Contributions of the Evolutive Perspective for Gerontology

Abstract

This paper presents the contributions that researches from Ethology and Evolutive Psychology can bring to Gerontology. From this perspective, human behavior may be understood under the light of Natural Selection. Thus, it is extremely important to consider how society and environment during human evolution were. This comprehension may facilitate the knowledge about how the mind and human society work, and may help to build a modern environment more similar to that of our ancestors. This paper introduces examples of evolutionary researches related to important aspects for gerontology, such as bereavement, depression and the role of grandmothers for raising children.