Reading 1:
From Scientific American, a brief article on The advantages of being helpless.
Reading 2:
Here is some more on the Human Speechome Project: Roy, B. C., Frank, M. C., DeCamp, P., Miller, M. and Roy, D. (2015). Predicting the birth of a spoken word, PNAS, Published online Sept 21, 2015.
Reading 3:
Reddy, V., & Trevarthen, C. (2004). What we learn about babies from engaging their emotions. Zero to Three, 24(3), 9-15.
Reading 4:
This excellent blog post discusses the inadequacies of relying on notions such as “hard wired,” “innate,” or “instinct” in studying behaviour. The points are relevant to interpreting animals as well as humans.
Developmental Plasticity and the “Hard-Wired” Problem A blog post from 2014 by Patrick Clarkin
Optional Resources
Here is some more material to situate Piaget and Vygotsky’s work:
Cole, M., & Wertsch, J. V. (1996). Beyond the individual-social antinomy in discussions of Piaget and Vygotsky. Human development, 39(5), 250-256.
This article reports the counterintuitive finding that more heritable traits tend to be more culturally dependent.
Kan, K. J., Wicherts, J. M., Dolan, C. V., & van der Maas, H. L. (2013). On the nature and nurture of intelligence and specific cognitive abilities the more heritable, the more culture dependent. Psychological Science, 0956797613493292.
Developmental Systems Theory provides a principled consideration of the intertwining of developmental and evolutionary issues.
Oyama, S., Griffiths, P. E., & Gray, R. D. (2001). Introduction: What is developmental systems theory. Cycles of contingency: Developmental systems and evolution, 1-11.
Here is a video of Susan Oyama, one of the main figures in the field, addressing “Development and evolution in a world without labels“