This paper aims to examine the evolutionary role of affordances, that is, the possibilities for action available in our environments. There are two allegedly competing views for explaining the evolutionary role of affordances: the first is based on natural selection; the second is based on niche construction. According to the first, affordances are resources that exert selection pressure. The second view claims that affordances are ecological inheritances in the organism’s niche that are the product of a previous alteration of the environment. While there seems to be a mutually exclusive definition of affordances in each of these views, I argue in this paper that the views are not competing but, rather, complementary. In this sense, affordances play the role of either resources or ecological inheritances depending on the temporal stage of the evolutionary process. I make this argument by analyzing how natural selection and niche construction affect each other even when they function independently from each other. In this light, if these two evolutionary mechanisms exert their power in parallel but at two different stages in the evolutionary history of a given econiche, then there is room to claim that affordances can be understood as both resources and ecological inheritances. This dual aspect of affordances shows their evolutionary role.

中文翻译：

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可供性的进化作用：生态心理学、生态位构建和自然选择

本文旨在研究可供性的进化作用，即在我们的环境中可用的行动的可能性。有两种据称相互矛盾的观点来解释可供性的进化作用：第一种是基于自然选择；二是立足生态位建设。根据第一个，可供性是施加选择压力的资源。第二种观点声称可供性是生物体生态位中的生态遗传，是先前环境改变的产物。虽然在这些观点中的每一个中似乎都有一个对可供性的相互排斥的定义，但我在本文中认为这些观点不是相互竞争的，而是互补的。在这个意义上，根据进化过程的时间阶段，可供性扮演资源或生态继承的角色。我通过分析自然选择和生态位构建如何相互影响来提出这个论点，即使它们彼此独立运作。有鉴于此，如果这两种进化机制在给定生态系统的进化历史中的两个不同阶段并行发挥其力量，那么就有空间声称可供性可以被理解为资源和生态继承。可供性的这种双重方面显示了它们的进化作用。如果这两种进化机制在给定生态系统的进化历史中的两个不同阶段并行发挥其力量，那么就有空间声称可供性可以被理解为资源和生态继承。可供性的这种双重方面显示了它们的进化作用。如果这两种进化机制在给定生态系统的进化历史中的两个不同阶段并行发挥其力量，那么就有空间声称可供性可以被理解为资源和生态继承。可供性的这种双重方面显示了它们的进化作用。