Father Nature: The Science of Paternal Potential

by James K. Rilling

Overview

How and why human males evolved the capacity to be highly involved caregivers—and why some are more involved than others.

We all know the importance of mothers. They are typically as paramount in the wild as they are in human relationships. But what about fathers? In most mammals, including our closest living primate relatives, fathers have little to no involvement in raising their offspring—and sometimes even kill the offspring sired by other fathers. How, then, can we explain modern fathers having the capacity to be highly engaged parents? In Father Nature, James Rilling explores how humans have evolved to endow modern fathers with this potential and considers why this capacity evolved in humans.

Paternal caregiving is advantageous to children and, by extension, to society at large, yet variable both across and within human societies. Rilling considers how to explain this variability and what social and policy changes might be implemented to increase positive paternal involvement. Along the way, Father Nature also covers the impact fathers have on children’s development, the evolution of paternal caregiving, how natural selection adapted male physiology for caregiving, and finally, what lessons an expecting father can take away from the book, as well as what benefits they themselves get from raising children, including increased longevity and “younger” brains.

A beautifully written book by a father himself, Father Nature is a much-needed—and deeply rewarding—look at the science behind “good” paternal behavior in humans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262378222
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	10/01/2024
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	392

About the Author

James K. Rilling is Professor of Psychology and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University, and Director of the Laboratory for Darwinian Neuroscience. He is married and the father of two children.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“I highly recommend Father Nature for a balanced, engaging, and accessible account of the empirical and theoretical scholarship on fathers, fatherhood, and father–child relationships, drawing on insights from disciplines as diverse as anthropology, psychology, medicine, and biology.”
—Michael E. Lamb, Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Emeritus Fellow, Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge
 
“With succinct and exceptionally clear summaries of the latest findings from social neuroscience and endocrinology, Rilling highlights the importance of fathers in the lives of their children and offers practical advice for how best to encourage paternal involvement.”
—Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, author of Mother Nature, Mothers and Others, and Father Time
 
“Father Nature takes us on a journey of how males became fathers and shows us that parenting is more than a ‘maternal instinct.’ Delving into the science and history of fatherhood, we are reminded of the importance of fathers in society today.”
—Jodi Pawluski, author of Mommy Brain
 
“A major book that finally presents fatherhood from the angle of biological evolution. A powerful, multidisciplinary work using simple language, both direct and nuanced, and illustrated with examples from the author’s personal life.”
—Daniel Paquette, Professor, School of Psychoeducation, University of Montreal

Editorial Reviews

08/12/2024

“Although most mammalian fathers are not involved in raising their young, something special happened during human evolution that endowed men with the tendency and capacity to do so,” contends Emory University anthropologist Rilling in this stimulating debut. Noting that male chimpanzees and bonobos, Homo sapiens’s two closest relatives, are aggressive and provide little care for their offspring, Rilling suggests the paternal instinct in humans likely evolved after the species split off from its last common great ape ancestor. A prominent theory for how that happened, he explains, proposes that with the emergence of hunting two million years ago, men could boost the chances of passing on their genes by providing protein to a relatively small number of offspring, rather than siring as many children as possible. Such evolutionary pressures have selected for men who undergo certain biological changes when around babies. For instance, “human fathers who spend time with their infants experience a significant decline in testosterone,” making them less likely to pursue procreation and more likely to spend time caregiving. There’s more discussion of fatherhood in amphibians, birds, and insects than one would expect from a book ostensibly focused on humans, but the evolutionary history nonetheless intrigues. While not on the level of Sarah Hrdy’s Father Time, this competent overview of the development of dads does the trick. Illus. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly