Term

The Baldwin Effect

Definition

Proposed that an organism's ability to learn new behaviours (e.g. to acclimatise to a new stressor) will affect its reproductive success and will therefore have an effect on the genetic makeup of its species through natural selection. Places emphasis on the fact that the sustained behaviour of a species or group can shape the evolution of that species

Term

Four Dimensions of Heredity and Evolution

Definition

1) Genetic inheritance systems 2) Non-DNA epigenetic inheritance systems 3) Behavioural inheritance systems many animals transmit information by behavioural means 4) Symbolic inheritance systems for humans, symbols - particularly language, plays a substantial role in our evolution

Term

Cultural Evolution - Jablonka & Lamb (2014)

Definition

A system of socially transmitted patterns in a group of social animals The transmitted behaviors can be skills, practices, habits, beliefs “Cultural evolution can be defined as the change, through time, in the nature and frequency of socially transmitted preferences, patterns or products of behaviour in a population