Autonomy and risk perception in Congo Basin developmental systems

This paper explores how cultural learning dynamics shape children's encounters with risk and, through developmental feedbacks, lead to stability or change in community-level risk perception and adaptation. I draw on cultural evolutionary theory to describe trade-offs communities face in shaping how children perceive and encounter risks: between social learning and individual learning; learning via teaching versus situated and collaborative learning; and inter- versus intra-generational social learning. After reviewing theoretical implications of these trade-offs, I examine how they manifest in intensive parenting in the Global North, which emphasizes teaching and vertical transmission (from parents) in children's learning about risk. This case study illustrates the potential for cultural evolution of maladaptive perceptions of risk in the face of environmental change. Then, I use the trade-off framework to analyze time allocation data from children (ages 4-16 years) from two small-scale societies in the Central African Republic, the Aka and the Ngandu. I show that Aka and Ngandu children spend more time with other children than with adults. Bayesian regression modeling further shows that adult availability decreases the probability children engage in risky activities, including work, which is consistent with respect for children's autonomy and an age-graded division of labor. Yet, when adults are available, risky work-but not play or other activities-increases probability of adult intervention, typically to guide children's work, not to avoid risks. Using these case studies, I discuss how autonomy is critical to balancing trade-offs inherent to conservative and rigid culture learning in contexts of local environmental change.