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Explaining the existence of the very improbable by the action of cumulative selection on random events
Author(s) -
Galef Bennett G.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.420210310
Subject(s) - selection (genetic algorithm) , citation , action (physics) , psychology , library science , computer science , artificial intelligence , physics , quantum mechanics
During the past 20 years, there has been a fundamental shift in the Zeitgeist of behavioral scientists, a steady increase in the importance of evolutionary theory, as a heuristic, as a source of questions about the behavior of animals, and as a framework for interpreting the results of behavioral studies. In 1969, Hodos and Campbell published their classic critique" Scala naturae: why there is no theory in comparative psychology," and comparative psychology will never be quite the same. Shortly, thereafter, Bolles (1970) and Rozin and Kalat (1971) published, respectively, "Species-specific defense reactions and avoidance learning" and "Specific hungers and poison avoidance as adaptive specializations oflearning," each initiating reinterpretation of major areas in animal behavior. Indeed, since 1966, when G. C. Williams' presented his groundbreaking Adaptation and natural selection, the impact of evolutionary theory on the study of behavior has been