Evolution of Parental Caregiving

Parental caregiving consists of a set of behaviors that has evolved to a high level among mammals and has been most developed among humans. In this article, I propose an evolutionary model of 4 changes (3 of them neurobiological) leading to caregiving. Two of the changes, including the emergence of a dyadic preference bond, occurred first among the reptile precursors to mammals. The dyadic preference bond is hypothesized to have preceded and facilitated the emergence of mammalian species through the subsequent emergence of mammary glands and live births. Somewhat later, the dyadic preference bond began to evolve into the complex, multifaceted parental caregiving system in humans. The evolutionary model of caregiving suggests a need to expand attention beyond cognitions, which are of major importance in humans as mechanisms of planning and implementing strategies, to include at least some emotional processes located in older parts of the brain that appear to follow a different, emotional logic. The model identifies a neurobiological basis for the emotional attraction of parent to child and the motivation to nurture. Further research is needed to translate these neurobiological processes into psychological models of caregiving.