HBE examines the adaptive design of traits, behaviors, and life histories of humans in an ecological context.
Among other things, HBE attempts to explain variation in human behavior as adaptive solutions to the competing life-history demands of growth, development, reproduction, parental care, and mate acquisition.
Breaking down complex socioecological patterns into their structural-functional relationships allows scientists to describe social behaviour from the perspective of the overall ecosystem rather than isolated agents.
An example of the research methodology in practice might see a scientist examining marriage rates by taking into account local options, cultural preferences, socioeconomic status, political freedoms, and so forth.
In other words, the phenotypic gambit assumes that "selection will favour traits with high fitness ...irrespective of the particulars of inheritance.