
structure to the human brain and mind, in keeping with evolutionary 
theory. The associated neural and cognitive systems appear to be designed 
to process information corresponding to the domains of folk psychology, 
folk biology, and intuitive physics (Geary 1998), although there are other 
modules as well (e.g., for basic numerical abilities; Geary 1995). The 
cognitive modules associated with folk psychology include language, theory 
of mind (e.g., being able to make inferences about the intentions of other 
people), and competencies that allow people to interpret the body language 
and facial expressions of other people. These skills allow people to 
monitor and regulate dyadic social interactions and to establish and 
maintain social relationships. The competencies associated with folk 
biology include the ability to classify flora and fauna in the local 
ecology, and learn about the associated growth and behavioral patterns 
(Atran 1998, Keil 1992). This folk biological knowledge allows people in 
preindustrial cultures to classify and categorize local species, hunt some 
of these species, and use plants as medicines, for food and social 
rituals. Intuitive physics refers to the neural and cognitive systems that 
engage the physical world and enable people to navigate in 3-dimensional 
space, remember the location of objects in the environment, and use 
objects (e.g., stones) to make tools (Shepard 1994).

The inherent structure and functioning of these modules appears to be 
skeletal in nature (Gelman 1990). Early in life, the associated neural and 
cognitive systems direct attention to and the initial processing of 
domain-specific information, but the normal development of these systems 
requires input from the environment. Environmental input, in turn, shapes 
the development of these cognitive modules so that they are adapted, 
during childhood, to local conditions--nature provides the skeletal 
structure of evolved cognitive domains and this structure is fleshed out 
with experience. For example, it appears that children in all cultures are 
biologically prepared to process and respond to the sounds of all human 
languages, but the language that eventually emerges is the specific 
language to which they are exposed (Kuhl et al. 1997). In other words, the 
neural and cognitive systems that respond to language sounds--and later 
enable the comprehension and production of human language--are inherent, 
but the normal development and functioning of these systems requires 
exposure to language.

3. Evolution and Development

A long period of development, as is found in humans, has a clear 
risk--death before the age of reproduction--and thus would only evolve if 
there were benefits that outweighed this risk. Comparative studies suggest 
that one purpose, and an important adaptive benefit, of delayed maturation 
is the accompanying ability to refine the physical, social and cognitive 
competencies that support survival and reproduction. As an example, a long 
developmental period is found in all social mammals and the length of this 
period increases with the increases in the complexity of the species' 
social system (Joffe 1997). These patterns suggest that one purpose of 
childhood is to practice and refine sociocognitive competencies, such as 
language and other social skills. In short, delayed maturation allows 
children to practice and refine the physical, social, and cognitive skills 
associated with the survival (e.g., hunting) and reproduction (e.g., 
parenting skills) of our ancestors.

Play, social interactions, and exploration of the environment and objects 
appear to be the mechanisms through which these emerging competencies are 
practiced and refined during development. Child-initiated social play, 
exploration, and so forth are intimately linked to cognitive and neural 
development, in that these activities provide experiences with the social, 
biological, and physical world. These experiences, in turn, interact with 
the inherent, but skeletal structure of cognitive modules and ensure their 
normal development and adaptation to local conditions. In this view, 
children are biologically prepared to learn about other people, and the 
biological and physical world and are inherently motivated to seek out 
experiences that will facilitate this learning.

4. Implications for Education

A basic assumption of evolutionary psychology is that modern humans 
evolved domain-specific cognitive abilities and behavioral strategies to 
deal with conditions in the environments of our ancestors, but these 
abilities and strategies may not always be well-suited to contemporary 
conditions. In fact, much formal education is 'unnatural' in that much of 
what children are expected to learn in school involves tasks never 
encountered by our ancestors (Geary 1995, Rozin 1976). The basic goals of 
schools and schooling are thus to organize the activities of children so 
that they acquire competencies, such as the ability to read, that are 
important in the wider culture but have no evolutionary history. There 
follows discussion on some of the basic issues that arise from this 
perspective of education.

4.1 Evolution and Academic Development

Geary (1995) referred to language and other evolved forms of cognition as 
biologically primary abilities, and skills that build upon these primary 
abilities but are principally cultural inventions (e.g., reading) as 
biologically secondary abilities. The mechanisms by which evolved systems 
are adapted to produce secondary competencies are not yet fully 
understood, but appear to involve the co-optation of primary systems for 
secondary learning and access to knowledge implicit in these primary 
systems (Geary 1995, Rozin 1976).

As an example of the former, consider the relation between language, a 
primary ability, and reading, a secondary ability. The acquisition of 
reading-related abilities (e.g., word decoding) appears to involve the 
co-option of primary language and language-related systems, among others 
(e.g., visual scanning; Rozin 1976). Wagner et al. (1994), reported that 
individual differences in the fidelity of kindergarten children's 
phonological processing systems, which are basic features of the language 
domain, are strongly predictive of the ease with which basic reading 
skills (e.g., word decoding) are acquired in first grade. In other words, 
the evolutionary pressures that are selected for phonological processing 
systems, such as the ability to segment language sounds, were unrelated to 
reading, but these systems are used, or co-opted, when children learn how 
to read.

As an example of the latter, consider that the development of geometry may 
have been initially based on access to knowledge implicit in the primary 
systems that support navigation in the physical world. In the development 
of the basic principles of classical geometry, Euclid apparently 'started 
with what he thought were self-evident truths and then proceeded to prove 
all the rest by logic' (Westetal. 1982, p. 220). For example, the implicit 
understanding that the fastest way to get from one place to another is to 
'go as the crow flies,' was made explicit in the formal Euclidean 
postulate, 'a line can be drawn from any point to any point (In Euclidean 
geometry, a line is a straight line)' (West et al. 1982, p. 221). From an 
evolutionary perspective, the former reflects an implicit understanding of 
how to quickly get from one place to another and is knowledge that is 
built into the neural

and cognitive systems that support navigation. The latter was discovered, 
that is, made explicit, by Euclid. Once explicit, this knowledge was 
integrated into the formal discipline of geometry and became socially 
transmittable and teachable.

4.2 Motivation to Learn

One very important implication of the evolutionary perspective is that the 
motivation to acquire school-taught secondary abilities is based on the 
requirements of the larger society and not on the inherent interests of 
children. Given the relatively recent advent of near universal schooling 
in contemporary societies, there is no reason to believe that the skills 
that are taught in school are inherently interesting or enjoyable for 
children to learn. In other words, one important difference between 
primary and secondary cognitive abilities is the level and source of 
motivation to engage in the activities that are necessary for their 
acquisition. This does not, however, preclude the self-motivated 
engagement in some secondary activities.

Even though reading is a secondary ability that involves the co-optation 
of primary language systems, many children and adults are motivated to 
read. The motivation to read, however, is probably driven by the content 
of what is being read rather than by the process itself. In fact, the 
content of many stories and other secondary activities (e.g., video games, 
television) might reflect evolutionarily relevant themes that motivate 
engagement in these activities, such as social relationships and social 
competition. Furthermore, the finding that intellectual curiosity is a 
basic dimension of human personality (Goldberg 1993) suggests that there 
will be a number of intellectually curious individuals who will pursue 
secondary activities. Euclid's investment in formalizing and proving the 
principles of geometry is one example. However, this type of discovery 
typically reflects the activities and insights of only a few individuals, 
and the associated advances spread through the larger society only by 
means of informal (e.g., newspapers) and formal education. The point is, 
the motivation to engage in the activities that will promote the 
acquisition of secondary abilities is not likely to be universal.

4.3 Instructional Activities

The basic structure of primary abilities is inherent (Gelman 1990), that 
is, the supporting neural and cognitive systems automatically orient 
children to relevant features of the environment (e.g., other people) and 
process the associated information (e.g., facial expressions or language 
sounds). As noted above, children are inherently motivated to seek out 
experiences, for example, through social play, that ensure the appropriate 
development of these primary systems. In contrast, there is no inherent 
structure supporting the acquisition of secondary abilities, nor are most 
children inherently motivated to engage in the activities that are 
necessary for secondary learning. While this conclusion might seem self 
evident, it runs counter to many assumptions about children's learning in 
contemporary education; for example, that children are inherently 
motivated to learn secondary abilities and will do so through activities 
that involve play and social discourse.

Thus, from the evolutionary perspective, one essential goal of schooling 
is to provide content, organization, and structure to the teaching of 
secondary abilities, features that have been provided by evolution to 
primary abilities. Moreover, it cannot be assumed that children's inherent 
interests, such as social relationships, and preferred learning 
activities, such as play, will be sufficient for the acquisition of 
secondary abilities, even though they appear to be sufficient for the 
fleshing out of primary abilities. Instruction must therefore involve 
engaging children in activities that facilitate the acquisition of 
secondary abilities, whether or not children are inherently interested in 
engaging in these activities. This does not mean that play and social 
activities cannot be used to engage children in some forms of secondary 
learning. It does, however, mean that it is very unlikely that the mastery 
of many secondary domains (e.g., reading or algebra) will occur with only 
these types of primary activities.

In fact, research in cognitive and educational psychology indicates that 
some forms of secondary learning will require activities that differ from 
those associated with the fleshing out of primary abilities (see Geary 
1995, for related discussion). These would include, among others, direct 
instruction, where teachers 'provide the goals, organization and structure 
to instructional activities and explicitly teach basic competencies, such 
as how to sound out unfamiliar words or manipulate algebraic equations.' 
The mastery of secondary domains also requires extensive exposure to the 
material, distributed over many contexts and oftentimes over many years, 
as well as extensive practice in using any associated procedures (e.g., to 
solve mathematics problems). Extensive exposure and practice also appear 
to be needed for the development of primary abilities, but this exposure 
and practice automatically occur as children engage in social discourse, 
play, and exploration. In contrast, most children will not automatically 
engage in the practice needed to master secondary domains, and, as a 
result, this practice needs to be built into instructional activities. For 
some domains, such as in the biological and physical sciences, mastery 
will also require many 'hands on' activities, as in conducting 
experiments, although more traditional methods will be needed as well 
(e.g., learning basic facts and principles, such as the theory of 
evolution).

In closing, although not enough is known to draw firm conclusions about 
which instructional practices can most effectively adapt primary cognitive 
systems for the secondary learning, the following principles can be used 
to guide future educational research. First, the process of evolution has 
provided the basic neural and cognitive structure to primary abilities, 
such as language, but for secondary abilities, such as reading, this basic 
structure and organization must come from instructional practices. Second, 
children are inherently motivated to engage in the types of activities, 
such as social play, that will facilitate the development of primary 
abilities, but it is not likely that these same activities will be 
sufficient for the acquisition of secondary abilities. This is because the 
brain and mind are inherently designed to be sensitive to and respond to 
primary activities, as they are related to the developmentof primary 
abilities.It cannot be assumed that the brain and mind are equally 
responsive to the activities that are needed to master secondary 
competencies, nor can it be assumed that children are inherently motivated 
to engage in these activities. Finally, primary abilities are universal, 
but secondary abilities are culturally derived. Thus, educational research 
must be an on-going process designed to determine the most effective means 
of instruction for the ever-changing array of secondary competencies 
needed to function in contemporary society.

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