Practice question · True or false
Showing that a trait is useful today is enough to prove it is an evolutionary adaptation.
Hints
- Current usefulness and being selected FOR a function are different claims.
- An adaptation requires evidence of ancestral selection for that function, not just present-day utility.
Show the answer
False
Why
False. Present usefulness does not establish that a trait was selected for that function - it could be a by-product or coincidentally useful. Proving adaptation requires positive evidence of ancestral selection for the function, which is the discipline's central standard.
Practise Evolutionary Psychology
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