Which term refers to a physical or psychological characteristic that enhances an individual's survival and reproduction, likely to be naturally selected?

The term "adaptive" refers to characteristics that enhance an individual's ability to survive and reproduce within their environment. These traits can be physical, such as camouflage that helps an animal avoid predators, or psychological, such as social behaviors that improve group cohesion and support survival. The concept of adaptation is central to the theory of natural selection, where individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass those traits to the next generation.

Traits that are termed adaptive can arise through natural processes, such as mutation, and are refined over generations. In the context of evolutionary biology, adaptive traits are what organisms develop in response to environmental pressures, leading to increased fitness in their respective habitats.

The other terms have different meanings: "innate" refers to traits that an organism is born with, "acquired" describes characteristics gained from experience or the environment, and "evolutionary" pertains to the broader process of change in populations over time, rather than referring specifically to the enhancement of survival and reproduction.