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Question: Discuss the claim that, ‘the concept of Inclusive Fitness is the most compelling psychological principle of the 20th century.’
Answer: Inclusive fitness merely describes a measure of the total reproductive gain of an animal, implying that genes want to be passed on to the next generation, either through its own direct descendants, i.e. direct fitness, or via the reproductive gain of close genetic relatives, i.e. indirect fitness (Cardwell, 2000).
The question may become: What makes the concept of inclusive fitness anymore compelling a psychological principle than any of the other concepts presented throughout the narration of the evolutionary theory? It is in the interest of this paper to outline how the concepts of inclusive fitness and gene survival, which have arrived so recently on the timeline of evolutionary studies, launched new subfields within psychology, teaching us that behaviour is not flexibly opportunistic but is in fact designed to maximise reproductive fitness through various strategies of self-inter...(short extract)
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- Subject: Psychology
- Course: Developmental and Evolutionary Psy
- Level: Degree
- Year: 2nd/3rd
- Mark: Not available
- Words: 3398
- Date submitted: December 27, 2010
- Date written: February, 2005
- References: Yes
- Document type: Essay*
- Essay ID: 3583
