Becoming Human: A Theory of Ontogeny

by Michael Tomasello

Overview

Winner of the William James Book Award
Winner of the Eleanor Maccoby Book Award

“A landmark in our understanding of human development.”
—Paul Harris, author of Trusting What You’re Told

“Magisterial…Makes an impressive argument that most distinctly human traits are established early in childhood and that the general chronology in which these traits appear can…be identified.”
—Wall Street Journal

Virtually all theories of how humans have become such a distinctive species focus on evolution. Becoming Human looks instead to development and reveals how those things that make us unique are constructed during the first seven years of a child’s life.

In this groundbreaking work, Michael Tomasello draws from three decades of experimental research with chimpanzees, bonobos, and children to propose a new framework for psychological growth between birth and seven years of age. He identifies eight pathways that differentiate humans from their primate relatives: social cognition, communication, cultural learning, cooperative thinking, collaboration, prosociality, social norms, and moral identity. In each of these, great apes possess rudimentary abilities, but the maturation of humans’ evolved capacities for shared intentionality transform these abilities into uniquely human cognition and sociality.

“How does human psychological growth run in the first seven years, in particular how does it instill ‘culture’ in us? …Most of all, how does the capacity for shared intentionality and self-regulation evolve in people? This is a very thoughtful and also important book.”
—Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution

“Theoretically daring and experimentally ingenious, Becoming Human squarely tackles the abiding question of what makes us human.”
—Susan Gelman

“Destined to become a classic. Anyone who is interested in cognitive science, child development, human evolution, or comparative psychology should read this book.”
—Andrew Meltzoff

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674248281
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/19/2021
Pages:	392
Sales rank:	281,536
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Michael Tomasello is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. From 1998 to 2018 he was Co-Director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and in 2017 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His scientific work has been recognized by institutions around the world, including the Guggenheim Foundation, the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Netherlands, and the German National Academy of Sciences.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

I Background

Chapter 1 In Search of Human Uniqueness 3

Chapter 2 Evolutionary Foundations 10

Human Evolution 11

Human Ontogeny 22

Explanation in Developmental Psychology 32

II The Ontogeny of Uniquely Human Cognition

Chapter 3 Social Cognition 45

From Apes: Imagining What Others Perceive 46

Joint Attention 53

The Coordination of Perspectives 64

Becoming "Objective" 82

Chapter 4 Communication 91

From Apes: Intentional Communication 93

Cooperative Communication 98

Conventional Communication 112

Becoming Symbolic 127

Chapter 5 Cultural Learning 134

From Apes: Social Learning 135

Imitation and Conformity 141

Instructed Learning 147

Becoming Knowledgeable 155

Chapter 6 Cooperative Thinking 161

From Apes: Individual Thinking 162

Collaborative Reasoning 166

Coordinated Decision-Making 174

Becoming Reasonable 183

III The Ontogeny of Uniquely Human Sociality

Chapter 7 Collaboration 191

From Apes: Acting in Parallel with Others 193

Dual-Level Collaboration 195

Joint Commitment 204

Becoming Second-Personal 211

Chapter 8 Prosociallty 219

From Apes: Basic Sympathy 220

Smithian Helping and Sharing 225

Fairness 232

Becoming Cooperative 242

Chapter 9 Social Norms 249

From Apes: Group Life 251

Social Norms 254

Justice 262

Becoming Group-Minded 269

Chapter 10 Moral Identity 275

From Apes: Social Evaluation 276

Self-Presentation and Self-Conscious Emotions 278

Moral Justification and Identity 285

Becoming Responsible 291

IV Conclusion

Chapter 11 A Neo-Vygotskian Theory 297

Global Theories of Human Ontogeny 298

Shared Intentionality Theory 304

Problems and Prospects 334

Chapter 12 The Power of Shared Agency 340

References 345

Index 373

Editorial Reviews

No philosophical question is older than What are we, we humans? Michael Tomasello contributes a splendid, empirically based answer to this hoary debate in Becoming Human.

International Dialogue - Benjamin Gregg

How does human psychological growth run in the first seven years, in particular how does it instill ‘culture’ in us? Tomasello addresses this question…by comparing us to chimpanzees and bonobos. Most of all, how does the capacity for shared intentionality and self-regulation evolve in people? This is a very thoughtful and also important book.

Marginal Revolution - Tyler Cowen

This grand synthesis of three decades of collaborative research at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig is a landmark in our understanding of human development.

Paul Harris

Theoretically daring, experimentally ingenious, and astonishingly generative, Becoming Human squarely tackles the abiding question of what makes us human.

Susan Gelman

Becoming Human is destined to become a classic. Anyone who is interested in cognitive science, child development, human evolution, or comparative psychology should read this book. It surely would have provoked a letter from Darwin—an intellectual ancestor, along with Vygotsky, of this scientific masterpiece.

Andrew Meltzoff

This is a must-read from a thinker who has had a major hand in our current understanding of the genealogy of human uniqueness and character.

Henry Wellman

Magisterial—merging primatology, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology and evolution…Makes an impressive argument that most distinctly human traits are established early in childhood and that the general chronology in which these traits appear can at least—and at last—be identified.

Wall Street Journal - David P. Barash

An empirically rich view of human uniqueness that is not only informed by developmental psychology but also by cross-cultural and comparative research. Becoming Human is a theory of human origins, but it is first and foremost an attempt to understand the constant unfolding of our nature.

History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences - Ivan Gonzalez‐Cabrera

Theoretically daring, experimentally ingenious, and astonishingly generative.” -Susan Gelman, University of Michigan

From the Publisher