====== Adaptive Behavior ======

We say than a behavior is //adaptive// if it leads to improved survival and reproductive success.  All organisms that have behavior (i.e. animals) are under evolutionary pressure to choose adaptive behaviors over maladaptive ones.  In simple animals such as insects there is little dispute that behavior is primarily instinctual (innate or genetically determined).  In humans, much behavior is clearly partially or entirely learned.  The [[nature_vs_nurture]] dispute is largely about whether humans have any important behavioral instincts.  Yet whether behavior is learned or innate, human behavior //must// be reasonably adaptive or we would die off.  

We also say that the organism //adapts// to its environment, evolving toward greater fitness.  As a noun, an [[wp>Adaptation]] is an evolved anatomic feature or other trait of an organism that increases its fitness.   Although we could speak of a behavioral adaptation, it is often more convenient to say that "//Behavior X// is adaptive."  For example, it is adaptive for squirrels to store nuts by burying them.

Insofar as [[analysis:philosophy:truth]] is akin to usefulness, we can say that in evolutionary reasoning, showing that a trait is adaptive is the primary way of establishing truth (see [[wp>Evolutionarily Stable Strategy]].)

See also [[just_so_stories]], [[wp>Adaptation]] and [[wp>Adaptive behavior]].

{{tag>evolution behavior stub}}