Читать книгу The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development - Группа авторов - Страница 74

While the integration of LH theory into models of human development has helped to revolutionize the field, we should not think of LH strategies as becoming immutable due to early infant attachment experiences. Some evolutionary theorists believe that LH strategies are not prescribed at an early stage in development but rather show a degree of flexibility, based around a series of developmental switch point transitions. This notion of transitions in development is particularly associated with Marco Del Giudice. According to Del Giudice, during development there are a series of points when the LH strategy might be attenuated leading to changes in social behavior during childhood.

It is worth noting that the concept of switch points grew out of the work of classical ethologists who introduced the earlier notion of critical or sensitive periods where an organism is particularly likely to learn specific information (West‐Eberhard, 2003). An example of this is that young animals of many species, such as domestic chicks and greylag geese, become imprinted on their mother during the first few days or weeks of life (Lorenz, 1935; Workman et al., 2000). Each switch point is related to adaptive challenges that appear at stages in development. While there may be a switch point even prior to birth (where a fetus might, for example, respond to maternal stress hormones), the most important one for our purpose is the juvenile transition. This switch from early to middle childhood occurs between 6–8 years of age in industrialized societies and is a period of rapidly increasing social activities with peers (Del Giudice 2009a, 2009b; Del Giudice & Belsky, 2011). According to Del Giudice this 2‐year switch point can be likened to the critical/sensitive periods that ethologists earlier outlined for various species. During and after this switch point in development, children begin to strive for social dominance and acceptance among peers. They also increase their level of competitive and social play as they compete to be considered socially attractive individuals (Smith, 2005). During the juvenile transition there is a peak in sexually differentiated behavior and the beginnings of romantic attractions (Del Giudice & Belsky, 2011).

According to Del Giudice this juvenile transition serves three adaptive roles:

 Coordinating the expression of a suite of LH related traits such as attachment, cooperation, and stress regulation.

 Organizing sexually differentiated behavior such as dominance, mating‐oriented strategy, and levels of potential physical aggression.

 Providing a period of assessment prior to the onset of reproductive‐related behaviors.

According to Del Giudice this adaptive conception of the juvenile transition is supported by studies that show how agonistic stress experienced at this age and over the early years of adolescence affects the type of mating strategy later adopted (Davis & Were, 2007). Moreover, this juvenile transition is mediated by a boost in the secretion of androgens at this point in development (6–8 years), known as “adrenarche” due to hormones being secreted by the adrenal glands a few years prior to puberty (Auchus & Rainey, 2004). This is suggestive that changes in both prosocial and antisocial behavior during the juvenile transition are related to later reproductive strategies. Due to feedback from his peers, for example, a physically robust boy is more likely to develop a dominant role in peer relationships and this may have‐knock‐on effects later in life with regard to his mating strategy.

Del Giudice also considers how reproductive strategies related to the juvenile transition are attenuated by social feedback around the age of six to eight. Consistent with Belsky’s model, he suggests that adrenarche is brought forward by earlier family stress. This means that Del Giudice’s LH model, while incorporating elements of Belsky’s psychosocial acceleration theory, also considers social feedback from peers during the period 6–8 years of age.