Combining the concepts and methods of classical ethology with those of social-cultural anthropology, Navajo Infancy describes the major sources of change and continuity in Navajo infant development as a vehicle for discussing the relationships between human nature and culture. The theoretical framework includes adaptation and natural selection as key background variables, but in the important context of recent advances in evolutionary biology, which argue for a high degree of developmental plasticity in human ontogeny and the unique adaptive value of human epigenetics and...

By showing how and why human nature is what it is, evolutionary theory can help us see better what we need to do to improve the human condition. Following evolutionary theory to its logical conclusion, Death, Hope and Sex uses life history theory and attachment theory to construct a model of human nature in which critical features are understood in terms of the development of alternative reproductive strategies contingent on environmental risk and uncertainty. James Chisholm examines the implications of this model for perspectives on concerns associated with human reproduction, including teen...