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Fearful apes or nervous goats? Another look at functions of dispositions or traits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2023

Vladimir Krstić Open the ORCID record for Vladimir Krstić [Opens in a new window]
Vladimir Krstić*
Affiliation:
School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, Astana 01000, Kazakhstan [email protected], [email protected]
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Abstract

In his article, Grossmann argues that, in the context of human cooperative caregiving, heightened fearfulness in children and human sensitivity to fear in others are adaptive traits. I offer and briefly defend a rival hypothesis: Heightened fearfulness among infants and young children is a maladaptive trait that did not get deselected in the process of evolution because human sensitivity to fear in others mitigates its disadvantageous effects to a sufficient extent.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 46 , 2023 , e68
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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