ABSTRACT
In psychology one frequently encounters facile evolutionary explanations of contemporary behaviors and their neural substrates. It is often easy to convince oneself that a certain characteristic of a currently predominant genotype permitted individuals of that genotype to have more offspring than conspecifics, thus ensuring the success of the genotype. The (modest) interest in such exercises is partially predicated on the validity of the transition between individual reproductive success ("fitness") and long-term success of the genotype. This paper shows that such transitions are not always valid.
