Abstract The term cultural evolution has become popular in the evolutionary human sciences, but it is often unclear what is meant by it. This is generating confusion and misconceptions that are hindering progress in the field. These include the claim that behavioral ecology disregards culture. We argue that these misunderstandings are caused by the unhelpful use of term cultural evolution to identify both a phenomenon—culture changing through time—and a theory to explain it—the potential role of cultural transmission biases in driving this change. We illustrate this point by considering recently published influential studies and opinion pieces. If we are to avoid confusion, the term cultural evolution is best reserved to identify the phenomenon of cultural change. This helps clarify that human behavioral ecologists do not disregard culture, but instead have studied its evolution from the very beginning. Different approaches to the study of human behavior can coexist and complement each other in the framework offered by Tinbergen’s four evolutionary questions. Clarifying key terms is crucial to achieve this synthesis.

中文翻译：

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到底什么是文化进化？

摘要 文化进化一词在进化人类科学中已经流行起来，但它的含义往往不清楚。这正在产生阻碍该领域进展的混乱和误解。其中包括行为生态学无视文化的主张。我们认为，这些误解是由于无益地使用“文化进化”一词来确定一种现象——文化随时间而变化——以及一种解释它的理论——文化传播偏见在推动这种变化中的潜在作用。我们通过考虑最近发表的有影响力的研究和观点文章来说明这一点。如果我们要避免混淆，最好保留“文化进化”一词来识别文化变迁现象。这有助于阐明人类行为生态学家并没有忽视文化，而是从一开始就研究了它的演变。在廷伯根的四个进化问题提供的框架中，研究人类行为的不同方法可以共存和互补。澄清关键术语对于实现这一综合至关重要。