The evolved child 2 Applying evolutionary developmental psychology 3 to modern schooling 4

9 Evolutionary developmental psychology, an emerging subdiscipline of evolutionary approaches to 10 human behavior and cognition, focuses on the adaptive nature of psychological mechanisms built into 11 the brains of juveniles, some of which may serve immediate demands at different stages of 12 development, and some of which serve preparatory roles for maturity. The current article reviews some 13 of the central ideas of evolutionary developmental psychology and investigates how human 14 educability, which is qualitatively different from the learning capacity of other species, is governed by 15 specific adaptations of Homo sapiens’ childhood that serve to orient the young child to his or her 16 cultural environment. Evolutionary developmental psychology, we argue, can be especially 17 informative to educational policy makers who wish to take children’s natural limitations, as well as 18 their intellectual pliability, into account when planning curricula. D 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All 19 rights reserved. 20