Ancestral Landscapes In Human Evolution Culture Childrearing And Social Wellbeing

Download Ancestral Landscapes In Human Evolution Culture Childrearing And Social Wellbeing full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online Ancestral Landscapes In Human Evolution Culture Childrearing And Social Wellbeing ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution

Author : Darcia Narváez
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0199964254
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution by : Darcia Narváez

Download or read book Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution written by Darcia Narváez and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The social contexts in which children develop have transformed over recent decades, but also over millennia. Modern parenting practices have diverged greatly from ancestral practices, which included natural childbirth, extensive and on-demand breastfeeding, constant touch, responsiveness to the needs of the child, free play in nature with multiple-aged playmates, and multiple adult caregivers. Only recently have scientists begun to document the outcomes for the presence or absence of such parenting practices, but early results indicate that psychological wellbeing is impacted by these factors. Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution addresses how a shift in the way we parent can influence child outcomes. It examines evolved contexts for mammalian development, optimal and suboptimal contexts for human evolved needs, and the effects on children's development and human wellbeing. Bringing together an interdisciplinary set of renowned contributors, this volume examines how different parenting styles and cultural personality influence one another. Chapters discuss the nature of childrearing, social relationships, the range of personalities people exhibit, the social and moral skills expected of adults, and what 'wellbeing' looks like. As a solid knowledge base regarding normal development is considered integral to understanding psychopathology, this volume also focuses on the effects of early childhood maltreatment. By increasing our understanding of basic mammalian emotional and motivational needs in contexts representative of our ancestral conditions, we may be in a better position to facilitate changes in social structures and systems that better support optimal human development. This book will be a unique resource for researchers and students in psychology, anthropology, and psychiatry, as well as professionals in public health, social work, clinical psychology, and early care and education.

Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution: Culture, Childrearing and Social Wellbeing

Author : Darcia Narvaez
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199964262
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution: Culture, Childrearing and Social Wellbeing by : Darcia Narvaez

Download or read book Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution: Culture, Childrearing and Social Wellbeing written by Darcia Narvaez and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-02-21 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The social contexts in which children develop have transformed over recent decades, but also over millennia. Modern parenting practices have diverged greatly from ancestral practices, which included natural childbirth, extensive and on-demand breastfeeding, constant touch, responsiveness to the needs of the child, free play in nature with multiple-aged playmates, and multiple adult caregivers. Only recently have scientists begun to document the outcomes for the presence or absence of such parenting practices, but early results indicate that psychological wellbeing is impacted by these factors. Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution addresses how a shift in the way we parent can influence child outcomes. It examines evolved contexts for mammalian development, optimal and suboptimal contexts for human evolved needs, and the effects on childrens development and human wellbeing. Bringing together an interdisciplinary set of renowned contributors, this volume examines how different parenting styles and cultural personality influence one another. Chapters discuss the nature of childrearing, social relationships, the range of personalities people exhibit, the social and moral skills expected of adults, and what wellbeing looks like. As a solid knowledge base regarding normal development is considered integral to understanding psychopathology, this volume also focuses on the effects of early childhood maltreatment. By increasing our understanding of basic mammalian emotional and motivational needs in contexts representative of our ancestral conditions, we may be in a better position to facilitate changes in social structures and systems that better support optimal human development. This book will be a unique resource for researchers and students in psychology, anthropology, and psychiatry, as well as professionals in public health, social work, clinical psychology, and early care and education.

The Evolved Nest

Author : Darcia Narvaez, PhD
Publisher : North Atlantic Books
ISBN 13 : 1623177685
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (231 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Evolved Nest by : Darcia Narvaez, PhD

Download or read book The Evolved Nest written by Darcia Narvaez, PhD and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2023-08-08 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating look into nurturing and parenting in the natural world, supplemented with original illustrations For readers of Becoming Animal and World of Wonders A beautiful resource for Nature advocates, parents-to-be, Animal lovers, and anyone who seeks to restore wellbeing on our planet, The Evolved Nest reconnects us to lessons from the Animal world and shows us how to restore wellness in our families, communities, and lives. Each of 10 chapters explores a different animal’s parenting model, sharing species-specific adaptations that allow each to thrive in their “evolved nests.” You’ll learn: How Wolves build an internal moral compass How Beavers foster a spirit of play in their children How Octopuses develop emotional and social intelligence How, when, and whether (or not) Brown Bears decide to have children What their lessons can teach you--whether you’re a parent, grandparent, caregiver, or childfree Psychologists Drs. Darcia Narvaez and Gay Bradshaw show us how each evolved nest offers inspiration for reexamining our own systems of nurturing, understanding, and caring for our young and each other. Alongside beautiful illustrations, stunning scientific facts, and lessons in neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology, we learn to care deeper: to restore our innate place within the natural world and fight for an ecology of life that supports our flourishing in balance with Nature alongside our human and non-human family.

Exploring Lifespan Development

Author : Laura E. Berk
Publisher : SAGE Publications
ISBN 13 : 1071895249
Total Pages : 2175 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (718 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Exploring Lifespan Development by : Laura E. Berk

Download or read book Exploring Lifespan Development written by Laura E. Berk and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2022-06-27 with total page 2175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now published by SAGE! Exploring Lifespan Development, Fourth Edition, the essentials version of Development Through the Lifespan, Seventh Edition, by best-selling author Laura E. Berk, includes the same topics, the same number of chapters, and the same outstanding features, with a focus on the most important information and a greater emphasis on practical, real-life applications. The text’s up-to-date research, strong multicultural and cross-cultural focus, along with Berk’s engaging writing style, help students carry their learning beyond the classroom and into their personal and professional lives. Included with this title: LMS Cartridge: Import this title’s instructor resources into your school’s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don’t use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site. Learn more.

Contexts for Young Child Flourishing

Author : Darcia Narváez
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190237791
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Contexts for Young Child Flourishing by : Darcia Narváez

Download or read book Contexts for Young Child Flourishing written by Darcia Narváez and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contexts for Young Child Flourishing uses an evolutionary systems framing to address the conditions and contexts for child development and thriving. Contributors focus on flourishing-optimizing individual (physiological, psychological, emotional) and communal (social, community) functioning.

Peace Ethology

Author : Peter Verbeek
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118922514
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (189 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Peace Ethology by : Peter Verbeek

Download or read book Peace Ethology written by Peter Verbeek and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-07-23 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A scholarly collection of timely essays on the behavioral science of peace With contributions from experts representing a wide variety of scholarly fields (behavioral and social sciences, philosophy, environmental science, anthropology and economics), Peace Ethology offers original essays on the most recent research and findings on the topic of the behavioral science of peace. This much-needed volume includes writings that examine four main areas of study: the proximate causation of peace, the developmental aspects of peace, the function and systems of peace and the evolution of peace. The popular belief persists that, by nature, humans are not pre-disposed to peace. However, archeological and paleontological evidence reveals that the vast majority of our time as a species has been spent in small hunter-gatherer bands that are basically peaceful and egalitarian in nature. The text also reveals that most of the earth’s people are living in more peaceful societies than in centuries past. This hopeful compendium of essays: Contains writings from noted experts from a variety of academic studies Offers a social-psychological perspective on the causation of peaceful behavior Includes information on children’s peacekeeping and peacemaking Presents ideas for overcoming social tension between police and civilians Provides the most recent thinking on the behavioral science of peace Written for students and academics of the behavioral and social sciences, Peace Ethology offers scholarly essays on the development, nature, and current state of peace.

Fathers and Their Children in the First Three Years of Life

Author : Frank L'Engle Williams
Publisher : Texas A&M University Press
ISBN 13 : 1623498082
Total Pages : 311 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (234 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Fathers and Their Children in the First Three Years of Life by : Frank L'Engle Williams

Download or read book Fathers and Their Children in the First Three Years of Life written by Frank L'Engle Williams and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-27 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How ancient is father care of human infants and young children, and why did it emerge? Is it possible that father care arose among the ancestors of modern humans and became essential for survival? Or is it a recent, though variable, development? Is father care an evolved trait of Homo sapiens or is it a learned cultural behavior transmitted across generations in some societies but not others? In this important study, Frank L’Engle Williams examines the anthropological record for evidence of the social behaviors associated with paternity, suggesting that ample evidence exists for the importance of such behaviors for infant survival. Focusing on the first three postnatal years, he considers the implications of father care—both in the fossil record and in more recent cross-cultural research—for the development of such distinctively human traits as bipedalism, extensive brain growth, language, and socialization. He also reviews the rituals by which many human societies construct and reinforce the meanings of socially recognized fatherhood. Father care was adaptive within the context of the parental pair bond and shaped how infants developed socially and biologically. The initial imprinting of socially recognized fathers during the first few postnatal years may have sustained culturally sanctioned indirect care such as provisioning and protection of dependents for nearly two decades thereafter. In modern humans, this three-year window is critical to father-child bonding. By increasing the survival of children in the past, present, and quite possibly the future, father care may be a driving force in the biological and cultural evolution of Homo sapiens.

Embodied Morality

Author : Darcia Narvaez
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1137553995
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (375 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Embodied Morality by : Darcia Narvaez

Download or read book Embodied Morality written by Darcia Narvaez and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-05-25 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the broad, interdisciplinary theory of Triune Ethics Meta-theory is explored to demonstrate how it explains the different patterns of morality seen in the world today. It describes how human morality develops dynamically from experience in early life and it proposes that the methods in which humans are raised bring about tendencies towards self-protective or open-hearted social relations. When the life course follows evolutionary systems, then prosocial, open-hearted capacities develop but when the life course goes against evolutionary systems it should not be a surprise that self-focused values and behaviors develop such as violent tribalism, self aggrandizement and a binary orientation to others (dominance or submission). Many humans alive today exhibit impaired capacities in comparison to humans from small-band hunter-gatherer societies, the type of society that represents 99% of humanity’s history. TEM is rooted in ethical naturalism and points out how to optimize human moral development through the lifespan—toward the ethics of engagement and communal imagination.

Nurturing Our Humanity

Author : Riane Eisler
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019093574X
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (99 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Nurturing Our Humanity by : Riane Eisler

Download or read book Nurturing Our Humanity written by Riane Eisler and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nurturing Our Humanity offers a new perspective on our personal and social options in today's world, showing how we can build societies that support our great human capacities for consciousness, caring, and creativity. It brings together findings--largely overlooked--from the natural and social sciences debunking the popular idea that we are hard-wired for selfishness, war, rape, and greed. Its groundbreaking new approach reveals connections between disturbing trends like climate change denial and regressions to strongman rule. Moving past right vs. left, religious vs. secular, Eastern vs. Western, and other familiar categories that do not include our formative parent-child and gender relations, it looks at where societies fall on the partnership-domination scale. On one end is the domination system that ranks man over man, man over woman, race over race, and man over nature. On the other end is the more peaceful, egalitarian, gender-balanced, and sustainable partnership system. Nurturing Our Humanity explores how behaviors, values, and socio-economic institutions develop differently in these two environments, documents how this impacts nothing less than how our brains develop, examines cultures from this new perspective (including societies that for millennia oriented toward partnership), and proposes actions supporting the contemporary movement in this more life-sustaining and enhancing direction. It shows how through today's ever more fearful, frenzied, and greed-driven technologies of destruction and exploitation, the domination system may lead us to an evolutionary dead end. A more equitable and sustainable way of life is biologically possible and culturally attainable: we can change our course.

Public Health, Mental Health, and Mass Atrocity Prevention

Author : Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000414248
Total Pages : 243 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (4 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Public Health, Mental Health, and Mass Atrocity Prevention by : Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum

Download or read book Public Health, Mental Health, and Mass Atrocity Prevention written by Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-29 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This multidisciplinary volume considers the role of both public health and mental health policies and practices in the prevention of mass atrocity, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The authors address atrocity prevention through the framework of primary (pre-conflict), secondary (mid-conflict), and tertiary (post-conflict) settings. They examine the ways in which public health and mental health scholars and practitioners currently orient their research and interventions and the ways in which we can adapt frameworks, methods, tools, and practice toward a more sophisticated and truly interdisciplinary understanding and application of atrocity prevention. The book brings together diverse fields of study by global north and global south authors in diverse contexts. It culminates in a narrative that demonstrates the state of the current fields on intersecting themes within public health, mental health, and mass atrocity prevention and the future potential directions in which these intersections could go. Such discussions will serve to influence both policy makers and practitioners in these fields toward developing, adapting, and testing frames and tools for atrocity prevention. Multidisciplinary perspectives are represented among editors and authors, including law, political science, international studies, public health, mental health, philosophy, clinical psychology, social psychology, history, and peace studies.

Minding the Climate

Author : Ann-Christine Duhaime
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674247728
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (742 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Minding the Climate by : Ann-Christine Duhaime

Download or read book Minding the Climate written by Ann-Christine Duhaime and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2022-10-18 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The human brain evolved to prioritize short-term rewards over long-term goals. But while this adaptation served our ancestors well, it is maladaptive in the face of a slow-moving climate crisis. Luckily, brains can adjust. Ann-Christine Duhaime explores how we can reframe what we find rewarding to counteract climate change.

The Routledge Handbook of Evolution and Philosophy

Author : Richard Joyce
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317655567
Total Pages : 569 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (176 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Routledge Handbook of Evolution and Philosophy by : Richard Joyce

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Evolution and Philosophy written by Richard Joyce and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-08-16 with total page 569 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, the relation between contemporary academic philosophy and evolutionary theory has become ever more active, multifaceted, and productive. The connection is a bustling two-way street. In one direction, philosophers of biology make significant contributions to theoretical discussions about the nature of evolution (such as "What is a species?"; "What is reproductive fitness?"; "Does selection operate primarily on genes?"; and "What is an evolutionary function?"). In the other direction, a broader group of philosophers appeal to Darwinian selection in an attempt to illuminate traditional philosophical puzzles (such as "How could a brain-state have representational content?"; "Are moral judgments justified?"; "Why do we enjoy fiction?"; and "Are humans invariably selfish?"). In grappling with these questions, this interdisciplinary collection includes cutting-edge examples from both directions of traffic. The thirty contributions, written exclusively for this volume, are divided into six sections: The Nature of Selection; Evolution and Information; Human Nature; Evolution and Mind; Evolution and Ethics; and Evolution, Aesthetics, and Art. Many of the contributing philosophers and psychologists are international leaders in their fields.

Compassion

Author : Paul Gilbert
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1317189485
Total Pages : 311 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (171 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Compassion by : Paul Gilbert

Download or read book Compassion written by Paul Gilbert and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-04-21 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paul Gilbert brings together an international line-up of leading scholars and researchers in the field to provide a state-of-the-art exploration of key areas in compassion research and applications. Compassion can be seen as a core element of prosocial behaviour, and explorations of the concepts and value of compassion have been extended into different aspects of life including physical and psychological therapies, schools, leadership and business. While many animals share abilities to be distress sensitive and caring of others, it is our newly evolved socially intelligent abilities that make us capable of knowingly and deliberately helping others and purposely developing skills and wisdom to do so. This book generates many research questions whilst exploring the similarity and differences of human compassion to non-human caring and looks at how compassion changes the brain and body, affects genetic expression, manifests at a young age and is then cultivated (or not) by the social environment. Compassion: Concepts, Research and Applications will be essential reading for professionals, researchers and scholars interested in compassion and its applications in psychology and psychotherapy.

Developing the Virtues

Author : Julia Annas
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190271469
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Developing the Virtues by : Julia Annas

Download or read book Developing the Virtues written by Julia Annas and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ethicists and psychologists have become increasingly interested in the development of virtue in recent years, approaching the topic from the perspectives of virtue ethics and developmental psychology respectively. Such interest in virtue development has spread beyond academia, as teachers and parents have increasingly striven to cultivate virtue as part of education and child-rearing. Looking at these parallel trends in the study and practice of virtue development, the essays in this volume explore such questions as: How can philosophical work on virtue development inform psychological work on it, and vice versa? How should we understand virtue as a dimension of human personality? What is the developmental foundation of virtue? What are the evolutionary aspects of virtue and its development? How is virtue fostered? How is virtue exemplified in behavior and action? How is our conception of virtue influenced by context and by developmental and social experiences? What are the tensions, impediments and prospects for an integrative field of virtue study? Rather than centering on each discipline, the essays in this volume are organized around themes and engage each other in a broader dialogue. The volume begins with an introductory essay from the editors that explains the full range of philosophical and empirical issues that have surrounded the notion of virtue in recent years.

Verbs, Bones, and Brains

Author : Agustín Fuentes
Publisher : University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN 13 : 0268101175
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (681 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Verbs, Bones, and Brains by : Agustín Fuentes

Download or read book Verbs, Bones, and Brains written by Agustín Fuentes and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2017-01-15 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A benchmark collection of essays on the contemporary understanding of human nature. . . . [engaging] biology and anthropology to theology and philosophy.” —Robin W. Lovin, Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics emeritus, Southern Methodist University, author of What Do We Do When No One is Listening: Leading the Church in a Polarized Society The last few decades have seen an unprecedented surge of empirical and philosophical research into the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens, the origins of the mind/brain, and human culture. This research has sparked heated debates about the nature of human beings and how knowledge about humans from the sciences and humanities should be properly understood. The goal of Verbs, Bones, and Brains: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human Nature is to engage these themes and present current debates, discussions, and discourse for a range of readers. The contributors bring the discussion to life with key experts outlining major concepts paired with cross-disciplinary commentaries in order to create a novel approach to thinking about, and with, human natures. Throughout, they emphasize the importance of seeking a convergence in our views on human nature, despite metaphysical disagreements. They caution that if convergence eludes us and a common ground cannot be found, this is itself a relevant result: it would reveal to us how deeply our questions about ourselves are connected to our basic metaphysical assumptions. Instead, their focus is on how the interdisciplinary and possibly transdisciplinary conversation can be enhanced in order to identify and develop a common ground on what constitutes human nature. “A landmark volume. . . . It shows the fruitfulness of a mutually respectful and yet rigorous approach to cross-disciplinary engagement.” (William Storrar, Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, NJ, editor of A World for All?: Global Civil Society in Political Theory and Trinitarian Theology “Fascinating, well-organized, and well-edited.” —Choice

Ecologizing Education

Author : Sean Blenkinsop
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501774727
Total Pages : 239 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Ecologizing Education by : Sean Blenkinsop

Download or read book Ecologizing Education written by Sean Blenkinsop and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2024-04-15 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecologizing Education explores how we can reenvision education to meet the demands of an unjust and rapidly changing world. Going beyond "green" schooling programs that aim only to shape behavior, Sean Blenkinsop and Estella Kuchta advance a pedagogical approach that seeks to instills eco-conscious and socially just change at the cultural level. Ecologizing education, as this approach is called, involves identifying and working to overcome anti-ecological features of contemporary education. This approach, called ecologizing education, aims to develop a classroom culture in sync with the more-than-human world where diversity and interdependency are intrinsic. Blenkinsop and Kuchta illustrate this educational paradigm shift through the real-world stories of two public elementary schools located in British Columbia. They show that this approach to learning starts with recognizing the environmental and social injustices that pervade our industrialized societies. By documenting how ecologizing education helps children create new relationships with the natural world and move toward mutual healing, Blenkinsop and Kuchta offer a roadmap for what may be the most potent chance we have at meaningful change in the face of myriad climate crises. Timely, practical, and ultimately inspirational, Ecologizing Education is vital reading for any parent, caregiver, environmentalist, or educator looking for wholistic education that places nature and the environment front and center.

The Cambridge Handbook of Play

Author : Peter K. Smith
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108135501
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (81 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Cambridge Handbook of Play by : Peter K. Smith

Download or read book The Cambridge Handbook of Play written by Peter K. Smith and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Play takes up much of the time budget of young children, and many animals, but its importance in development remains contested. This comprehensive collection brings together multidisciplinary and developmental perspectives on the forms and functions of play in animals, children in different societies, and through the lifespan. The Cambridge Handbook of Play covers the evolution of play in animals, especially mammals; the development of play from infancy through childhood and into adulthood; historical and anthropological perspectives on play; theories and methodologies; the role of play in children's learning; play in special groups such as children with impairments, or suffering political violence; and the practical applications of playwork and play therapy. Written by an international team of scholars from diverse disciplines such as psychology, education, neuroscience, sociology, evolutionary biology and anthropology, this essential reference presents the current state of the field in play research.