The Evolutionary Development of Learning and Teaching Strategies in Human Societies

Abstract

The characteristics of learning behavior of modern hunter-gatherers are investigated in terms of evolutionary perspectives. Hunter-gatherer children have a long childhood compared with other animals and other human groups. During childhood they can learn knowledge and skills that they need to pursue foraging activities chiefly via social learning while participating and playing in play groups. Without formal school education or teaching, hunter-gatherer children are able to enjoy autonomous learning which leads to flexible and innovative behavior in adulthood. Hunter-gatherers engage in education as a cultural institution that is unique to humans: a socio-cultural interaction within a framework of intention and expectation, belief and trust between the learner and the teacher. This teaching relationship is in contrast to the biologically established teaching relationship such as natural pedagogy. After the onset of adolescence, young people expand their range of acitivities. Sometimes they visit distant relatives to learn new things away from their own people. This interconnectivity between social groups brings about opportunities for the exchange of goods and ideas that makes it possible for innovations to be more rapidly transmitted from group to group. Social organization, cognitive development, and bio-ecological fundamentals in the hunting and gathering way of life seem to have contributed all together to enhance human learning capacity.