Human Life History Dimensions in Reproductive Strategies Are Intuitive Across Cultures

Abstract

Psychological research has been criticized for its extensive use of American university students to make broad claims about human psychology and behavior. Critics recommend a broader base of participants because there is substantial variability in experimental results across populations, and North American and Western European psychology pool participants may be outliers in comparison with the rest of the species. This challenge is especially pertinent for claims of species-universal evolved psychological architecture. One such claim has been made regarding recognition of human life history strategies. For example, previous research demonstrates that North American women and men can identify male and female characters with fast (high mating effort, low parental investment) and slow (low mating effort, high parental investment) life history strategies, make accurate predictions about their behavioral tendencies, and respond to them in ways that would facilitate participants’ own reproductive success. The current project validates the understanding of fundamental life history dimensions across a wide range of cultures, therefore supporting the idea that there is a universality in human’s ability to use, and perceive others’ use of, life history strategies. Results for each language sample replicated patterns from North American participants. Ratings for characters clustered into two dimensions, mating effort and parental investment. Items most central to the theoretical constructs had the highest factor loadings.