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A review by rpmiller
Becoming Human: A Theory of Ontogeny by Michael Tomasello
4.0
First, I should mention that I read this book for background related to my own cognitive studies as I develop a theory of consciousness, yet the book was written as a report on studies of developmental psychology in humans as compared to other primates, specifically great apes. The vast number of studies reported in varying degrees was very impressive. The author's theory of human psychological development through ontogeny was clear, and the studies/experiments provided significant grounding for that theory. For me, this was exactly what I had hoped the book would provide. The results of actual studies was most important.
My impression was that humans have one, or a very few, unique skills that other animals do not have, including other primates. That skill manifests early (before 9 months) as shared emotions, then as joint attention (from 9 to 36 months) and finally as perspective taking around 3 and shared agency thereafter. Whether these are separate skills or the maturing of a single skill is not completely clear to me and will require additional consideration. (Also, I may not be completely accurate in my description as I am just making notes here.)
I have some minor criticisms of the book as well. First, children were not studied "in the wild" or in their natural environment. This is to be expected, regardless of the cultural environment of the children, but I think it could alter some of the results or interpretations. Next, there was no mention of studies that included children over 7 years of age, either as participants or as mediators. Only adults were used as mediators. For the author's purposes, the 6-7 year old had reached "the age of reason" and everything after was maturation. The mediators as adults were noted to be dominant, or respected authorities, yet older children, adolescents, teenagers and young adults are all still developing and may have that same influence as adults in the studies. This dominance and submission aspect, which was noted in primate studies, was not part of the way the studies were reported for humans. This could be another criticism or could be part of the first.
Overall, this was an excellent book.
My impression was that humans have one, or a very few, unique skills that other animals do not have, including other primates. That skill manifests early (before 9 months) as shared emotions, then as joint attention (from 9 to 36 months) and finally as perspective taking around 3 and shared agency thereafter. Whether these are separate skills or the maturing of a single skill is not completely clear to me and will require additional consideration. (Also, I may not be completely accurate in my description as I am just making notes here.)
I have some minor criticisms of the book as well. First, children were not studied "in the wild" or in their natural environment. This is to be expected, regardless of the cultural environment of the children, but I think it could alter some of the results or interpretations. Next, there was no mention of studies that included children over 7 years of age, either as participants or as mediators. Only adults were used as mediators. For the author's purposes, the 6-7 year old had reached "the age of reason" and everything after was maturation. The mediators as adults were noted to be dominant, or respected authorities, yet older children, adolescents, teenagers and young adults are all still developing and may have that same influence as adults in the studies. This dominance and submission aspect, which was noted in primate studies, was not part of the way the studies were reported for humans. This could be another criticism or could be part of the first.
Overall, this was an excellent book.