Teaching: Natural or Cultural?

In this chapter I argue that teaching, as we now understand the term, is historically and cross-culturally very rare. It appears to be unnecessary to transmit culture or to socialize children. Children are, on the other hand, primed by evolution to be avid observers, imitators, players and helpers—roles that reveal the profoundly autonomous and self-directed nature of culture acquisition (Lancy in press a). And yet, teaching is ubiquitous throughout the modern world—at least among the middle to upper class segment of the population. This ubiquity has led numerous scholars to argue for the universality and uniqueness of teaching as a characteristically human behavior. The theme of this chapter is that this proposition is unsustainable. Teaching is largely a result of recent cultural changes and the emergence of modern economies, not evolution

Aktuellt kunskapsläge om spädbarnsmassage : systematisk litteraturöversikt 2006-2011

Aim: Reviewing the scientific literature 2006-2011 on infant massage. Background: The study is a follow-up of a literature review of studies on infant massage published 1995-2005, in which it was shown that infant massage has a favorable effect on weight gain, health, sleep and behavioral development in infants and on parental-infant interaction. Methods: A computer-aided search utilizing the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Pubmed and CINAHL was conducted in January 2012, the MeSH term «infant massage», limited to clinical controlled trials (CCT) for infants aged 0-23 months, being employed. Findings: A total of 29 articles were found, concerning 1670 children altogether who satisfied the inclusion criteria, 18 of the studies concerning preterm infants. Results in five different areas are taken up: weight gain (n=8), analgesia (n=5), health (n=5), behavioral development (n=7) and depression prevention in mothers (4). Conclusions: No harmful effects of infant massage were reported. It was found to have positive effects on children's growth, health and behavioral development, and to have beneficial effects on the mothers' psychological well-being when they gave their children massage. It is concluded that parental education in infant massage is a cost-effective and health promoting measure