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Development: Evolutionary ecology's midwife

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2010

Karthik Panchanathan
Affiliation:
Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, Department of Anthropology, University of California–Los Angles, CA 90095-1553. karthikpanchanathan@gmail.comhttp://buddha.bol.ucla.edu/willem@frankenhuis.orghttp://www.willem.frankenhuis.org/
Willem E. Frankenhuis
Affiliation:
Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, Department of Anthropology, University of California–Los Angles, CA 90095-1553. karthikpanchanathan@gmail.comhttp://buddha.bol.ucla.edu/willem@frankenhuis.orghttp://www.willem.frankenhuis.org/
H. Clark Barrett
Affiliation:
Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, Department of Anthropology, University of California–Los Angles, CA 90095-1553. karthikpanchanathan@gmail.comhttp://buddha.bol.ucla.edu/willem@frankenhuis.orghttp://www.willem.frankenhuis.org/ Foundation for Psychocultural Research (FPR) – UCLA Center for Culture, Brain, and Development, University of California–Los Angles, CA 90095-1553. barrett@anthro.ucla.eduhttp://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/barrett/

Abstract

We agree with Henrich et al. that documenting cultural universality and variability provides an indispensable window into human nature. We want to stress the mediating role development plays between evolution and culture. Moving beyond the mere documentation of universality or variability, developmental approaches can provide mechanistic explanations, linking ecology to phenotype. Combining phylogeny and adaptationism, evolutionary approaches can explain the properties of developmental systems.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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