No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Identifying adaptation by dysfunction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 August 2003
Abstract
Specifying exact selection pressures for identifying adaptations is unnecessary. Novel behaviors are not spandrels since they can only develop because of prior functions. An adaptationist approach has a high prior probability, whereas spandrel hypotheses attempt to prove a negative. The concept of maladaptive spandrel is criticized. The utility of dysfunctional states for identification of adaptations gone wrong is emphasized.
- Type
- Brief Report
- Information
- Copyright
- © 2002 Cambridge University Press