Abstract: Evolutionary developmental psychology involves the study of the genetic and environmental mechanisms that underlie the universal development of social and cognitive competencies and how these processes adapt to local conditions. We present some of the central issues and concepts of evolutionary developmental psychology: (1) natural selection operates at all stages of the lifespan, but especially early in life; (2) adaptations can be functional at any time in development, but evolutionary developmental psychology is particularly concerned with adaptations associated with infancy and childhood; (3) an extended childhood is needed in which to learn the complexities of human social communities; (4) the application of a developmental contextual (epigenetic) approach to explain how evolved and inherited dispositions become expressed as adaptive behaviors in the phenotypes of adults; (5) development is constrained by both genetic and environmental factors; and (6) children show substantial plasticity of cognition and behavior, and adaptive sensitivity to context early in life

Key words: evolutionary developmental psychology, natural selection, plasticity