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Mobility: Crawling and Walking

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Locomotion; Motor development

Definition

Posture – prone or upright – is the position of the torso required to keep balance while stationary (e.g., sitting) and while moving (e.g., crawling and walking). Crawling is locomoting in a prone posture by moving all four limbs, sometimes with belly on the floor for added support. Walking is locomoting forward bipedally without external supports.

Introduction

One of the crowning achievements in infancy is acquiring the ability to locomote. The study of crawling and walking has a long history (Preyer 1905; Trettien 1900). In more than a century of work, researchers have focused on defining crawling and walking age norms and painstakingly described developmental changes in coordination, movement patterns, and muscle activations (Adolph and Robinson 2013). Much of this work has been conducted in Western populations, overlooking culture and context and assuming universals. Cultural beliefs, practices, and expectations manifest in...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Staten Island and Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Lana B. Karasik

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  1. Lana B. Karasik
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Correspondence to Lana B. Karasik .

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  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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  1. University of South Carolina – Beaufort, Bluffton, SC, USA

    Carey Fitzgerald

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Karasik, L.B. (2018). Mobility: Crawling and Walking. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2370-1

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