AbstractEvolutionary psychology (EP) emphasizes that socio‐cultural experiences are constrained by the characteristics of the individual. Therefore, cultural experience acts on a nervous system biased to respond to in particular ways (i.e., human nature). For EP, evolutionary lineage and adaptive significance explain the development of such human nature (a “development to” approach). Gottlieb, and others in Developmental psychobiology (DPB), have explained the development of “instinctive” behavior patterns of a wide variety of animals using a “development from” approach. The DPB approach does not contradict a human nature that reflects an evolutionary heritage with adaptive value. We present three examples that demonstrate how a DPB approach to development accounts both for the expression of patterns specific to the individual as well as patterns that are species‐typical (human nature, for humans) without shifting explanatory constructs and frameworks. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 788–799, 2007.