Final answer:
Insight learning allows animals to learn without direct rewards or punishments, increasing fitness by enabling problem-solving and adaptation, which in turn enhances their survival and reproduction chances.
Step-by-step explanation:
Insight learning is beneficial because it allows the animal to learn behaviors without receiving external rewards or punishments, and it increases the animal's fitness because it enables them to solve problems and adapt to new situations, thereby improving their survival and reproductive success. Insight learning liberates animals from a trial-and-error approach, which can be time-consuming and potentially dangerous. Instead, they can apply previous experiences and reasoning to navigate through challenges more efficiently.
Animals with the capability for insight learning, like humans who have invented tools and technologies through this process, can better adjust to environmental changes. This type of learning fosters more complex behaviors that can greatly enhance an animal’s ability to find food, avoid predators, and care for their young. As these behaviors positively affect an animal's ability to survive and reproduce, they contribute to increased fitness. Through evolution by natural selection, behaviors that boost fitness become more prevalent within a species. The ongoing development of these behaviors over generations highlights the dynamic nature of learning as an adaptive mechanism.