Lizard Pushups: Types of questions
"Why do lizards do pushups?"
This is a very broad question, and because of the possible meanings of the word "why," the question could actually be one of two questions:
-- what causes the lizard to perform pushups?
(proximate cause, or "how"
questions)
-- what benefit does the lizard get from doing pushups?
(ultimate cause, or "why"
questions)
We can break this down even further, into four levels of analysis:
1. What sensory stimuli cause lizards to perform pushups? (Proximate:
mechanism of behavior)
2. Can the age, experience, or hormone levels of the lizard affect the
pushup behavior? (Proximate: development
of behavior)
3. What benefit does a lizard get from performing pushup behavior? (Ultimate:
function of behavior)
4. Did the ancestors of lizards perform pushups? (Ultimate: evolution
of behavior)
The usual way to answer such questions is to come up with possible answers and then experimentally test the answers.
Before we formulate a more specific question, it would be helpful to
gather a little more information.
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