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Development: Evolutionary ecology's midwife

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2010

Karthik Panchanathan ,
Willem E. Frankenhuis  and
H. Clark Barrett
Karthik Panchanathan
Affiliation:
Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, Department of Anthropology, University of California–Los Angles, CA 90095-1553. karthikpanchanathan@gmail.com http://buddha.bol.ucla.edu/ willem@frankenhuis.org http://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.com http://buddha.bol.ucla.edu/ willem@frankenhuis.org http://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.com http://buddha.bol.ucla.edu/ willem@frankenhuis.org http://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.edu http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/barrett/
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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.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 33 , Issue 2-3 , June 2010 , pp. 105 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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