Until now, evolutionary psychologists have focused largely on understanding adult behavior, giving little sustained attention to childhood. Developmental psychologists, for their part, have been wary of the perceived genetic determinism of evolutionary thinking. This important volume brings together an array of prominent developmental scientists whose work is explicitly driven by evolutionary concerns. Presenting sophisticated new models for understanding gene-environment interactions, the authors demonstrate how evolutionary knowledge can enhance our understanding of key aspects of cognitive, social, and personality development. Tightly edited chapters examine how different developmental mechanisms have evolved and what role they play in children's functioning and their adaptation to adult life. Essential topics covered include parent-child relationships, aggression, puberty, infant perception and cognition, memory, language, and more.

About the Author: Bruce J. Ellis, PhD, spent the early years of his career at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand before taking up his current position as an Associate Professor of Family Studies and Human Development at the University of Arizona. He completed his doctoral work in evolutionary psychology at the University of Michigan and his postdoctoral work in the National Institute of Mental Health's Developmental Psychopathology Training Program at Vanderbilt University. The major focus of his research is on testing conditional adaptation models of the effects of early family environments on the timing of pubertal development and first sexual and reproductive activity. Dr. Ellis received the 1999 John F. Kennedy Center Young Scientist Award and has served on the editorial boards of Developmental Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Review, and Personal Relationships.

David F. Bjorklund, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University, where he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in developmental psychology since 1976. His research has focused primarily on children's cognitive development, particularly memory and strategy development. More recent interests include the adaptive nature of immaturity, deferred imitation in juvenile great apes, and evolutionary developmental psychology. Dr. Bjorklund is the author of several books, including The Origins of Human Nature: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology (with Anthony D. Pellegrini). He is a former Associate Editor of Child Development and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Journal of Cognition and Development, Developmental Review, Educational Psychology Review, Journal of Comparative Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Development, and School Psychology Quarterly.