Human childhood and adolescence are specialized periods for cultural learning that other primates lack.

Evidence

Compared to other primates, our gestational and infancy periods (birth to weaning) have shortened while our childhoods have extended and a uniquely human period of adolescence has emerged, prior to full maturity. Childhood is a period of intensive cultural learning, including playing and the practicing of adult roles and skills, during which time our brains reach nearly their adult size while our bodies remain small. Adolescence begins at sexual maturity, after which a growth spurt ensues. During this time, we engage in apprenticeships, as we hone the most complex of adult skills and areas of knowledge, as well as build relationships with peers and look for mates. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 216

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes childhood (intensive play and skill practice, brain near adult size) from adolescence (apprenticeships, peer relations, mate-seeking) and gives each a clear function in cultural acquisition.
• XREF: Directly relevant to the stated reading purpose: a developmental timeline for when each social-learning bias might dominate. If conformist bias is a learning strategy deployed mainly during childhood/adolescence, then who is most coercion-vulnerable may track these phases. — connects to: Culture is a genetically evolved consequence of social learning adaptations. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 139; Cultural upbringing shapes human nature far more than biology does. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 173; Human intelligence largely derives from culturally inherited tools rather than individual brainpower. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 75 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Cultural learning machinery must activate early in development #expands (0.85) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 187
• Human cognitive plasticity extends through enduringly plastic development shaped by culture #expands (0.80) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 220
• Humans evolved specifically to absorb culture along with its prejudgments #expands (0.79) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 353
• Culture is a genetically evolved consequence of social learning adaptations. #qualifies (0.78) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 139
• Human intelligence largely derives from culturally inherited tools rather than individual brainpower. #expands (0.76) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 75
• Cultural upbringing shapes human nature far more than biology does. #corroborates (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 173
• Human cumulative culture emerges from evolved domain-specific cognitive adaptations for social learning #qualifies (0.75) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 16
• Long postreproductive human lifespans evolved to transmit accumulated cultural knowledge. #expands (0.74) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 446