Fast Life History Strategy Research Articles

Change across the lifespan in a psychological measure of life history strategy

Abstract Life history theory predicts that people calibrate their reproductive strategies to local levels of environmental harshness and unpredictability. While previous research has established the importance of early life cues in the development of life history strategy, the degree to which life history strategy exhibits plasticity later in life is unclear. Using longitudinal data (total N =479) from four archival studies and a recently validated psychological measure of life history strategy, we examined mean-level trends in life history strategy at the level of psychological phenotype between the ages of 7 and 60 and found that life history strategy slowed down linearly as a function of age. Highlighting the importance of sexual selection in shaping life history strategy, we also found that men had a faster life history strategy than women at all ages and that the magnitude of this difference was constant across the lifespan. Our findings suggest that life history strategy development continues even in older adulthood. We discuss the possibility that this occurs in response to the accumulation of biological and social (e.g. offspring, relationships) capital and information about local risks and incentives.

Here and now: Sociosexuality mediates the associations between Dark Triad and Time Perspectives (in females)

The present paper aims to answer the question about actual role of Life History Strategy (LHS) as a factor underpinning associations between the Dark Triad (DT) personality and Time Perspectives (TPs). Recently Birkás and Csathó (2015, Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 318–320) provided evidence for some robust associations between these two domains and interpreted them as a product of slow vs. fast LHS. However, their thesis regarding the mediating role of LHS in the associations between the DT and TPs was only speculative. In the present study we administered DT and TP measures (Dirty Dozen and ZTPI), as well as a sociosexuality inventory (SOI-R), which in our study served as an indicator of LHS, in a sample of 329 adults. We aimed to replicate Birkás and Csathó's results separately for each gender, and test for the hypothesized mediation effects. TPs proved related to DT traits, e.g., Future and Past-Positive were both negatively correlated with psychopathy and Machiavellianism. The associations were partly mediated by sociosexuality, but only in females. Our results suggest that LHS may indeed be responsible for the associations between TPs and Dark Triad, however other mechanisms underpinning these relationships need to be taken into account.

Are extraversion and openness indicators of a slow life history strategy?

Abstract Theory and data generally concur that a slower Life History Strategy (LHS) is associated with higher Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Emotional Stability. Whether Extraversion and Openness are indicators of a slow LH, or whether they include both fast and slow LH components, remains unresolved. I addressed these questions in two studies: one of university students observed via periodic brief audio recordings during 72h of their daily lives, and the second a re-analysis of data from Block and Block's (2006) longitudinal study. In both studies, I operationalized LHS as the correlation between an individual's California Q-Sort (CAQ) profile and the slow Life History (SLH) CAQ template created by Sherman et al. (2013) and Dunkel et al. (2015). I calculated Five Factor Model dimension scores using McCrae et al's (1986) method. In both samples, individuals whose CAQ profile more closely resembled the SLH template were higher in Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability than those pursuing a faster LHS. Extraversion was unrelated to LHS, while Openness in the Block and Block data set was actually associated with a faster LHS. Analysis of individual CAQ items revealed some differences between the studies. Generally, Extraversion-loading items tapping excitement-seeking and self-dramatization, and Openness-loading items tapping nonconformity, were associated with a faster LHS. Participants in the audio recording study also completed a HEXACO personality inventory and the Arizona Life History Battery. LHS as measured by the ALHB was uncorrelated with LHS as measured by the CAQ. Controlling for Extraversion yielded a significant positive relationship between the two LHS measures, suggesting that their poor convergent validity resulted from differences in their coverage of Extraversion-related content.

The Male Brain, Testosterone and Sex Differences in Professional Achievement

Lynn argues that sex differences in intelligence and drive (underpinned by testosterone) help to explain sex differences in high achievement. This comment proposes that this view can be developed by looking at Baron-Cohen’s concept of the ‘male brain’, which in its extreme manifestations presents as autism-spectrum disorders. It shows that this personality type — specifically a moderately strongly male brain combined with the outlier high IQ also more common among men — is associated with genius, and so the highest levels of achievement, and is partly a reflection of elevated testosterone. Thus an optimally high level of testosterone, also associated with faster life history strategy, is behind both elevated male drive and a greater ability to innovate, systematize and make important breakthroughs, leading to the highest levels of professional achievement. The comment shows that the ‘male brain’ is independent of intelligence and that even the highest echelons of the ‘oldest profession’ are male dominated, as the male brain model would predict.

A general factor of personality in a sample of inmates: Associations with indicators of life-history strategy and covitality

This study looked for a General Factor of Personality (GFP) in a sample of male convicts (N=226; mean age 32 years). The GFP was extracted from seven broad personality traits: FFM factors, Amoralism (the negative pole of the lexical Honesty-Humility factor) and Disintegration (operationalization of Schizotypy). Three first-order factors were extracted, labeled Dysfunctionality, Antisociality and Openness, and GFP was found through the hierarchical factor analysis. The nature of the GFP was explored through analysis of its relations with markers of fast Life-History strategy and covitality. The results demonstrated that the GFP is associated with unrestricted sexual behavior, medical problems, mental problems, early involvement in criminal activity and stability of criminal behavior. The evidence shows that the GFP is a meaningful construct on the highest level of personality structure. It may represent a personality indicator of fitness-related characteristics and could be useful in research of personality in an evolutionary context.

Early unpredictability predicts increased adolescent externalizing behaviors and substance use: A life history perspective-CORRIGENDUM.

According to evolutionary life history models, environmental harshness and unpredictability can both promote a fast life history strategy characterized by increased risk taking and enacting short-term, opportunistic behaviors. The current longitudinal study tests whether environmental unpredictability during childhood has stronger effects on risky behavior during adolescence than harshness, and whether there may be an early "sensitive period" during which unpredictability has particularly strong and unique effects on these outcomes. Using data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation, prospective assessments of environmental unpredictability (changes in residence, cohabitation, and parental occupation) and harshness (mean socioeconomic status) from birth into adolescence were used to predict self-reported externalizing behaviors and substance use at age 16 (N = 220). Exposure to greater early unpredictability (between ages 0 and 5) predicted more externalizing behaviors as well as more alcohol and marijuana use at age 16, controlling for harshness and later unpredictability (between ages 6 and 16). Harshness predicted adolescent substance use, and later unpredictability predicted adolescent externalizing behaviors at the trend level. Early unpredictability and harshness also interacted, such that the highest levels of risk taking occurred in individuals who experienced more early unpredictability and lived in harsher environments. Age 16 externalizing behaviors, but not substance use, mediated the association between early unpredictability and externalizing/criminal behaviors at age 23. We discuss how exposure to early environmental unpredictability may alter biological and social-cognitive functioning from a life history perspective.

Psychopathic Traits and the Cheater-Hawk Hypothesis.

The present study was a direct test of the cheater-hawk hypothesis which argues that psychopathy is related to two potentially adaptive interpersonal strategies: cheating and aggression. As expected, the measures of cheater and hawk behaviors comprised a single factor, according to a maximum-likelihood factor analysis. As hypothesized, psychopathic traits exhibited large positive correlations with measures of both cheater (entitlement, exploitiveness, and short-term mating orientation) and hawk (vengeance and aggression) behaviors. Furthermore, psychopathic traits were associated with the tendency of using individualistic and competitive tactics in an altruism game and being less likely to act in a prosocial manner. Finally, scores on the combined-cheater hawk variable were significantly correlated with psychopathic traits. As hypothesized, individuals scoring high on Factor 1 of psychopathy were more likely to utilize behaviors and strategies associated with the cheater-hawk designation, whether or not they scored high on Factor 2 of psychopathy. In general, the findings support the conceptualization that psychopathy represents a fast life-history strategy characterized by seeking personal gain over others, including exploitiveness (cheater), aggression (hawk), and risk taking. Results also indicate that cheater and hawk behaviors are part of a single strategy more often employed by those higher on psychopathic traits. Implications for treatment success are discussed.

Effects of migration distance on life history strategies of Western and Semipalmated sandpipers in Perú

Migration distances of shorebird species correlate with life history strategies. To assess age-specific migratory preparation and adult wing-molt strategies, we studied Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri) and Semipalmated Sandpipers (C. pusilla) with different migration routes at the Paracas National Reserve in Peru, one of the most austral non-breeding areas for these sandpipers, from 2012 to 2015. Western Sandpipers breed near the Bering Sea, ~11,000 km from Paracas. Semipalmated Sandpiper populations at Paracas are a mixture of short-billed birds from western Arctic breeding sites, plus long-billed birds from eastern sites, ~8000 km distant. Adults of both species arrive in October with primary feathers already partially renewed so wing molt starts at sites further north. Semipalmated Sandpipers with longer bills completed wing molt later than shorter billed birds. Adults of both species prepared for migration in February and March. No juvenile Western Sandpipers prepared for migration, confirming the “slow” over-summering life history strategy of more southerly non-breeding populations. Juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers showed bimodality in strategies. Most showed no migratory preparation, but, during three non-breeding periods, from 27% to 31% fattened, molted, and partially replaced outer primaries during the pre-migratory period. Juveniles with longer culmens were heavier and tended to have more alternate plumage. Juveniles that were partially molting primaries had longer culmens and more alternate plumage. Juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers from eastern-breeding populations thus have a higher propensity for a fast life history strategy, and western birds a slow one, at this non-breeding site in Peru. Western-breeding Semipalmated Sandpiper populations thus resemble Western Sandpipers, suggesting a common, possibly distance-related, effect on life history strategy.

Life history strategies and psychopathology: the faster the life strategies, the more symptoms of psychopathology

There is little extant empirical literature examining the associations between life history strategies and symptoms of psychopathology. The current study (N=138) investigated the associations between life history strategies, symptoms of psychopathology, aggression, incidence of self-harm behaviour, and attachment (perceived parental support) in sample drawn from the general population and community mental health service providers. The results from the study indicate those with a faster life strategy report greater levels of aggression and symptoms of psychopathology. Further, perceptions of poorer parental support were associated with a faster life history strategy. Implications for life history theory, conceptualising psychopathology, and future research directions are discussed.

Demographic, economic, and genetic factors related to national differences in ethnocentric attitudes

We conducted a review of factors associated with individual and group level differences in positive ethnocentrism (PE) and negative ethnocentrism (NE). We inter-correlated datasets on national differences in these factors with data from the World Values Survey with regard to national differences in measures of PE and NE. The two different survey items for each construct were strongly correlated, but the constructs themselves were not significantly associated. Multiple regression analyses indicated that NE was mainly related to high levels of cousin marriage and frequency of the DRD4-repeat gene, and that PE was mainly related to a young median population age. Cousin marriage may indicate low levels of trust, DRD4 implies a fast Life History strategy, and young median age is associated with many factors predicting PE.

The Ecology of Withdrawal. Commentary: The NEET and Hikikomori spectrum: Assessing the risks and consequences of becoming culturally marginalized.

The Ecology of Withdrawal. Commentary: The NEET and Hikikomori spectrum: Assessing the risks and consequences of becoming culturally marginalized.

Third International Biannual Evolution and Cancer Conference (Evolutionary Trade‐offs and Clinical Consequences) Meeting report. San Francisco, CA, USA. 10–13 December 2015

Despite recent notable progress in medical sciences, cancer remains a leading cause of human death worldwide, accounting for about one-quarter of human deaths in wealthy countries and about one-eighth worldwide (Ferlay et al. 2010). In fact, the progress in cancer research has been slower compared with that achieved related to other pathologies, such as cardiovascular disorders. This is mainly because of the enormous complexity of this disease, which exhibits sophisticated cellular mechanisms that are the targets of evolutionary processes driven by random genetic and epigenetic mutations.

Procrastination as a Fast Life History Strategy

Research has revealed that procrastination—the purposive delay of an intended course of action—is a maladaptive behavior. However, by drawing on an evolutionary life history (LF) approach, the present study proposes that procrastination may be an adaptive fast LF strategy characterized by prioritizing immediate benefits with little regard to long-term consequences. A total of 199 undergraduate students completed measures of procrastination and future orientation and the Mini-K scale, which measures the slow LF strategy. Structural equation modeling revealed that, as predicted, procrastination was negatively associated with a slow LF strategy both directly and indirectly through the mediation of future orientation. These results define the fast LF origin of procrastination.

Adolescent Life History Strategy in the Intergenerational Transmission and Developmental Stability of Substance Use

Research suggests that fast life history strategy (LHS) may be a primary driver of substance use among young adults. However, a recent study reported that (a) young adult fast LHS did not subsume all theorized indicators of LHS during this period and (b) fast LHS among parents did not predict young adult fast LHS or liability for use of common substances. In this study, we used structural equations and national data to test whether these findings generalized to adolescence. In addition, given that LHS and substance use share genetic and neuropsychological bases, we examined whether fast LHS could explain the developmental stability of substance use. Overall, our results extend the findings discussed above and suggest that fast LHS fully explains the developmental stability of substance use among youth. We discuss implications for life history models, research applying life history theory and substance use, and substance abuse prevention and treatment.

Can family risk-factors moderate the link between psychopathy and life-history strategy?

Life History Theory is an explanatory evolutionary framework which explains differences in fitness-relevant outcomes using the characteristics of the environment and individual organisms. Basically, individuals can be positioned somewhere on the r/K continuum of the Life History Strategy (LHS): a K or slow strategy represents later maturity and reproduction, a smaller number of offspring with higher investment in them, while the r (or fast) strategy follows the opposite pattern. Previous research offered evidence that psychopathy can represent a trait associated with fast LHS. In the present research we examined the relations between the family risk-factors, a four-factor model of psychopathy and the LHS in a sample of male convicts (N=181). The results have shown that a manipulative and deceitful interpersonal style is associated with slow LHS while shallow affect and antisocial tendencies are related to fast LHS. The interactions between psychopathy and family risk-factors revealed that parental criminal behaviour enhances the relation between fast LHS and psychopathic traits, including the manipulative interpersonal style. The findings are in accordance with the Life History Theory and provide a deeper understanding of the preservation of psychopathy in contemporary populations.

Maternal investment, life-history strategy of the offspring and adult chronic disease risk in South Asian women in the UK.

Patterns of development predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, and ethnic differences therein, but it remains unclear why apparently 'adaptive plasticity' in early life should generate health costs in later life. We hypothesized that offspring receiving low maternal investment during fetal life, the primary period of organogenesis, should predict a shorter reproductive career and develop a fast life-history strategy, prioritizing reproduction over growth and homeostatic maintenance. We studied 58 young adult South Asian women living in the UK, a group with high susceptibility to CVD. We obtained gestational age, birth weight (BW) and menarcheal age by recall and measured anthropometry, body composition, resting metabolic rate (RMR) and blood pressure (BP). BW and gestational age were inversely associated with menarcheal age, indicating that lower maternal investment is associated with faster maturation. Menarcheal age was positively associated with height but inversely with adiposity, indicating that rapid maturation prioritizes lipid stores over somatic growth. BW was inversely associated with BP, whereas adiposity was positively associated, indicating that lower maternal investment reduces BP homeostasis. BW was positively associated with RMR, whereas menarche was inversely associated, indicating that maternal investment influences adult metabolism. Supporting our hypothesis, low maternal investment promoted faster life histories, demonstrated by earlier menarche, reduced growth and elevated adiposity. These traits were associated with poorer BP regulation. This is the first study demonstrating strategic adjustment of the balance between reproduction and metabolic health in response to the level of maternal investment during fetal life.

Machiavellianism and Perceived Parental Bonding: Different Socialization Pathways for Men and Women

Machiavellianism can be seen as a personality indicator of fast life history strategy. Unpredictable, harsh environmental conditions tend to produce fast strategies which are associated with earlier maturation, more offspring, but less investment in them. Men tend to benefit more from fast strategy than women. We investigated, to what extent parental bonding characteristics play a role in developing high-Mach personality traits. According to gender differences we attempt to differentiate possible pathways of socialisation for men and women with Machiavellian attitudes. 175 participants (69 females) were asked to report Machiavellian attitudes (Mach-IV) and perceived parental rearing practices (Short-EMBU). For women, moderate negative correlation was found between level of Machiavellianism and level of parental (both paternal and maternal) warmth. For men on the other hand, Machiavellian attitudes correlated negatively with paternal rejection and paternal overprotection. Our results indicated that the development of Machiavellian attitudes followed different patterns in men and women. Considering the source of the above mentioned gender difference, we speculate that women could be more sensitive to emotional closeness of both their parents, whereas men tend to be more affected by paternal feedback or the lack of thereof. Consequently, there are gender differences in pathways that lead from family experiences to Machiavellian attitudes.

Early unpredictability predicts increased adolescent externalizing behaviors and substance use: A life history perspective.

According to evolutionary life history models, environmental harshness and unpredictability can both promote a fast life history strategy characterized by increased risk taking and enacting short-term, opportunistic behaviors. The current longitudinal study tests whether environmental unpredictability during childhood has stronger effects on risky behavior during adolescence than harshness, and whether there may be an early "sensitive period" during which unpredictability has particularly strong and unique effects on these outcomes. Using data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation, prospective assessments of environmental unpredictability (changes in residence, cohabitation, and parental occupation) and harshness (mean socioeconomic status) from birth into adolescence were used to predict self-reported externalizing behaviors and substance use at age 16 (N = 220). Exposure to greater early unpredictability (between ages 0 and 5) predicted more externalizing behaviors as well as more alcohol and marijuana use at age 16, controlling for harshness and later unpredictability (between ages 6 and 16). Harshness predicted adolescent substance use, and later unpredictability predicted adolescent externalizing behaviors at the trend level. Early unpredictability and harshness also interacted, such that the highest levels of risk taking occurred in individuals who experienced more early unpredictability and lived in harsher environments. Age 16 externalizing behaviors, but not substance use, mediated the association between early unpredictability and externalizing/criminal behaviors at age 23. We discuss how exposure to early environmental unpredictability may alter biological and social-cognitive functioning from a life history perspective.

Ecological and Evolutionary Principles for Secondary Education: Analyzing Career and Tech Ed

Current approaches to secondary education expose students to cultural information and environmental conditions that were not typical features of youth development for the vast majority of human evolution. Understanding the mismatch between adolescents’ evolved information processing biases and the educational content and environmental cues they often experience in school can help us to identify and/or develop educational approaches that will work with student biases in attention and motivation, rather than against them. In this paper, we present an evolutionary perspective on adolescent learning, review life history theory, and describe how adolescents adopting a fast life history strategy (fast LHS) are especially susceptible to the mismatch between evolved biases and modern schooling. We then argue that learning in context is an approach that is more consistent with adolescents’ evolved biases than traditional academic school environments and suggest that career and technical education (CTE) is an existing model that can be used successfully in secondary education, especially with students following a fast LHS. We conclude with future directions for CTE research and also applications of evolutionary theory to education and educational psychology.

Harsh environments, life history strategies, and adjustment: A longitudinal study of Oregon youth

We modeled the effects of harsh environments in childhood on adjustment in early emerging adulthood, through parenting style and the development of fast Life History Strategies (LHS; risky beliefs and behaviors) in adolescence. Participants were from the Oregon Youth Substance Use Project (N=988; 85.7% White). Five cohorts of children in Grades 1–5 at recruitment were assessed through one-year post high school. Greater environmental harshness (neighborhood quality and family poverty) in Grades 1–6 predicted less parental investment at Grade 8. This parenting style was related to the development of fast LHS (favorable beliefs about substance users and willingness to use substances at Grade 9, and engagement in substance use and risky sexual behavior assessed across Grades 10–12). The indirect path from harsh environment through parenting and LHS to (less) psychological adjustment (indicated by lower life satisfaction, self-rated health, trait sociability, and higher depression) was significant (indirect effect −.024, p=.011, 95% CI=−.043, −.006). This chain of development was comparable to that found by Gibbons et al. (2012) for an African-American sample that, unlike the present study, included perceived racial discrimination in the assessment of harsh environment.