ECOLOGY, HUMAN BEHAVIORAL (2,088 words)

Human behavioral ecology (HBE) applies principles of evolution by natural selection to explain behavioral and cultural diversity in human populations. It explores how features of social and physical environment constrain the suite of behaviors or ‘strategies ’ of individuals, and applies the logic of optimization to make formal predictions about the conditions which favor or disfavor particular behaviors. The main focus of HBE is to explain behavioral variation within and among populations. Its intellectual roots stem from developments in biology (evolutionary biology, animal behavior, population and community ecology, life history theory), anthropology (cultural ecology, hunter-gatherer studies), and economics (micro-economics of consumer choice). Since HBE’s formulation in the late 1970’s, it has been referred to as human sociobiology, Darwinian anthropology, evolutionary or behavioral ecology, biocultural and biosocial anthropology. Currently HBE shares common goals and foundations with evolutionary psychology and cultural transmission theory, but differs in specific goals and methods. Initially focused on understanding foraging behavior among hunter-gatherers, HBE has expanded over the past 25 years to cover a wide scope of themes and problems, using a broad range of observational, ethnographic and experimental methods