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A teacher introduces two equally easy-to-learn mnemonic strategies to a class. Over the semester, students who use Strategy A score slightly higher on weekly quizzes and are more likely to keep using it and recommend it to friends. By the end, Strategy A becomes very common. Which force best explains the increase of Strategy A?

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Course
Cognitive Evolution (Evolutionary Cognitive Science): Comparativ
8 units37 lessons
Topics
Evolutionary biologyCognitive scienceComparative psychology / animal cognitionBehavioral ecologyAnthropology (paleoanthropology and archaeology)Neuroscience (comparative and systems)
About this course

This course develops an integrative, research-oriented framework for explaining how and why cognitive abilities evolve across taxa, with special attention to humans. Core coverage includes evolutionary forces (selection, drift, mutation, constraint), adaptation vs exaptation, and Tinbergen’s four questions linking mechanism, development, function, and phylogeny. Methods emphasize comparative cognition task validity, phylogenetic comparative inference, and socio-ecological/behavioral-ecology models. Competing hypotheses (e.g., Social Brain, Machiavellian, Cultural Intelligence), gene–culture coevolution, and neuroscience/genetic evidence are evaluated alongside paleoanthropological and archaeological constraints. The course culminates in designing discriminative tests and synthesizing falsifiable evolutionary accounts.