[What stone age?].
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Biological Evolution↗
Biomedical subjects
M Konner
Publications and source records attributed to M Konner.
Crying in !Kung San infants: a test of the cultural specificity hypothesis.
The pattern of crying and fretting behavior during the first two years is described for 46 !Kung San infants from a hunter-gatherer society in northwestern Botswana. Despite markedly different caretaking practices predisposing to quieter infants, crying and fretting were significantly greater during the first three months, and a peak pattern was present. Measurement of crying 'intensity' indicated that it was predominantly short and fretful. The results support the concept that the early peak pattern is not specific to infants in western industrialized societies, and may represent a behavior universal to the human species. The caretaking differences between societies primarily appear to affect crying duration rather than its frequency and pattern in early infancy.
Arousal↗
Harlem, Bangladesh, and physician responsibility.
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Black or African American↗
Kung infancy: the social context of object exploration.
The present study consists of new analyses of systematic observations of Kung infants made by Konner during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Our intent was to examine claims about the role of object sharing in development by describing how Kung infants develop interest in objects and how their caregivers act toward them when they are engaged in object-related acts. Results indicated that infants first displayed sustained interest in objects beginning at 4 months of age and that, beginning at about 8 months, they also began to engage in relational play and to give objects to others. Others tended to ignore infants during episodes of object manipulation and play, but moments of object offering were often socially embedded. These findings provide support for claims that there are universal changes in infants' involvement with objects and that their involvement is channeled in a culturally relevant manner by their caregivers.
Affect↗
Stone agers in the fast lane: chronic degenerative diseases in evolutionary perspective.
From a genetic standpoint, humans living today are Stone Age hunter-gatherers displaced through time to a world that differs from that for which our genetic constitution was selected. Unlike evolutionary maladaptation, our current discordance has little effect on reproductive success; rather it acts as a potent promoter of chronic illnesses: atherosclerosis, essential hypertension, many cancers, diabetes mellitus, and obesity among others. These diseases are the results of interaction between genetically controlled biochemical processes and a myriad of biocultural influences--lifestyle factors--that include nutrition, exercise, and exposure to noxious substances. Although our genes have hardly changed, our culture has been transformed almost beyond recognition during the past 10,000 years, especially since the Industrial Revolution. There is increasing evidence that the resulting mismatch fosters "diseases of civilization" that together cause 75 percent of all deaths in Western nations, but that are rare among persons whose lifeways reflect those of our preagricultural ancestors.
Alcohol Drinking↗
An anthropological perspective on obesity.
An anthropological perspective on obesity considers both its evolutionary background and cross-cultural variation. It must explain three basic facts about obesity: gender dimorphism (women greater than men), an increase with modernization, and a positive association with socioeconomic status. Preindustrial diets varied in quality but shared a tendency to periodic shortages. Such shortages, particularly disadvantageous to women in their reproductive years, favored individuals who, for biological and cultural reasons, stored fat. Not surprisingly, the majority of the world's cultures had or have ideals of feminine beauty that include plumpness. This is consistent with the hypothesis that fat stores functioned as a cushion against food shortages during pregnancy and lactation. As obesity has increased, the traditional gap between males and females in its prevalence has narrowed. Under Western conditions of abundance, our biological tendency to regulate body weight at levels above our ideal cannot be easily controlled even with a complete reversal of the widespread cultural ideal of plumpness.
Adaptation, Physiological↗
Nursing behaviour, prolactin and postpartum amenorrhoea during prolonged lactation in American and !Kung mothers.
In order to determine the effects of protracted nursing in American women, blood was collected hourly for 24 h and nursing periods recorded in 20 mothers, 10 amenorrhoeic, 3 3/4 to 17 1/4 months postpartum (PP), and 10 menstruating, 5 1/4 to 46 months PP. These data were compared to the daytime nursing behaviour and 1000-1100 h PRL of women among !Kung hunter-gatherers of Botswana, a non-contraceptive using population with a birth space interval of greater than 3 years. Intense nursing behaviour maintained amenorrhoea and hyperprolactinaemia for 1 to nearly 2 years PP in both American and !Kung mothers. Among Americans, 80 min of nursing per day, in conjunction with a minimum of six nursing episodes, was highly predictive of remaining amenorrhoeic up to 18 months PP. Amenorrhoea was always accompanied by hyperprolactinaemia, but delay in the onset of menses was related more to nursing behaviour than to a particular 24 h PRL level. The 1000-1100 h sample is equivalent to and about half of the 24 h mean in high and low intensity nursers, respectively. The !Kung women were similar to the high intensity nursing American women in 1000-1100 h PRL, percent amenorrhoeic, and the number of minutes of daytime nursing.
Adult↗
Paleolithic nutrition. A consideration of its nature and current implications.
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Agriculture↗
Nursing frequency, gonadal function, and birth spacing among !Kung hunter-gatherers.
Mothers among !Kung hunter-gatherers nurse briefly and frequently, with brief intervals between nursing bouts (mean +/- standard error, 13.19 +/- 1.28 minutes). The low levels of 17 beta-estradiol and progesterone in the serum of the mother are correlated with infant's age and with interbout interval, but not with total nursing time. Maternal gonadal function is apparently suppressed by a timing-dependent, prolactin-mediated effect of breast stimulation. Interbout interval may be a key variable in lactation infertility. If so, it solves the puzzle of !Kung birth spacing.
Amenorrhea↗