Definition
The four levels of explanation at which Tinbergen (1963) argued that a behaviour can and should be understood.
Introduction
In one of the founding texts of the field of ethology, On Aims and Methods of Ethology, Niko Tinbergen (1963) proposed that a complete understanding of any given behavior necessitates explanation at four different levels (the “four major problems of biology”): causal (or mechanistic), ontogenetic, phylogenetic, and functional. These levels of explanation have variously been referred to as Tinbergen’s four questions and Tinbergen’s four whys. They can be further classified into proximate (causal/mechanistic and ontogenetic) and ultimate (phylogenetic and functional) levels of explanation, distinctions originally proposed by Ernst Mayr (1961). Proximate levels of explanation consider the mechanisms of how a behavior is produced, while ultimate explanation accounts...
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References
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Stephen, I.D., Sulikowski, D. (2019). Tinbergen’s Four Questions. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1347-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1347-1
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