First Friendships: Foundations for Peace

Abstract

First friendships shape children’s brains and thereby their self-regulatory and social capacities. Mothers and others who offer our species’ evolved developmental niche, or evolved nest, provide the appropriate support for growing a cooperative, prosocial community member. Unnested children are less likely to develop our species-typical prosociality and instead be prone to authoritarian tendencies.

Keywords:

• friendship
• child development
• mothering
• evolved developmental niche
• cooperation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to Mary S. Tarsha for reviewing the manuscript.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST STATEMENT

I have no conflicts of interest.

Notes

1 Alloparents or allomothers are I-Thou nurturers other than mother who also provide an appropriate holding environment.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Darcia Narvaez

Darcia Narvaez is professor emerita of psychology at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame Indiana USA. She can be reached at [email protected]