Parental care - a neglected social motive

Abstract

In spite of its fundamental importance for man and animal Parental care has rather been neglected in most recent psychological theorizing. Now, from an evolutionary point of view five requirements to the motivation for parental care are described, and a cybernetical model is developed to analyze this specific motivation. Three examples demonstrate the models applicability. The model is critically compared with a proposal from Schmid Mast and Bischof (1999). Further the relations between parental care, altruistic motivation and empathy are discussed. Finally, those aspects of parental affection to their children are pointed out, which go beyond the basic motivation for parental care.