Juvenile Period

1. Humans are born physically, socially, and cognitively immature compared to other species and there are multiple schemas that have been proposed on why we have a lengthened juvenile period and how it can be helpful for us, as well as, why it has evolved over time. One of the hypotheses of why we have a lengthened juvenile period for development is because it allows for children to increase their experiences of social play and exploratory behavior (Bjorklund & Pelligrini, 2002). By being able to expand these opportunities children are able to “enable the refinement of increasingly sophisticated physical, social and cognitive competencies” ((Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2002, 100). Not only does the extension allow for playing and exploring of the environment, but specifically it means that children are able to develop a healthy amount of physical maturity before moving onto adolescence and adulthood. For example, children learn to crawl during the juvenile period because they are curious about the environment around them and want to explore it. By crawling they become physically active and eventually learn how to walk. Walking then turns into running, which can lead to a variety of other physical activities that will become useful later in life. It is important for children to gain physical maturity so that this can be utilized as an adult when they are ready to pass on their genes through sexual maturity. From an evolutionary standpoint, the key is survival to pass on your genes; by being more likely to survive under your parent’s care in the juvenile period you are more likely to survive until sexual maturity (Bjorklund & Pelligrini, 2002). Another hypothesis suggests that limited motor ability in the juvenile period is to p...

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...al interaction, and that is crucial for survival. Without social interaction we would not be able to learn half of the things we learn, and it also teaches us social norms of how people are expected to interact in society.

In conclusion, social learning describes the way humans gain valuable skills in terms of social interactions and human behavior, the four forms of social learning consist of local enhancement, mimicry, emulation, and imitation. All of these forms contribute to ontogenetic development for a variety of reasons.

Works Cited

Bjorklund, D. F. & Pellegrini, A. D. (2002). The origins of human nature: Evolutionary developmental psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Bjorklund, D.F. & Green, B.L. (1992). The Adaptive Nature of Cognitive Immaturity. Florida Atlantic University: American Psychological Association, 47, 46-54.