PHYSICS 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Mendelian Inheritance, Inclusive Fitness
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Task 4: evolutionary theory and the ultimate-proximate distinction in the human behavioral sciences (scott-philips)- summary. Ultimate and proximate explanations difference is central to evolutionary explanation. Ultimate explanations: concerned with fitness consequences of a trait or behavior and whether it is (or not) selected address evolutionary function (why) Proximate explanations: are concerned with mechanisms that underpin the trait or behavior. That is, how it works address way in which functionality is achieved (how) Ultimate explanation: elicits care and defense from mothers and other caregivesr - appeals to fitness benefits of the trait. Proximate explanation include both the external triggers of crying and internal mechanisms describe immediate causal triggers of crying. They are not opposite ends of a continuum, and we shouldn"t choose between them. On contrary, they are distinct from one another and complementary. To completely understand behavior we must obtain both. Evolutionary literature on human behavior contains many good applications of this distinction example: human reasoning.
