Evolution of Adoption

Posted on August 28, 2007 by | 4 Comments

If we are not there at the moment of birth, how come we can bond with the baby and be good fathers or good adoptive parents? Kate explains. Obligatory Reading of the Day.
Update: Related is this new article by former Scibling David Dobbs: The Hormone That Helps You Read Minds
Update 2: Matt responds to Kate’s post.
Update 3: Kate wrote a follow-up: Why help out? The life of an alloparent

This entry was posted in Animal Behavior, Evolution, Neuroscience, Physiology, Sex. Bookmark the permalink.

4 responses to “Evolution of Adoption”

  1. Michael E's avatar Michael E | August 28, 2007 at 2:12 pm |

    Thank you very much for this information. It shows that the only thing holding someone back from adopting is their own mind.

  2. kate's avatar kate | August 28, 2007 at 2:49 pm |

    not sure if i agree with the title, as adoption entails many more sociocultural constructs than we typically acknowledge. those are things that i intentionally don’t address.
    but that primates have developed a parental care system that is increasingly detached from hormonal regulation (unlike in most small-brain mammals) and thus highly dependent upon parental experience IS a good argument for alloparental care (care by non-parents). i hope to blog more about alloparental behavior sometime soon…
    anyway, your title IS admittedly catchy 🙂

  3. coturnix's avatar coturnix | August 28, 2007 at 2:51 pm |

    “…anyway, your title IS admittedly catchy :)….”
    That is one of the secrets of success! 😉

  4. Alan Kellogg's avatar Alan Kellogg | August 28, 2007 at 8:31 pm |

    How does the work apply to keeping pets?