The Human Child's Nature Orientation

Abstract

This article pursues 3 interwoven objectives: to explore the hypothesis that the human child has a basic and developmentally significant orientation toward nature; to show that embracing this hypothesis would enrich and expand, rather than contest, the field's prevailing sociocultural account of child development; and, finally, to show that the hypothesis already enjoys a good fit with an emerging body of empirical findings. The article begins with a brief overview of the child's evolutionary background that centers on 2 constructs—Wilson's “biophilia” and Shipman's “animal connection.” It then turns to a discussion of 3 related areas of developmental research: children's interaction with pets, children's attitudes toward nature, and the animate–inanimate distinction. The article concludes with the proposal that this new emphasis on the human child's nature orientation may better position the field to address 21st-century environmental issues and policy as they affect the child.