A Burning Desire Steps Toward an Evolutionary Psychology of Fire Learning

8/12/2019 A Burning Desire Steps Toward an Evolutionary Psychology of Fire Learning

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A Burning Desire:Steps Toward an EvolutionaryPsychology of Fire Learning

D M. T. F * **

ABSTRACT

Although re is inherently dangerous, leading many animals to avoid it, for most of human history, mastery of re has been critical to survival. Humans can therefore beexpected to possess evolved psychological mechanisms dedicated to controllingre.Because techniques for starting, maintaining, and usingre diff er across ecosystems, thepostulated adaptations can be expected to take the form of domain-specic learning mechanisms rather than xed behavioral templates. After outlining features that suchmechanisms are predicted to possess, I review the literature onre play in western chil-dren, nding that attraction to and interest in re is widespread, experimentation with

re often begins in early childhood, and re play typically peaks in late childhood orearly adolescence. The latter aspect stands in contrast to results from a survey of ethno-graphers which reveals that, in societies in whichre is routinely used as a tool, chil-dren typically master control ofre by middle childhood, at which point interest in reis already declining. This suggests thatre learning is retarded in western children,arguably due to patterns of re use in modern societies that are atypical when viewedfrom a broader cross-cultural perspective. Together with the fact that western enter-tainment media provide a distorted portrait of the properties of re, this pattern, whilelimiting the value of naturalistic observations ofre learning in the West, neverthelesshas the benet of providing a strong testing ground for future experiments exploring theuniversality of the psychology underlying the control ofre.

KEYWORDSFire, children, learning, re play

* Center for Behavior, Evolution & Culture and Department of Anthropology, 341Haines Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553, U.S.A. Tel: +1 (310) 794-9252, Fax:+1 (310) 206-7833, Email: [email protected]

** Acknowledgements: I am grateful to the many investigators, listed beneath Table 1,who contributed ethnographic observations for this paper.

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2006 Journalof Cognition and Culture 6.3-4


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430 DANIEL M. T. FESSLER

Introduction

The use of re is a human universal, a behavior present in virtually all

societies (Brown, 1991). Indeed, while there is debate as to the earliestevidence for the controlled use ofre, evolutionary anthropologists tracethe manipulation of re far beyond the origins of our species withsuggestive ndings dated as early as 790,000 years ago (Goren-Inbaret al., 2004), and some even surpassing the one million year mark (Brain& Sillen, 1988), it is clear that the history of hominids exploitation of re is quite deep. The utility of re for our hunter-gatherer ancestorsand their predecessor species was likely multiplex. In addition toresobvious benets as a source of warmth and light, re played a key rolein the evolution of the human diet, as cooking would have allowed ourspecies to exploit a vastly expanded array of plant and animal foods(Ragir, 2000; Stanford, 1999; Wrangham, Jones, Laden, Pilbeam, &Conklin-Brittain, 1999). Likewise, the control ofre allowed for appli-cations in hunting, combating predators and hostile conspecics, man-aging wild plant resources, and tool production (cf. Clark & Harris,1985). Of course, at no point in our species history willre have con-stituted an unadulterated good together with the smoke that it pro-duces, re is a signicant source of injury and death, a pattern re ectedin most animals wariness ofre.

With a deep evolutionary history and a profound impact on tness,

there is every reason to believe that re has been a source of recurrentand substantial selective pressures shaping human behavior and the psy-chological architecture that underlies it. However, despite the uncontrover-sial, perhaps incontrovertible, nature of this conclusion, to date, evolutionarypsychologists have largely ignoredres role in human evolution. Thepurpose of this paper is to call attention to this lacuna, and suggest somepossible solutions.

The human use of re can be broken down into two elementarycomponents, namely controllingre and producing re. Fire occurs nat-urally due to lightning strikes, volcanic activity, and concentrated solarradiation. In contrast, the articial production of re requires highly spe-cialized tools, techniques, and materials. While this suggests that earlyhominids acquired the ability to control re long before they were able

to produce it, importantly, all available evidence indicates that, like the


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A BURNING DESIRE 431

production of re, the control of re is a learned behavior that is pro-foundly contingent on experience. This observation merits further con-sideration. By way of contrast, consider the manufacture of the spiders

web or the salmons nest. While each involves relatively complex con-structive behavior that employs variable features of the environment, inlight of the life cycles of these organisms, these activities are necessarilygoverned by innate templates rather than acquired information. Givena) the chronological depth of the hominid relationship withre, b) thebenets of controlling re, and c) the costs of erring in this enterprise,this raises the question as to why natural selection did not similarly favorthe evolution of largely innate re-management skills in humans. Onepossible explanation is that, unlike spiders or salmon, humans and theirpredecessors occupied a wide range of ecosystems.

Many of the environments occupied by humans are characterizedby enormous variety in the features relevant to controlling re, princi-pal among which is the nature of available fuels. Combustibles vary withregard to a number of properties relevant to controlling re, including ease of ignition, rapidity of combustion, and explosiveness. Accordingly,had natural selection favored the evolution of a template or schema akinto those that appear to govern some animal constructions (i.e., the pat-terned use of materials, having diff ering specied properties, in a set of discrete tasks characterized by a xed temporal sequence), such a tem-plate would have been of limited utility, as it would necessarily have

been parochial to a given ecosystem due to its reliance on xed typesrather than attributes. This is because, unlike, for example, the twigsand feathers used to construct a birds nest, many of the properties of combustibles are not detectable on the basis of surface features exam-ining downed tree limbs, for example, will not reveal the features of combustion typical of each type of wood, to say nothing of inspecting materials such as animal fat, beeswax, or tar. Because the techniquesinvolved in building and maintaining a re are largely dependent on thefuels selected, any pre-existing template for such techniques would havehad to specify the fuels to be employed. Given that the only way thatnatural selection could have produced a re-management template wouldthus have been to specify xed ingredients (akin, for example, to thebeavers fondness for willows, cottonwood, and aspen), and given that

such a template would therefore have failed to translate eff ectively across


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that requires attack or injury to learn that an animal is dangerous isunlikely to survive for long, (2005:217). Correspondingly, if childrenwere to acquire their knowledge of re exclusively through individual

trial-and-error learning, a large percentage would suff er serious or fatalburns.Barrett (2005) outlinesve features that can be expected to charac-

terize the information acquisition system dedicated to learning aboutpredators; we can expect parallels to exist for each of these features inthe domain of controlling re. First, learning can be expected to occurwithout extrinsic motivation. Just as dangerous animals appear to holdconsiderable fascination for children, so too can children be expected tobe spontaneously interested in re children are predicted to be curi-ous about the ammability of various materials, and interested in theconsequences of manipulating or rearranging burning objects, adding objects to or removing objects from a re, and so on. Second, we canexpect information to be acquired rapidly, often on the basis of only asingle exposure. To acquire a new animal concept, children are expectedto need only a single encounter, or to hear only once about the attrib-utes of a dangerous animal. Likewise,re learning should be rapid inresponse to minimal exposure information relevant to the control of re is predicted to have high salience such that children will attend tothis information and recall a greater percentage of it following exposurethan will be the case with respect to information, relevant to other

domains, that is acquired through general-purpose learning mechanisms.Third, both because it allows low-cost learning-at-a-distance and becauseit tracks local ecological circumstances, socially-transmitted informationconstitutes a valuable resource for both the student of predators and thestudent of re. Just as members of a local group act as a reservoir of accumulated observations regarding the identifying attributes and char-acteristic behaviors of indigenous animals, so too can others knowledgeof the re-relevant properties of locally-available materials be expectedto play a valuable role in learning to use re in a given ecosystem.Fourth, the information acquisition system can be expected to employbiases or prior structures that guide learning in the specied domain.For example, Barrett suggests that childrens learning about animals maybe guided by such fundamental categorical distinctions as dangerous ver-

sus harmless, carnivore versus herbivore, and so on. Correspondingly,


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learning about re may be structured by dichotomies such as ammableversus nonammable or, more broadly, things that intensify res andthings that diminish res. Lastly, acquisition of procedural knowledge

may be achieved in part through the operation of dedicated mechanismsthat serve to generate relevant experience in a safe context. Just as chaseplay, an intrinsically rewarding activity for children, may serve to honepredator-prey pursuit and evasion skills (Steen & Owens, 2001), so toomay childrens manipulations of smallres, embers, and the like pro-vide a means of acquiring relevant experience in a setting that is saferthan a full-scale cooking or heating re.

Existing literature: Childrens re play and re setting inmodern societies

Testing the ve sets of predictions described above will require struc-tured experiments involving young children from diverse cultures. Becausesuch an enterprise is not entered into lightly, it is worth exploring herethe extent to which available ndings are congruent with the portrait of human re psychology outlined above. A voluminous literature addressesthe topic of re setting by children and juveniles. Importantly, re set-ting is a broad category of behavior, encompassing everything from play-ing with matches to arson. The perspective developed here suggests that,

for the child, observation of, and interaction with, re will often be endsin themselves, a motivational orientation that diff ers markedly from thatwhich pertains when re is used as a weapon to intentionally inict dam-age or harm. Consistent with this distinction, public safety experts dis-tinguish so-called re play from other behaviors involvingre, dening re play as A re deliberately set for no purpose, constructive or destruc-tive, beyond the re itself, (Hall, 2003:1). This distinction, however, inno way suggests that re play is harmless on the contrary, re safetyofficers concern with re play is quite justied. By way of example, inthe U.S., between 1980 and 1999, childrens re play resulted in 7,306civilian deaths, 48,922 serious civilian injuries, and over 3 billion dol-lars worth of property damage (Hall, 2003). Although governmentalattempts to combat the problem through consumer product safety reg-

ulations, public information campaigns, education plans, and interven-


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tion programs have succeeded in reducing these gures somewhat, chil-drens re play continues to be a signicant source of pain, suff ering,and expense in modern societies.

Much of the literature on re setting is aimed at characterizing thefeatures of recidivist juvenilere setters, with investigators identifying attributes and correlates such as cruelty to animals, deance of author-ity, and a chaotic or con ictual family environment as risk factors forrecidivism (Kolko, 2002). While such research usefully identies dan-gerous individuals who are relatively resistent to the mechanisms of socialcontrol normally employed to enhance conformity to social standards,this entreprise generally overshadows the exploration ofre setting among non-clinical, non-recidivist children. Nevertheless, despite this bias, it ispossible to glean a portrait of such behavior from the existing literature.

Kafry (1980) queried 99 lower elementary school boys in Berkeley,California, nding that 45% reported having played with re, and 21%reported having caused a re as a consequence; of the latter, 18% werecaused by children who were two years of age or younger at the timeof the accident. Eighty-one percent of children surveyed reported being interested in re and, across ages, curiosity was the motive cited mostfrequently to explain the behavior. As a comparison group for a clini-cal sample, Kolko et al. (2001) conducted a three-year longitudinal studyof a community sample of 100 boys and 62 girls, age 6-13 (mean =9.5), with follow-up interviews at one and two years. Results reveal quite

consistent patterns wherein, at any one time, approximately one-third of the children report being interested in re, slightly less than half reportplaying with matches, and slightly less than one-third report having setplay res. Viewed individually, by the end of the study almost three-quarters of the participants had at some time played with matches orset a play re. Perrin-Wallqvist and Norlander (2003) retrospectively sur-veyed 50 18-year old Swedish men and 45 18-19 year old Swedishwomen. Seventy percent of the men reported having played with reduring childhood, and 44% of the women did likewise. The principalmotives for childhoodre play were curiosity, entertainment, and excite-ment seeking; a high proportion of subjects reported being fascinated ordrawn to re. Paralleling this result, Perrin-Wallqvist et al. (Perrin-Wallqvist, Archer, & Norlander, 2004) surveyed 28 male and 28 female


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Swedish 16-year olds concerning emotional attitudes towardre. While61% thought re was cozy and 20% found re exciting, only 9%thought that re was uninteresting; 27% of the respondents foundre

sufficiently entertaining that they lit res when bored.Simonsen and Bullis (2001) surveyed 5,416 third through eighth gradeOregonian students, relatively evenly distributed across ages, regarding re starting, interest in re, and motivations for re play. Forty-sevenpercent of students reported having played withre; a retrospective ques-tion revealed that 10% reported starting their rst re between the agesof one and ve, 27% reported starting their rst re between the agesof six and ten, and 10% reported starting their rst re between theages of 11 and 15. Attraction to and interest in re was quite high:although only 29% overtly reported being interested inre, 46% reportedliking television programs that involvere, 61% reported enjoying assist-ing adults in lighting or putting out re, 33% reported enjoying burn-ing objects such as twigs, grass, or paper, and 21% reported enjoying playing with matches or lighters. Correspondingly,re had high enter-tainment value for children, with large proportions of respondents cit-ing as motives forre starting just for fun (23%) and out of boredom(19%), with curiousity (to see what would happen) another signicantcontributor (18%).

Cotterall (2003) conducted a similar survey of 3,031 students fromgrade 3 through 13 in Sudbury, Ontario. A number of patterns are

markedly evident. First, while the frequency of actualre play shows asteady increase across the age span studied (18% of third graders reporthaving played with matches or lighters in the last year, while 81% of thirteenth graders report having done so), what Cotterall terms expressedpreoccupation and fascination with re (e.g., Are you curious aboutre? Are you really interested in re and what it can do? etc.) doesnot vary in any regular fashion across this age range and, likewise, thelower-level factor that Cotterall terms expressed interest inre (e.g.,Do you like to start res? Do you feel excited when you watch are burning? Do you like staring at re? etc.) shows only a gradualincrease with age. These patterns suggest that the age-related changesin re play documented by Cotterall are a function not of changes inattraction to re, but rather of changes in willingness to disobey rules,

changes in opportunities to engage in proscribed behavior outside of


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adult supervision, and changes in access to sources of ignition. Tellingly,across ages, the principal motives forre starting are just for fun, tosee what would happen, to destroy something, and boredom, pat-

terns that are even more marked among those who reported extensivere play. Equally important, knowledge regarding institutionally-conveyedre safety practices had virtually no relationship with the extent ofreplay.

An indirect measure of childrensre-related activity can be derivedfrom records of res that, whether by design or accident, becomesufficiently large as to attract the attention of re departments. Okulitchand Pinsonneault (2002) compiled records of 4,600res involving juve-niles in Oregon between 1996 and 2000. Twelve-year olds accountedfor the largest proportion of these res, with a steady increase in involve-ment from ages 1 to 12, and a steady decrease in involvement after age12. If we assume that, in at least some sizable fraction of these res,the re starter had no intention of creating a con agration sufficientlylarge as to result in the involvement of the authorities (cf. Kafry, 1980),then, comparing this pattern to Cotteralls ndings suggests that, in NorthAmerica, age 12 constitutes the dangerous apex of the combination of factors listed above (willingness to disobey rules, etc.) and incompletemastery of re, such that it escapes the re starters control.

Lastly, although not presented in the context of quantitative data,drawing on her experience with resetters in Massachusetts, Pinsonneault

concludes that [c]ommon questions children have about re include,What makes re hot? How does a small re grow? . . . Why are someres very smoky? . . . Can everything burn? . . . How can you keep aresmall? How can you put res out? (Pinsonneault, 2002:223). Importantly,these are exactly the sort of questions that we might expect to be fore-most in the minds of individuals whose curiousity is not simply the prod-uct of a general interest in the world, but rather re ects a domain-specicinformation-gathering system the purpose of which is to acquire the abil-ity to control re.

Although the studies reviewed above vary considerably in their details,they can be roughly summarized as follows: a) western childrenrstbecome curious about re in early childhood, b) experimentation withre increases as a function of age, often extending well into adolescence,

and c) for many individuals, some attraction tore persists into maturity,


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a pattern consistent with the entertainment value that many westernadults place on activities such as gazing into are. The question remains,however, as to whether this trajectory directly reects the workings of a

developmental information acquisition system governed by an evolvedpsychological mechanism. In particular, it is telling that muchre playoccurs in adolescence in western populations. First, as was arguably truein most ancestral human societies, in many small-scale societies today,adolescents, particularly females, engage in a great deal of productiveunsupervised economic activity (cf. Kaplan, Hill, Lancaster, & Hurtado,2000). Given that re is an elementary part of the human tool kit, itwould be odd if the acquisition of re-control skills was normally soretarded that additional experimentation was still required during thesame phase of life when signicant economic productivity has alreadycommenced. Second, a hallmark of adolescence in western nations is asubstantial increase in mobility and autonomy, changes that often pre-cipitate engagement in proscribed activities that had previously been pre-cluded by caretaker supervision. Combined with strong prohibitionsagainst re play and, for many, limited exposure to re on a daily basis,this pattern means that, in much of the developed world, adolescenceoften constitutes the rst opportunity to extensively experiment withre.Together, these observations suggest that, while studies ofre play inthe West are interesting in as much as they reveal considerable moti-vation to explore re from a young age, they nevertheless present what

is likely a highly distorted portrait of the developmental unfolding of amechanism aimed at acquiring re knowledge and skills.

Childrens interactions with re in societies in which re isroutinely used as a tool

Children and re in Bengkulu, Sumatra

Between 1990 and 1993 I conducted ethnographic eldwork in a semi-traditional Bengkulu Malayshing village on the west coast of Sumatra.Although I did not systematically collect data on childrens interactionswith re, my immersion in village life was such that I neverthelessrecorded many off hand observations and impressions, allowing for asketch of childrens interactions withre.


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Because childcare duties and cooking duties were often delegated tothe same individuals, from infancy, on children in Bengkulu had ampleopportunity to observe others controlling re. Small children often sat

on or near their caretakers while the latter manipulated re; caretakersbrushed the child aside with a scolding if the child reached for burning or hot items, but otherwise off ered no instruction regarding the controlof re. Childrens autonomous manipulation ofre typically began aroundage 4. About this time children were allowed to build small res, andfrequently did, cooking either mud pies and other pretend foods or actualmorsels. Adults did not instruct children with regard to either building or maintaining a re, at most snapping at a child if play with or nearre posed a danger; the only input that might be considered pedagog-ical came from slightly older children, who would sometimes narratetheir actions using a type of play-speech while handlingre. Childrensinterest in such kids res seemed to peak around age 6-7 and dimin-ished rapidly thereafter, disappearing entirely before age 10. Childrenages 3-6 sometimes poked at, jumped over, and similarly toyed withadult res (resulting in one serious burn during my stay), but this waslimited in scope and frequency, and, again, had largely subsided by mid-dle childhood. Children age 6 and up were often sent to a neighborshouse to fetch burning embers for re-starting. By age 8 both girls andboys were commonly performing adult chores, including cooking andtending res, and their interactions with re were increasingly utilitar-

ian in nature. Adolescents and young adults (particularly men, nearly allof whom smoked) would occasionally idlelyick cigarrette lighters, toywith matches, or poke at burning candles, but such behavior was moreakin to ddling than to interested experimentation, and was not char-acterized by any excitement. The only behavior that I observed thatcould even remotely be classied as fascination with re occurred whena fad for making cap bombs swept the village; boys age 5-8 would mod-ify old spark plugs to form the body of the bomb, scrape match headsto obtain gunpowder, then load the projectiles and throw them upward,squeeling with glee when they produced a resounding Bang! upon impactwith the ground.

To summarize my (admittedly unsystematic) ethnographic observa-tions: in one Bengkulu village, children experienced early interaction with

re but received little or no instruction in controlling it. Typically, children


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re from scratch, relying instead on embers or coals from another re.Gender diff erences with regard to re competence were described for anumber of the societies, with girls generally acquiring competence sooner

than boys and/or achieving greater pro ciency due to a gendered divi-sion of labor. Focusing on whichever gender achieves prociency ear-lier, the age for achieving competence in maintaining a re ranges from5 to 8, with the average being approximately 6.5.

Discussion

To summarize the above, while some variation exists, ethnographersworking in disparate societies in whichre is routinely used as a toolreport patterns of re behavior similar to those that I observed in Sumatra.Childrens interactions with re begin early, with mastery of re typi-cally achieved by middle childhood. Fire is viewed in utilitarian terms it has little or no entertainment value, and childrens re play, when itoccurs at all, is best described in terms of practicing a necessary skill.These patterns underline the contrast between the developmental tra-

jectory of re learning in modern societies and that which occurs else-where. For ancestral humans and their immediate predecessor species,re would have been a nearly-omnipresent tool, an important but mun-dane facet of daily life, and the same seems to characterize peoples

interactions with re in many contemporary traditional or small-scalesocieties. This stands in contrast to res role in most modern societies,where it is used principally as decoration (hearth res, candles), enter-tainment (bonres, reworks), or romantized marker of special circum-stances (barbeques, campres), functions that are neither frequent normundane. At the same time that re is culturally marked with height-ened aff ect, children in modern societies have limited opportunities tolearn about re through such low-level hands-on manipulations as tend-ing a cooking re or building a play version thereof. Hence, many mod-ern societies may simultaneously enshrinere as an emotional symboland a source of amusement (rather than a tool) and constrain childrensopportunities to acquire realistic information about, and experience with,re. One possible consequence of this pattern is that the developmental

trajectory of re learning is greatly retarded in the west, with mastery


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T a b l e 1

E t h n o g r a p h e r s R e c o

l l e c t i o n s

C o n c e r n i n g

C h i l d r e n s I n t e r a c t i o n s w i t h F i r e .

E m p t y c e l

l s i n d i c a t e t h a t n o

i n f o r m a t i o n

i s a v a i

l a b l e .

N a m e o f

g r o u p /

S e r i o u s

b u r n s

A g e 1 s t

i n t e r a c t i o n

A g e 1 s t r e p l a y

A g e c o m p e t e n t

E n t e r t a

i n m e n t ? W a r n i n g s

c u l t u r e

g e n

d e r ?

g e n d e r ?

g e n d e r ?

L e a r n i n g

Y a n o m a m o

( 1 )

N o n e

k n o w n

5 - 6 ; n o g e n d e r

7 - 8 ;

g i r l s m o r e

M i n i m a l ;

S c o l

d i n g

[ V e n e z u e

l a ]

d i ff e r e n c e s

c o m p e t e n t &

b o y s p l a y

R E

d a n g e r

k n o w

l e d g e a

b l e

a t a r i t e

d e

o f

p a s s a g e

h o r s e p l a y

i n v o

l v i n g r e

n e a r r e

O b s e r -

v a t i o n

A c h e ( 2 )

M a n y

b u r n s , 1 - 2

4 ; n o g e n d e r

U t i l

i t a r i a n a t t e m p t s M a i n t a

i n : 6

N o n e , r e

i s

O c c a s

i o n a

l

[ P a r a g u a y ]

d e a t

h s ; a

l l d u e t o


t o b u i l d / m a i n t a i n

B u i l d : 8

b o r i n g

a d u l t

s l e e p

i n g n e a r r e

r e s

f r o m 4 u p ; n o N o g e n d e r

d i ff . s

i n s t r u c t i o n ,

p l a y p e r s e

m o s t l y o b s e r -

v a t i o n a n

d

t r i a l a n

d

e r r o r

S h u a r

( 3 )

N o n e

k n o w n

5 - 6 ; y o u n g e r

k i d s

M i n i m a l p l a y ,

M a i n t a i n : 8 o r

N o n e a f t e r 5 - 6 ,

P o s s i

b l e

[ E c u a d o r ]

s h o w

f a s c

i n a t

i o n

a l t h o u g h

e a r l i e r

e x c e p t r e -

o c c a s i o n a

l

p r e - t e e n s / t e e n s

B u i l d : 1 0 o r

c r a c

k e r s

a d u l t

m a k e r e c r a c

k e r s

e a r l i e r

G i r l s

w a r n

i n g s o r

b e t t e r s k i l l e

d

i n s t r u c t i o n ;

m o s t l y

o b s e r v a t

i o n

a n d t r i a l

a n d e r r o r

M a t s i g e n

k a ( 4 )

N o n e

k n o w n

A t r s t w a

l k i n g ; n o 3 ;

n o g e n

d e r

5 ; n

o g e n d e r

F i r e

i s o n

l y a

N o w a r n

i n g s

[ P e r u ]

g e n d e r




g a t h e r

i n g p o

i n t o r

( r o a s t i n g

f u n


f o o d , e

t c . )

o b s e r v a t

i o n

o n l y


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B w a M a w e g o ( 5

)

M a n y m

i n o r

b u r n s

G i r l s

f r o m a g e 4 ,

V a r i e s

G i r l s 7 - 8 , b

o y s N o n e

[ D o m

i n i c a ]

f r o m c o o k

i n g r e s

b o y s

l a t e r

l a t e r

Z i n a c a n t e c M a y a

2 k n o w n ;

c o o

k i n g ,

G i r l s

f r o m a g e 4 ,

G i r l s p l a y c o o k

i n g

G i r l s : b u

i l d &

N o n e

W a r n i n g o f

( 6 )

r e c r a c k e r s

b o y s r a r e

l y

a g e 6 - 1 0 ; b o y s

m a i n t a i n

s m .

r e

t o d d l e r s ;

[ M e x

i c o ]

o n l y p l a y w /

b y 6 , b i g r e

b y

O b s e r v a t i o n

r e c r a c

k e r s

8 B o y s :

d o n t

o f a

d u l t s

d e a l w / r e

a n d s i b

l i n g s ,

i n s t r u c t i o n

f r o m o l

d e r

c h i l d r e n

d u r i n g p l a y

L a b r a d o r M e t i s &

M a n y

b u r n s

A t r s t w a

l k i n g

G i r l s : 7

P l a y w /

P o s s i

b l e

I n n u

( 7 )

B o y s : 9 - 1 0

k e r o s e n e

a d u l t

[ N e w

f o u n

d l a n

d ]


F i j i a n

( 8 )

4 y e a r o l

d f e l l i n

B o y s a g e 7 - 1 0 r u n M a i n t a i n : 7

( s e e r e p l a y

)

N o

[ Y a s a w a I s l . ,

F i j i ]

r e

w /

b u r n

i n g

B u i l d : ?


s t i c k s

M a n a g a l a s e

( 9 )

M a n y

b u r n s , 1

V e r y e a r l y ;

N o

p l a y p e r s e ,

5 - 6 ,

n o g e n d e r

[ P a p u a N e w

f a t a

l i t y , m o s t l y

d u e

E m b e r s u s e d

f o r

a l t h o u g

h m a k e


G u i n e a ]

t o s l e e p

i n g n e a r r e

l i g h t b y 3 - 4

d e s i g n s w / e m

b e r s

a t n i g h t

G i m i ( 1 0

)

N o n e

k n o w n

5 ; g i r l s

h a n d

l e r e

B u i l d &

B o y s p l a y w /

M o s t l y

[ N e w

B r i t a i n

,

m o r e

( c o o k

i n g )

m a i n t a i n : 8

m a t c h e s

o b s e r v a t

i o n

P a p u a N e w

P r o b a b l y e a r l i e r N o n e

f o r a d u l t s

o f o

l d e r

G u i n e a ]

f o r g i r

l s

c h i l d r e n

I l a h i t a

A r a p e s h

M a n y

b u r n s ;

3 ; n

o g e n d e r

U t i l i t a r i a n r e

5 - 6 ;

n o g e n d e r

N o n e

N o w a r n

i n g s

( 1 1 )

[ P a p u a N e w

t o d d l e r s s t u m

b l e


h a n d

l i n g

f r o m

d i ff e r e n c e , t h o u g h

S o m e a d u l t

G u i n e a ]

i n t o r e , e l d e r

l y r o

l l

3 u p

g i r l s a r e m o r e

i n s t r u c t i o n o f

i n t o r e w h

i l e

s k i l l e d

y o u n g g i r

l s ;

s l e e p

i n g

m o s t l y

o b s e r v a t

i o n


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N a m e o f

g r o u p /

S e r i o u s

b u r n s

A g e 1 s t

i n t e r a c t

i o n

A g e 1 s t r e p l a y

A g e c o m p e t e n t

E n t e r t a

i n m e n t ? W a r n i n g s

c u l t u r e

g e n d e r ?

g e n d e r ?

g e n d e r ?

L e a r n i n g

K e l a

b i t

( 1 2 )

N o n e

k n o w n

V e r y e a r

l y

6 ; b

o y s o f t e n

W a r n i n g s t o

[ B o r n e o ]

b u i l d r e s t o

b a b i e s ;

c o o k g a m e

s u p e r v

i s i o n

o f y

o u n g

c h i l d r e n s

r e s

M u l t i p

l e c a s t e s

i n M a n y

b u r n s

C h i l d r e n d o n o t

G i r l s : 6 - 7

N o n e

S c a r y s t o r i e s

B h u b a n e s w a r ,

p l a y w i t h r e

B o y s : u n k n o w n ,

t o w a r n

I n d i a

( 1 3 )

d o n t

d e a l w /

i n f a n t s a n

d

r e

c h i l d r e n .

L e a r n

b y

o b s e r v a t

i o n

N u r z a y / W e s t e r n

T w o c a s e s , e a c h

V e r y e a r

l y ;


T e n d

i n g r e :

4 - 5

N o n e , s t r

i c t l y

N o

d i r e c t

P a h t u n

( 1 4 )

a g e 3

b e g i n p o

k i n g a t

p l a y w i t h r e

B u i l d & m a i n t a

i n u t

i l i t a r i a n


[ A f g h a n i s t a n ]

r e a s t o

d d l e r s ,

r e : 5 - 6

m u c

h

b u t

i t i s u t

i l i t a r i a n

N o g e n d e r d

i ff . s

o b s e r v a t

i o n ;

a d u l t s

c o m m e n t o n

m i s t a k e s

P i m

b w e

( 1 5 )

2 c h i l d f a t a

l i t i e s

,

5 - 6 ,

n o g e n

d e r

E m b e r s c a r r

i e d f o r 8 - 9

f o r r e s

F i r e

i s f o c u s o f N o w a r n

i n g s

[ T a n z a n i a ]

m a n y

b u r n s


u t i l i t a r i a n r e a s o n s

o u t s i

d e o f

h o u s e , s o c i a

l i z i n g ,

b u t N o

d i r e c t

a t a g e 7 , n o

1 0 - 1

1 f o r r e s

t h i s i s d u e t o


g e n d e r


i n s i d e o f

h o u s e

w a r m t h

( o n l y )


b u i l d p l a y r e s

T a b l e 1

( c o n t . )


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K

i p s i g

i s ( 1 5 )

1 f a t a l

i t y , m

a n y

5 - 6 , n o

g e n d e r

E m b e r s c a r r i e

d f o r 7

f o r r e s o u t s i

d e N o n e , s t r

i c t l y N

o w a r n

i n g s

[ K e n y a ]

b u r n s

( 5 6 % o f


u t i l i t a r i a n r e a s o n s

o f h

o u s e ; n o

u t i l i t a r i a n

N o

d i r e c t

a c c i d e n t s u n

d e r

a t a g e 5 - 6 ,

n o

g e n d e r



a g e 5 )

g e n d e r


8 f o r r e s

i n s i d e

E x t e n s

i v e


o f h

o u s e , m

o r e

o b s e r v a t

i o n

b u i l d p l a y r e s

c o m m o n

f o r g i r l s

M

u k o g o d o

( 1 6 )

M a n y

b u r n s , m o s t l y

G i r l s : 3

B o y s : 6

M a i n t a i n :

6 - 7 ,

N o n e , s t r

i c t l y N

o w a r n

i n g s

[ K e n y a ]

c h i l d r e n

B o y s : a

b i t

l a t e r

G i r l s : n o n e

k n o w n

m o s t l y g i r l s

u t i l i t a r i a n

N o

d i r e c t

B u i l d : T e e n a g e


( m a t c h e s a r e

e x p e n s

i v e ,

k e p t

f r o m c h

i l d r e n

)

A b a s h

i s h a /

A f e w

b u r n s c a r s

4 - 5 , m o r e

B e g i n s a t a g e 6 ,

6 - 7

L i t t l e o b v i o u s

M i n i m a l

A b a l u y i a

( 1 7 )

o b s e r v e d

c o m m o n

f o r

m o s t

f r e q u e n t 6 - 1 2

i n t e r e s t


[ K e n y a ]

g i r l s

u t i l i t a r i a n ?

b y a d u l t s

a n d o l

d e r

c h i l d r e n ;

m o s t l y

o b s e r v a t

i o n ,

m i m i c r y

H

a d z a

( 1 8 )

1 a c c i d e n t a

l b u r n

6 m o n t h s ; n o

C a r r y c o a l s

f o r

B u i l d a n

d

N o n e

N o

[ T a n z a n

i a ]

g e n d e r

d i ff e r e n c e s u t

i l i t a r i a n p u r p o s e s m a i n t a i n

b y 6 ,


s t a r t i n g a g e

3 - 4 ,

n o g e n d e r

o b s e r v a t

i o n

n o g e n d e r


o n l y


N e v e r o b s e r v e d

p l a y r e s

R e s p o n d e n t s :

( 1 ) R a y m o n

d B .

H a m e s ; ( 2 )

K i m R

. H i l l ;

( 3 ) H

. C l a r k B a r r e t t ;

( 4 ) C a r o

l i n a I z q u

i e r d o ; ( 5 )

M a r k V . F

l i n n ;

( 6 ) A s h

l e y E .

M a y n a r d ; ( 7 )

E v i e

P l a i c e ; ( 8 )

J o s e p

h H e n r i c

h ; ( 9 ) W i l l i a m M c K e l l

i n ; ( 1 0 )

S t e p

h e n L e ; ( 1 1

) D o n a l d F .

T u z

i n ; ( 1 2

) M o n

i c a J a n o w s k

i ; ( 1 3 )

S u s a n

C . S

e y m o u r ; ( 1 4

) M i c h a e

l

C a s

i m i r ;

( 1 5 )

M o n

i q u e

B o r g e r

h o ff M u l

d e r ;

( 1 6 )

L e e

C r o n

k ; ( 1 7 )

T h o m a s

S . W

e i s n e r ; ( 1 8

) F r a n k W . M

a r l o w e


18/23


of re occuring a decade or more later than is the case when childreninteract with re in a manner more akin to that which has likely beentypical for most of human history. A second possible consequence is that

the motives that drive re learning are only incompletely satised, withthe result that, throughout life, re retains greater allure or fascinationthan would normally be the case; in turn, this pattern provides a per-sonal foundation for the acquisition and perpetuation of the toy mean-ings ascribed to re in modern societies.1

For scholars seeking to explore evolutionary hypotheses, the possi-bilities detailed above constrain the utility of some avenues for explor-ing re learning in the west, as conclusions derived from naturalisticobservations of western childrensre behavior will likely fail to gener-alize beyond developed societies. However, precisely the same featuresmay also enhance the empirical weight of ndings obtained throughexperimentation. By way of analogy, Barrett and Behne (2005) conductedexperiments showing that there are remarkable parallels between Germanand Shuar children in the development of an understanding of death,parallels that occur despite the fact that German children have far lessexposure to actual instances of death, and have far more exposure tomisinformation (e.g., cartoon portrayals of immediate recovery from cat-astrophic injury, etc.). Children in the U.S. are exposed to a plethoraof misinformation concerningre (Hardesty & Gayton, 2002), including numerous highly unrealistic portrayals ofre on toy packaging (Curri

et al., 2003) and in television advertisements (Palmieri et al., 2004).Consider, for example, the lessons that a child might derive from arecent Taco Bell commercial in which basketball star Shaquille ONealis engulfed in ames, whereupon he calmly asks the camera Is it hotin here, or is it just me? Paralleling Barretts work, the thesis thathumans possess evolved psychological mechanisms dedicated to the acqui-sition of re-relevant information predicts that, despite such misinfor-mation and lack of experience, children in modern societies shouldresemble children in small-scale societies, where such resemblance occursnot with respect to re knowledge per se, but rather with regard to the

1 Similar reasoning may explain the fascination with predators, both real and imag-inary, that characterizes many modern cultures in which few individuals will ever encountera truly dangerous animal (cf. Barrett, 2005).


19/23


ease and rapidity with which they learn which substances burn andwhich do not, their tendency to make category errors within rather thanacross these two classes, and so on. With this in mind, I encourage inves-

tigators to explore the psychology ofre in children of both modernand developing nations.In addition to having consequences for research into the psycholog-

ical foundations ofre learning, the evolutionarily novel nature of west-ern childrens interactions withre has potentially important implicationsfor public policy. Fire safety officials spend a substantial amount of time,energy, and money trying to educate children regarding the dangers of re, yet existing evidence suggests that, at best, these eff orts have onlylimited impact on childrens actual behavior (cf. Cotterall, 2003). In mod-ern societies, adult-initiated pedagogy such as this plays an importantrole in information transfer. However, teaching is far less signicant inthe learning processes that occur in many small-scale societies. Rather,children spend much of their time either on the sidelines, watching theskilled performance of locally-adaptive behaviors, or attempting to engagein play-like learning behaviors (Fiske, n.d.; Mead, 1943); the same appearsto be true of re learning. It is possible that the latter mode is moreappropriate for learning skills having a deep evolutionary history. Thethesis that re learning is shaped by a domain-specic information-acqui-sition mechanism suggests that opportunities to observe others interact-ing with re in a mundane fashion, and opportunities to manipulate re

free of the titillation of proscription, may ultimately prove more eff ectivethan direct pedagogy in managing the threat to public safety posed bychildrens re play in modern societies.

As noted earlier, again motivated by public safety concerns, a signicantportion of the existing research on the psychology ofre focuses onaberrant individuals, persons who are at high risk of recidivism in thecommission of re-related crimes. Importantly, investigations of psy-chopathology may provide an additional avenue for exploring the evolvedpsychology ofre use. Just as phobias off er a window into the psycho-logical mechanisms that evolved to cope with recurrent threats to ances-tral humans (hman & Mineka, 2001), so too may it be possible toexplore manias as a window into the mechanisms that evolved to copewith recurrent resources or opportunities (examples unrelated to re

include erotomania and kleptomania). Considerable attention has been


20/23


dedicated to the clinical study of pyromania. However, to date, investi-gators have largely framed the study of disordered fascination withreusing superordinate categories (e.g., impulse control disorders, aggressiv-

ity disorders, etc.) that overlook the unique importance ofre in humanevolution. An evolutionary perspective suggests that useful insights intothe mind of the pyromaniac may be gained by focusing on the specicfeatures of re that motivate re-setting behavior; at present, we knowlittle about how or why re excites or stimulates such individuals. Likewise,light may be shed on pyromania by the thesis that, viewed both cross-culturally and evolutionarily, western societies structure childrens inter-actions with re in a highly unusual manner the ontogeny of thiscondition may epitomize the costs of disrupting the normal trajectory of information-acquisition processes that are guided by evolved mechanisms.

Alone among the components of the tool kits of our ancestors,recontinues to play important roles in contemporary human life. Whetheras a useful tool or a destructive object of fascination,re has an impacton societies large and small, yet we know little about the psychology of re, re learning, and the impact of culture on these factors. It is hightime that we knew more.

Appendix

Survey Regarding Childrens Interactions With Fire1. Name of group/society/people at issue.2. Do you know of any serious burns (including deaths) due tore?

Please brie y explain (i.e., age of individual[s], outcome, etc.).3. At approximately what age do children rst begin interacting with

(i.e., manipulating, poking at, etc.)re? Is there a gender diff erence

in this regard?4. At what age do children typically begin playing withre (carrying

burning objects, building playres, etc.)? In what age range is suchbehavior most frequent, if it occurs? Any gender diff erences?

5. At what age are children fully competent to maintain a re? At whatage are children fully competent to start/build a re? Any genderdiff erences?


21/23


6. Do children display entertainment interest in re (i.e., watching refor long periods, manipulatingres to create interesting eff ects, etc.)?Are there are age or gender di ff erences? Do adults display such

interest?7. Do adults or older children directly instruct children with regard tothe dangers of re? How do children learn techniques for maintain-ing a re? How do children learn techniques for starting/building are?

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