Practice question · Select all that apply
Select every statement that correctly reflects Tinbergen's four-question framework.
Hints
- Two options wrongly rank the levels or pit them against each other.
- The framework says the levels are complementary, not competing - reject any option that makes them rivals.
Show the answer
- A. A complete biological account addresses all four questions.
- B. A behavior's mechanism and its function are both true at once, at different levels.
- E. Ontogeny concerns how the behavior develops over an individual's lifetime.
Why
The complementary-levels, all-four, and ontogeny statements are correct. Ranking ultimate above proximate, or treating mechanism and function as rival hypotheses, both commit the how-versus-why error - the levels answer different questions about the same behavior.
Practise Tinbergen's Four Questions
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