| Title |
Learning, life history, and productivity
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Human Nature, June 2002
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s12110-002-1007-4 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
John Bock |
| Abstract |
This article introduces a new model of the relationship between growth and learning and tests a set of hypotheses related to the development of adult competency using time allocation, anthropometric, and experimental task performance data collected between 1992 and 1997 in a multiethnic community in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Building on seminal work in life history theory by Hawkes, Blurton Jones and associates, and Kaplan and associates, the punctuated development model presented here incorporates the effects of both growth and learning constraints on age-specific task performance. In addition, the payoff to investment in two forms of embodied capital, growth-based and learning-based, are examined in relation to features of the socioecology, including subsistence economy and family composition.The three main findings are:1.The development of adult competency in specific tasks entails a steplike relationship between growth- and experience-based forms of embodied capital in the ontogeny of ability acquisition.2.There is a trade-off between the acquisition of experience-based embodied capital in the form of skills and knowledge and immediate productivity among children. Time allocation to these alternatives is primarily determined by the short- and long-term costs and benefits to parents of investment in children's embodied capital.3.The availability of laborers and the overall labor requirements of the household are major determinants of investment in alternate forms of embodied capital and resulting variation in children's time allocation. The value of children's labor to their parents is dependent upon the opportunity costs to engaging in other activities not only for the child in question but also for potential substitute laborers. These results have important implications for our understanding of the role of growth and learning in the evolution of the human juvenile period, as well as for our understanding of cross-cultural variation in child growth and development and patterns of work and play. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 71 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1 | 1% |
| Switzerland | 1 | 1% |
| Canada | 1 | 1% |
| Unknown | 68 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 22 | 31% |
| Researcher | 16 | 23% |
| Student > Master | 8 | 11% |
| Professor > Associate Professor | 6 | 8% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 5 | 7% |
| Other | 11 | 15% |
| Unknown | 3 | 4% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Social Sciences | 22 | 31% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 15 | 21% |
| Arts and Humanities | 11 | 15% |
| Psychology | 5 | 7% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 3 | 4% |
| Other | 11 | 15% |
| Unknown | 4 | 6% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 08 February 2021.
All research outputs
#4,738,192
of 22,955,959 outputs
Outputs from Human Nature
#274
of 512 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#16,243
of 120,446 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Human Nature
#2
of 3 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,955,959 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 76th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 512 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 31.7. This one is in the 45th percentile – i.e., 45% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 120,446 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 3 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one.