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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are situated as the foundation of a six-tier pyramid, above which rests: (1) disrupted neurodevelopment; (2) social, emotional, and cognitive impairment; (3) adoption of health-risk behaviors; (4) disease, disability, and social problems; and (5) early death. ACEs purportedly initiate a causal sequence of negative developmental, behavioral, social, and cognitive outcomes, culminating in heightened mortality risk. Militating against this causal explanation, life history evolution is herein hypothesized to be the true foundation of any such pyramid. Subsuming ACEs within a life history framework has two broad implications: First, to some extent, ACEs are effectively changed from cause to correlate; second ACEs are seen as markers of strategic life history variation, not markers of dysfunction.

We developed a cascade model to reconstruct the hypothesized developmental progression from (1) increased resource instability during childhood to (2) decreased maternal sensitivity during childhood to (3) social vulnerability cognitive schemata to (4) faster life history strategies to (5) decreased behavioral regulation to (6) more pronounced “Dark Triad” personalities to (7) higher levels of interpersonal aggression in adulthood. The hypothesized cascade model also evaluated the cross-cultural generality of this theoretically-specified developmental progression across a sampling of different societies: (1) the United States of America (N=144); (2) Mexico (N=118); (3) Brazil (N=1091, distributed across 3 data collection sites); (4) Sweden (N=144); and (5) the United Kingdom (N=260). Out of 21 interactive tests of the cross-cultural robustness of the main model parameters, only five reached statistical significance, and were relatively small in magnitude compared to their main effects. In no case did the magnitude and direction of the interaction completely reverse that of the corresponding main effect of the predictor, but merely either augmented or attenuated it somewhat across the affected study sites. We conclude that the results generally supported both the configural and metric invariance of the cascade model to a relatively high, albeit imperfect, degree.

We integrate life history (LH) theory with "hot/cool" systems theory of self-regulation to predict sexually and socially coercive behaviors, including intimate partner violence (IPV) and interpersonal aggression (IPA). LH theory predicts that a variety of traits form LH strategies: adaptively coordinated behavioral clusters arrayed on a continuum from slow to fast. We test structural models examining 2 propositions: (a) "hot" cognitive processes, promoted by faster LH strategies, increase the likelihood of sexually/socially coercive behaviors that make up IPV and IPA; (b) "cool" cognitive processes, promoted by slower LH strategies, buffer against the likelihood of sexually/socially coercive behaviors that make up IPV and IPA. We present single and multisample structural equations models (SEMs and MSEMs) testing hypothesized causal relations among these theoretically specified predictors with IPV and IPA. Study 1 develops a Structural Equation Model for IPV; Study 2 extends the model to IPA using MSEM and provides 5 cross-cultural constructive replications of the findings. Integrating LH theory and hot/cool systems analysis of cognitive processes is a promising and productive heuristic for future research on IPV and IPA perpetration and victimization. (PsycINFO Database Record Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This paper explores how Early Life Stress (ELS) and Life History (LH) strategy impact personality and attitudes toward infidelity, mating effort, and casual sex. A sample of 300 participants reported biodemographic behavioral outcomes, such as their number of lifetime sex partners, which correlated with ELS, LH strategy, and unrestricted sociosexual attitudes (albeit not strongly). A structural equations model was specified and demonstrated that effects of ELS and LH on unrestricted sociosexual attitudes were partially mediated through psychopathy. ELS, LH, and an antagonistic social schema increased psychopathy, which then directly increased unrestricted sociosexual attitudes. These results support the theory that psychopathy is an adaptive trait meant to increase short-term mating opportunities.

Much of the research on birth order has focused on individual differences in personality traits, with relatively few studies focused on aspects of social behavior other than sibling conflict. However, one would predict that the differences in parental investment and niche differentiation that shape personality differences between siblings would also influence other social relationships. In particular, middleborns may be more likely to prioritize non-kin relationships. This study investigated the impact of birth order on a number of measures of prosocial behavior. Results suggest that birth order has a moderate effect on prosociality such that later birth orders exhibit greater prosociality. However, both the linear and quadratic effects were significant and the quadratic was negative indicating that the greatest increase in prosociality is seen between first and secondborns, the rate of change decelerates as birth order and prosociality increase.

Epidemiologists and medical researchers often employ an allostatic load model that focuses on environmental and lifestyle factors, together with biological vulnerabilities, to explain the deterioration of human physiological systems and chronic degenerative disease. Although this perspective has informed medicine and public health, it is agnostic toward the functional significance of pathophysiology and health deterioration. Drawing on Life History (LH) theory, the current paper reviews the literature on disadvantaged families to serve as a conceptual model of stress-health relationships in which the allocation of reproductive effort is instantiated in the LH strategies of individuals and reflects the bioenergetic and material resource tradeoffs. We propose that researchers interested in health disparities reframe chronic degenerative diseases as outcomes resulting from strategic calibration of physiological systems to best adapt, survive, and reproduce in response to demands of specific developmental contexts. These effects of adversity on later-age degenerative disease are mediated, in part, by socioemotional and cognitive mechanisms expressed in different life history strategies.

Research has indicated two dimensions of attachment, Avoidance and Anxiety. We show that Avoidance is better conceptualized as Nurturance/Love within an evolved systems perspective on personality, and that the Anxiety dimension in infancy measures trust in the face of threat based on experience. These two dimensions have important differences, including different evolutionary functions and phylogeny, as well as different emotions, brain mechanisms, and patterns of sex differences and heritability. We used two versions of the Experiences in Close Relationships Survey yielding measures of Anxiety and Avoidance, and the Interpersonal Adjective Scale-Revised-Big 5, the latter chosen because it measures Nurturance/Love in a manner consistent with an evolutionary perspective on close relationships. 635 subjects participated in the study. Results supported the hypotheses of a strong negative association between Nurturance/Love and Avoidance as measured by the ECR and no association between Nurturance/Love and Anxiety as measured by the ECR.

Introductory psychology classes and texts invariably feature attachment theory, which is rightly regarded as a pillar of the field. The acknowledged founder of attachment theory, John Bowlby, resisted the tide of psychoanalysis and instead pursued a more biological explanation of parent–child relations, characterized by insecure attachment variants as dysfunctional miscarriages of mother–infant bonding. Contrary to Bowlby’s assumptions, the supposed pathology of the insecure attachment is reframed by life history evolution as strategic adaptation to reproductive ecologies. While insecure attachment is not specifically adaptive, eliciting rearing behaviors displayed by parents, like early sexual debut, mate diversity, completed fertility, and other resultant mating behaviors displayed by the child at maturity, are adaptive within unpredictable and stochastic environments.

The purpose of the present study is to test an integrated model of human ecology, which takes into consideration variables and predictions derived from both life history and social privilege paradigms. Population-level statistics were collected from an assortment of Mexican national agencies on thirty-one Mexican States and the Federal District ( N = 32). The integrated model of human cognitive ecology specifically described how biodiversity impacts state-level life history strategies and cognitive abilities in Mexico. Results from the sequential canonical cascade analysis supported the three following hypotheses: (1) regional climatic factors affected regional life histories; (2) both regional life histories and climatic factors affected regional levels of human capital; and (3) both regional levels of human capital and regional climatic factors affected regional mean cognitive abilities. The integrated model of human cognitive ecology explained a preponderance of the pooled multivariate variance ( V = .66) in cognitive abilities. Implications and future directions within life history and intelligence research are discussed.

We present empirical tests of the stability of individual differences over the lifespan using a novel methodological technique to combine behavior-genetic data from twin dyads with longitudinal measures of life history-related traits (including health and personality) from non-twin samples. Using data from The Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Longitudinal Survey, we constructed a series of “hybrid” models that permitted the estimation of both temporal stability parameters and behavior-genetic variance components to determine the contributions of genetic and environmental influences on individual differences. Our results indicate that changes in a higher-order factor of life history strategy (Super-K, composed of the K-Factor, Covitality, and Personality) over the study period were very small in magnitude and that this temporal stability is under a considerable degree of shared genetic influence and a substantial degree of non-shared environmental influence, but a statistically non-significant degree of shared environmental influence. Implications and future directions are discussed. DOI:10.2458/azu_jmmss_v5i1_figueredo

The Strategic Differentiation-Integration Effort (SD-IE) hypothesis predicts regulation by life history speed (K) of the magnitudes of the correlations among its components, such that individuals with slower life history strategies exhibit life history traits that are less correlated with each other than individuals with faster life history strategies. This conative differentiation among high-K individuals is proposed to arise due to the elevated social competition in stable, predictable environments faced by these individuals and to facilitate mutualistic rather than antagonistic social interaction strategies via social-ecological nichesplitting and domain-specific resource allocation. We tested the predictions of SD-IE regarding relations among life history traits using the Continuous Parameter Estimation Method on data from two college student convenience samples, one all-female sample (N=382) and one mixed-sex sample (N=205), as well as two nationally-representative samples of the US population, the MIDUS (National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, N=2080) and the NLSY (National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, N=5082). The predicted SD-IE effects were statistically significant and in the expected negative direction among most indicators of the lower-order slow life history factors and among all indicators of the single higher-order slow life history Super-K factor.

Life history (LH) theory provides an evolutionary theoretical framework for understanding individual differences in maturation, mating, reproduction, parenting, and social interaction. However, the psychometric assessment of human life history has been largely limited to generalized self-reports. Using template matching, this article examines the relationship between personality differences associated with slow-life history (slow-LH) and social behavior in 3 archival datasets. Two of these datasets include direct observations of behavior in the laboratory, and the 3rd provides self-reports of behavior in real life situations experienced within the preceding 24 hr. The results paint a consistent picture of the slow-LH individual as engaging in numerous adaptive social behaviors. However, when "normativeness" (the tendency for most people to be normal in both the statistical and evaluative sense) is statistically removed from the LH scores, a slightly different picture emerges. Both slow-LH and fast-LH persons display a number of behaviors that may be either adaptive or maladaptive in different contexts. Specifically, slow-LH individuals tended to behave in a manner that was considerate, kind, hard-working, and reliable but also socially awkward, insecure, and overcontrolling. Fast-LH individuals came across as talkative, socially skilled, dominant, and charming but also unpredictable, hostile, manipulative, and impulsive. These results are consistent with the evolutionary interpretation of LH strategies as being adapted to systematically different environments rather than better or worse approaches to reproductive fitness overall.

The Cognitive Differentiation-Integration Effort (CD-IE) hypothesis predicts that the dimension of life history speed (K) regulates the strength of the correlation among cognitive abilities, such t ...

The Dark Triad consists of three overlapping but distinct personality variables: narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. To date, however, no research has empirically identified what leads these three variables to overlap or whether other variables share the same core. The present research addresses why and how dark personalities overlap. Drawing from classic work in psychopathy, Hare's Factor 1 or manipulation and callousness were found to be the common antagonistic core. A series of latent variable procedures, including Multisample Structural Equation Models, revealed that for both samples, manipulation and callousness, completely accounted for the associations among the facet scores of the psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism scales. Sample 2 also included Social Dominance Orientation, and results further confirmed that Social Dominance Orientation has the same common core as the Dark Triad. In sum, Hare's Factor 1—manipulation–callousness—emerged as common dark core that accounts for the overlap among antagonistic traits. Copyright © 2012 European Association of Personality Psychology

This retrospective essay appraises J. Philippe Rushton's application of life history to understanding the covariation among human traits in light of subsequent developments in the measurement and latent structure of Human Life History, covitality, and personality. We conclude that Rushton should be recognized for having initiated a theoretically and empirically highly fertile paradigm in human individual differences research.

The present work examined predicted relations among Life History strategies, Executive Functions, socially antagonistic attitudes, socially antagonistic behaviors, and general intelligence. Life History (LH) theory predicts that Executive Functions and socially antagonistic attitudes and behaviors underpin an interrelated and coherent set of behavioral strategies (LH strategies) designed to enhance reproductive success. Specifically, LH theory predicts a positive relation between Executive Functioning and LH strategies; a negative relation between socially antagonistic attitudes and behaviors and LH strategies; and that Executive Functions mediate relations among LH strategies and socially antagonistic attitudes and behaviors. Results from a Structural Equation Model (SEM), based on self-reported Life History strategies, Executive Functioning, socially antagonistic attitudes and behaviors, and general intelligence support these predictions. The structure of the model suggests that Executive Functions serve a mediating role in the relations between LH strategy and social deviance.

We evaluated five competing hypotheses about what predicts romantic interest. Through a half–block quasi–experimental design, a large sample of young adults (i.e. responders; n = 335) viewed videos of opposite–sex persons (i.e. targets) talking about themselves, and responders rated the targets’ traits and their romantic interest in the target. We tested whether similarity, dissimilarity or overall trait levels on mate value, physical attractiveness, life history strategy and the Big Five personality factors predicted romantic interest at zero acquaintance and whether sex acted as a moderator. We tested the responders’ individual perception of the targets’ traits, in addition to the targets’ own self–reported trait levels and a consensus rating of the targets made by the responders. We used polynomial regression with response surface analysis within multilevel modelling to test support for each of the hypotheses. Results suggest a large sex difference in trait perception; when women rated men, they agreed in their perception more often than when men rated women. However, as a predictor of romantic interest, there were no sex differences. Only the responders’ perception of the targets’ physical attractiveness predicted romantic interest; specifically, responders’ who rated the targets’ physical attractiveness as higher than themselves reported more romantic interest. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology

The psychometric trait approach to human life history, based on common factor modeling, has recently come under some criticism for neglecting to inquire into the developmental progression that orients and executes human life history trajectories (Copping, Campbell, & Muncer, 2014). It was asserted that the psychometric approach wholly focuses on creating a higher-order latent factor of life history by subsuming individual differences with developmental and social experiences, ignoring ontogenetic progression. Implicit in the critique is the assumption that developmental perspectives and latent approaches are mutually exclusive and incompatible with each other. The response to this critique by Figueredo and colleagues (2015) proposed instead that developmental perspectives and latent trait approaches are both compatible and necessary to further research on human life history strategies. The current paper uses three independent cross-sectional samples to examine whether models of human life history are best informed by a developmental perspective, psychometric trait approach, or both. UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Sociales::Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIP)

Previous developmental research has found that children from households with high shared parenting, childrearing agreement, and equitable division of parental labor experience positive developmental and social outcomes; a major limitation of these studies is that shared parent- ing measures do not assess the amount of total parental effort the child receives, but instead partitioning the amount of effort between parents. Life History (LH) theory predicts that the total amount of parenting the child receives should produce a greater developmental impact on the future LH strategies of children than precisely how that parental effort was apportioned between mothers and fathers.This report presents a cross-cultural study using convenience samples of university students in Mexico, the United States, and Costa Rica, investigating the relationship of total as well as shared parental effort on family emotional climate and the LH strategy of the participants as young adults.The first study was performed exclusively in Mexico; results indicated that higher levels of shared parenting experienced as a child were associated with Family Emotional Climate also during childhood and with participant adult LH.The second study extended these findings; higher total parental effort predicted shared parenting effort, positive emotional climate, and slower offspring adult life history strategy in the three conve- nience samples of Mexico, the United States, and Costa Rica. UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Sociales::Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIP)

This article proposes an evolutionary model of risky behavior in adolescence and contrasts it with the prevailing developmental psychopathology model. The evolutionary model contends that understanding the evolutionary functions of adolescence is critical to explaining why adolescents engage in risky behavior and that successful intervention depends on working with, instead of against, adolescent goals and motivations. The current article articulates 5 key evolutionary insights into risky adolescent behavior: (a) The adolescent transition is an inflection point in development of social status and reproductive trajectories; (b) interventions need to address the adaptive functions of risky and aggressive behaviors like bullying; (c) risky adolescent behavior adaptively calibrates over development to match both harsh and unpredictable environmental conditions; (d) understanding evolved sex differences is critical for understanding the psychology of risky behavior; and (e) mismatches between current and past environments can dysregulate adolescent behavior, as demonstrated by age-segregated social groupings. The evolutionary model has broad implications for designing interventions for high-risk youth and suggests new directions for research that have not been forthcoming from other perspectives.

SYNOPSIS Utilizing an evolutionary framework can elucidate the causes of variation in parental effort and guide measurement of relevant parenting constructs. The current article presents an evolutionary analysis of the determinants of parental effort and suggests that evolutionarily informed measures are needed to test evolutionary hypotheses. Towards this end, we employ evolutionary theory to guide development of new Parental Effort Scales, which supplement and extend extant methods for assessing coparenting.

We test a romantic couple’s shared Life History Strategy (LHS) as a primary predictor of romantic relationship satisfaction against competing theories. First, we demonstrated that, when compared against the couples’ shared level of supportive communication and the geographical distance separating the partners, the pure shared-partner LHS variance, rather than unique partner-specific variance, is the strongest predictor of relationship satisfaction. Then, we revised the measurement model and demonstrated that, when compared against the couple’s disassortative mating on LHS, a couple’s mean LHS was the sole predictor of relationship satisfaction, and also a strong predictor of the couple’s assortative mating on indicators of LHS. Thus, shared LHS seems to be the most critical predictor of relationship satisfaction when compared to supportive communication, geographical distance separating the partners, and the couple’s assortative mating on indicators of LHS.

Contains fulltext : 102958.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) In the present study, we tested whether the General Factor of Personality (GFP) is related to the level of parental support. The GFP is assumed to occupy the apex of the hierarchy of human personality structure and is believed to reflect a socially and sexually selected aggregate of behavioral characteristics that are generally valued as "desirable" in interpersonal relationships. The relationship between the GFP and parental support tested in this study is predicted by Life History Theory, a midlevel evolutionary account of systematic differences in evolved reproductive strategies. A total of 428 families with mother, father, and two children (range 14-16 years) participated. Parents filled out personality questionnaires (Big Five) and their level of parental support. The children also independently rated the amount of support they perceived from their parents. In the present sample, parents' GFPs were found to explain 33% of the variance in the Big Five. Moreover, the parents' GFPs showed significant relationships with the parents' self-rated parental support, but also with the child-rated parental support. The monoinformant (parents ratings) and multi-informant (parent and child ratings) data support the notion of a substantive GFP that is related to the investment of parents into their offspring. 10 p.

El objetivo del estudio fue evaluar, empleando la teoría bioecológica de Bronfenbrenner, los efectos de factores protectores en la crianza. 183 madres con historia de abuso, habitantes de la ciudad de Hermosillo, Sonora, México, aceptaron participar en la investigación. Los datos fueron analizados empleando ecuaciones estructurales. Los resultados muestran que el factor K modula el efecto de los factores protectores. Éstos y los de riesgo se encontraron tanto en el exosistema, como en el microsistema y en el ontosistema. El factor protector predijo los estilos de crianza, amor- tiguando los efectos de las variables de riesgo como la inseguridad del vecindario, la violencia de pareja y la depresión.

The present study tested whether a couple’s shared life history strategy predicts relationship satisfaction longitudinally and relationship dissolution. Through an integration of structural equation modeling and multilevel modeling, we found that a couple’s shared life history strategy: (1) directly predicted their average relationship satisfaction, (2) indirectly predicted the linear change in their relationship satisfaction, (3) indirectly predicted the variability about their average relationship satisfaction, and (4) directly, yet weakly, predicted their likelihood of experiencing relationship dissolution over a one-year period. Couples in a relationship with a slower average life history strategy were more likely to: (1) report higher average levels of relationship satisfaction, (2) have a positive trajectory of relationship satisfaction, (3) have less variability in relationship satisfaction, and (4) were less likely to experience relationship dissolution. This suggests that the influence of life history strategy decreases over the course of the relationship.

Life History (LH) theory describes the existence of individual differences in the optimal allocation of inherently limited bioenergetic and material resources towards different types of reproductive-enhancing activities. LH theory predicts that slow LH (“High-K”) individuals are biased toward allocating resources toward enhancing the phenotypic quality (e.g., physical and mental health) of oneself and one’s offspring. Sociometer theory suggests that self-esteem tracks an individual’s level of social acceptance and inclusion. We examined the hypothesis that slow LH strategy positively predicts a more positive Evaluative Self-Assessment due to enhanced phenotypic quality. Participants completed questionnaires measuring their Life History (LH) strategies and a variety of measures of Self-Assessment (perceived mate value, perceived mating success, social economic exchange, positive and negative adjectives, global self-esteem, and collective self-esteem). An Exploratory Factor Analysis indicated that the measures of Evaluative Self-Assessment were best represented as a single latent factor. Slow LH strategy correlated moderately and positively with this Evaluative Self-Assessment factor. This relationship was not accounted for by socially desirable responding (self-deceptive enhancement or impression-management), sex, or age of participants. Consistent with Sociometer theory, we suggest that slow LH strategists exhibit high perceived self-worth due to increased social prestige and, relatedly, enhanced phenotypic quality.

Path analysis was used to assess the contribution of four exogenous developmental variables (sexual abuse, physical abuse, exposure to violence, exposure to pornography—each occurring prior to age 13) and four personality constructs (“psychopathic and antagonistic attitudes,” “psychosocial deficits,” “pedophilia,” “hostile masculinity”) to the prediction of non-sexual delinquency and number of male child victims in a sample of 256 adolescent males with a history of “hands-on” sexual offending. “Psychosocial deficits” was found to partially mediate the effects of the exogenous variables on both outcomes. Exposure to violence both directly, and indirectly through “psychopathic and antagonistic attitudes,” contributed to the prediction of non-sexual delinquency. Sexual abuse by a male directly, and indirectly through “hostile masculinity” and “pedophila”, contributed to prediction of number of male child victims. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

Attachment style and communication style have been shown in previous research to predict relationship satisfaction. We hypothesized that the ultimate cause underlying the relationship among attachment style, communication style, and relationship satisfaction is Life History Strategy (LHS). Furthermore, we hypothesized that LHS would not only predict relationship satisfaction indirectly through a couple’s attachment style and communication style, but would also predict relationship satisfaction directly. Two structural equation models were constructed to model and test each of these hypotheses. The first showed that the indirect causal pathways from LHS to attachment style, attachment style to communication style, and communication style to relationship satisfaction predicted 16% of the variance in relationship satisfaction. The second added a causal pathway directly from LHS to relationship satisfaction which reduced the estimate for the influence of communication style on relationship satisfaction and increased the total variance predicted in relationship satisfaction to 60%. These results challenge the notion that it is primarily the communication between two romantic partners which influences their relationship outcome by proposing that their LHS may be influential: (1) indirectly through their attachment style and communication style; and (2) directly upon relationship satisfaction.

We propose that the continuing controversies over the use of quasi-F-ratios in psycholinguistic research might be circumvented, if not resolved, by the judicious application of Generalizability Theory (GT) analyses. We argue that GT is a logical extension of the basic rationale behind repeated measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the variance components model upon which GT is ultimately based and upon which the entire logic of the F-ratio (quasi or otherwise) rests. GT is especially useful in psycholinguistics research because it affords one the opportunity to assess generalizability across multiple dimensions within the same model, such as individual subjects as well as varying conditions of prime and target words. We will provide an illustrative example of GT based on Forster’s (2007) replication of Davis and Lupker’s (2006) study in which they tested the effects of frequency discrepancies in target and prime words across individual subjects under varying combinations of frequency and prime.

The present study evaluates three ultimate theories accounting for individual differences in sexually coercive tendencies: (1) Life History (LH) theory, (2) Competitively Disadvantaged Male theory, and (3) Sexual Coercion as a By-product theory. Three-hundred twenty-four college students completed questionnaires measuring LH strategy, perceived mate value, mating effort, short-term and long-term mating orientation, aggressive tendencies, psychopathy, and sexually coercive behavior. Eight tactical subscales extracted from the Sexual Acts and Perceptions Inventory converged upon one latent Sexual Coercion factor. The predictor variables clustered into a second Protective LH latent factor, which buffered Sexual Coercion. The Protective LH factor fully mediated the relation between sex and Sexual Coercion. Thus, the three evolutionary accounts of sexual coercion describe unique facets of a single LH trait rather than three dissociable alternatives. We discuss the conclusion that reproductive LH strategy partially underlies the variation in predisposition toward sexual coercion.

Psychometric findings are reported from two studies concerning the construct validity, temporal stability, and interrater reliability of the latent common factors underlying subjective assessments by human raters of personality traits in two nonhuman animal species: (a) the Stumptail macaque (Maraca arctoides), a cercopithecine monkey; and (b) the Zebra finch (Poephila guttata), an estrildid songbird. Because most theories of animal personality have historically implied that certain personality constructs should be relatively universal across taxa, parallel analyses of similar data are reported for two phylogenetically distant species of subject using the same psychometric methods. Each of the samples was drawn from a socially-housed colony of the same species: that of macaques consisted of 5 mature adult fem ales and 8 of their adult offspring and that of finches consisted of 5 adult individuals. A modified version of the 1978 Stevenson-Hinde and Zunz (SHZ) list of personality items was applied to the macaques at various times during the eight years from 1980-1988 and to the finches during 1992. This study also used the three SHZ scales - Confident, Excitable, and Sociable - originally derived from principal components. Generalizability analyses were used to assess the construct validity, temporal stability, and interrater reliability of the hypothesized factors. Both Stumptail macaques and Zebra finches manifest measurable personality factors that are highly valid across multiple items, stable across multiple years, and reliable across multiple raters. The same model fits both species, as predicted by theory. The construct validity of the factors is slightly higher for the finches than for the macaques, although the interrater reliability is somewhat lower. This study illustrates how generalizability analysis can be used to test prespecified confirmatory factor models when the number of individual subjects is quite small.

Individuals exhibit differences in their life history strategies along a continuum that ranges from fast (involving investments in immediate rewards) to slow (involving long-term relationships and investments). Components of life history have been demonstrated to be more strongly correlated in individuals with faster life histories, a phenomenon termed Strategic Differentiation–Integration Effort (SD–IE). Sexual strategies are an intrinsic component of life history, yet have not been examined for SD–IE effects. We tested SD–IE in one student and two general population samples from two countries, among sexual strategy traits and correlates (sociosexual orientation, attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, three groups of postcoital emotions, mate value, and life history speed). Two latent factors were found to explain the overall associations among these variables. The associations between the two factors and among their respective manifest indicators within factor were stronger in individuals with less restricted sexual strategies and more negative emotionality in sexual relationships, traits which are indicative of overall faster life history, supporting SD–IE hypotheses. Sex differences were identified and accounted for by life history speed differences between men and women. Unifactorial and multifactorial views of human sexual strategies can be argued to be equally supported by data, depending on individual life history speed.

The theoretical linkage of empathy to sexually aggressive and antisocial behavior is reviewed, and assess- ment conducted on the role of emotional empathy in the non-sexual delinquent behavior of juvenile sexual offenders. In examination of developmental antecedents of empathy, self-reported parental attachment and positive fathering ex- periences were found to be positively associated with emo- tional empathy, while reported exposure to violence against females was inversely related. As hypothesized, emotional empathy was found to have both mediating and moderating influences on risk of engagement in non-sexual delinquency. Emotional empathy was found to be negatively associated with non-sexual delinquency and to partially mediate the positive influences of exposure to violence against females and hostile masculinity. Emotional empathy was also found to function as a moderator of hostile masculinity, with high empathy levels associated with an attenuated positive ef- fect of hostile masculinity on non-sexual delinquency, and low levels with an accentuated effect. Possible mechanisms for this moderating influence are discussed, along with clin- ical implications of the findings and directions for future research.

Multiple selective pressures maintain and increase heritable behavioral variability among individuals across both developmental and evolutionary time: (1) directional social selection favors convergent traits, promoting mutually beneficial cooperative interactions; (2) disruptive social selection favors divergent traits, providing release from within-species competition; (3) genetic diversification responds adaptively to the stochastic (random) characteristics of environmental hazards such as uncontrollable morbidity (disease) and mortality (death); (4) developmental plasticity epigenetically directs development adaptively along different alternative pathways, modifying permanent and stable behavioral dispositions to suit long-term contingencies of survival and reproduction; and (5) behavioral flexibility deploys rapid and reversible short-term adaptive behavioral responses to transient situations.

Psychopathy, Narcissism, and Machiavellianism (the Dark Triad) have each been hypothesized as predictors of socially deviant behavior including sexual coercion, but the three traits also covary significantly with one another. The purpose of this study was to examine several alternative Multisample Structural Equation Models (MSEMs) exploring the relations between the Dark Triad and Sexually Coercive Behavior, testing whether any or all of the three specific “Dark Personality” traits uniquely contributed to predicting sexually coercive behavior. Self-report questionnaires measuring Primary and Secondary Psychopathy, Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Sexually Coercive Behavior were administered to a sample of undergraduates. The relative fit of each of the MSEMs to the data was examined by means of hierarchically nested model comparisons. The most parsimonious yet explanatory model identified was one in which a single common factor composed of the three Dark Triad indicators explained the relationships among the Dark Triad traits and Sexually Coercive Behavior without any direct contributions from the specific Dark Triad indicators. Results indicate that the three Dark Triad traits, controlling for the common factor, do not differentially predict Sexually Coercive Behavior. These results are interpreted with respect to the principle of Brunswik-Symmetry.

Most contemporary social psychological studies on inter-personal attraction have independently explored the competing concepts of similarity and complementarity. Incorporating evolutionary principles associated with assortative mating, two studies were conducted that examined individual difference preferences using the five-factor model (FFM) of human personality as assessed by the NEO-FFI. The first study (N = 104) examined the degree to which individuals showed an absolute or relative preference in an ‘‘ideal romantic partner’’ when compared to self-rated personality. The second study (N = 161) extended this by incorporating personality ratings for self, ‘‘ideal’’ romantic partner, and ‘‘actual’’ romantic partner, and perceptions of mate value for each. Overall, findings supported both evolutionary and social psychological theories of inter-personal attraction and support both relative and absolute preferences in romantic partners. Individuals sought mates that were matches of themselves to some degree (a concept that we termed aspirational positive assortative mating) but also sought mates that were somewhat higher in Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Mate Value, but lower in Neuroticism than themselves. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Until recently, variations in life history strategy were studied exclusively at the species level. Although this domain of study has been extended to examine systematic differences in life history strategy among various human ethnic groupings, more recent evolutionary theories of human development and related behavioral genetic work imply substantial within-group individual variation in life history strategy. We constructed a latent variable model identifying a single common factor, denoted as K, which underlies a variety of otherwise disparate life history parameters. This “K-Factor” loaded 0.36 on childhood attachment to the biological father, −0.36 on childhood attachment to any non-biological father figure, 0.38 on adult romantic partner attachment, −0.51 on mating effort, −0.58 on Machiavellianism, and −0.41 on risk propensity. The bivariate correlations of the K-factor with higher-order personality factors were statistically significant, −0.24 with “Big Neuroticism” and −0.67 with “Big Psychoticism”, and approached significance, correlating 0.12, with “Big Extraversion”. The K-factor appears to be an underappreciated individual difference variable of major importance to human development.

Abstract. We assessed whether violent or macabre interests (“sensational interests”) were related to mating effort and a higher-order personality construct reflecting the combined features of higher Extraversion, lower Psychoticism, and lower Neuroticism in 1321 participants from English-speaking (Tucson, Arizona, and Glasgow, Scotland) and Spanish-speaking (Hermosillo, Mexico, and Talca, Chile) communities. Participants from Spanish-speaking communities generally had more sensational interests. Mating effort was positively related to sensational interests, though the relationship was slightly weaker in Spanish-speaking communities. Personality effects were modest and entirely moderated by language; personality was negatively related to sensational interests in English-speaking communities, but positively associated to sensational interests in Spanish-speaking communities. These findings suggest that the relationship between mating effort and sensational interests is universal and reflects general intrasexual competition, whereas the relationship between personality and sensational interests is more culture-specific.

Sensational interests, i.e. a curiosity for the violent and macabre, are reputedly common in mentally disordered offenders. However, ostensibly well-adjusted individuals are also interested in these topics. We tested the hypothesis that individual differences in sensational interests may partially reflect intrasexual competition for status and have an underlying evolutionary function. Several predictions derive from this hypothesis. First, age and sex should be directly related to individual differences in mating effort (the degree that an individual devotes resources to finding and guarding sexual partners). Second, mating effort should directly influence sensational interests. Third, there should also be direct effects of age and sex on sensational interests. To test these predictions we collected data on 969 university undergraduates using the Revised Version of the Sensational Interests Questionnaire (SIQ-R) and the Mating effort Scale (MES). A structural equations model revealed that a single factor accounted for the majority of the variance of the three SIQ-R subscales, Paranormal, Militarism, and Criminal Identity. This model also included direct effects of age and sex on the MES and two SIQ-R subscales and direct effects of the MES on the SIQ-R. Model fit statistics indicated that this model was a good fit to the data. We conclude that, even in a non-clinical sample, an affinity for sensational interests might serve a form of intrasexual competition.

Managers must consider an animal’s potential for aggression when they decide to change or form a captive social group formation. In this study we compared two introduction methods (termed ‘‘sequential’’ and ‘‘nonsequential’’ introductions) in African elephants to assess their effectiveness in managing aggression and minimizing stress. Both introduction methods included four phases: baseline, visual contact, limited tactile contact, and physical introduction. In the sequential introduction, these steps were followed sequentially, and empirical data were considered during decision-making. In the nonsequential introduction, these steps were not followed sequentially, and decision-making was based primarily on intuitive assessments by animal managers. Behavioral data and fecal corticoid concentrations were measured throughout both types of

Background: We used an economic model based on evolutionary theory to guide an examination of relations among self-reported depressive symptoms and ratings of mate values of self, social, and sexual partners. This model treats assortative mating as a form of social exchange between partners of socially and sexually desirable traits. Methods: Two studies used variants of the Mate Value Inventory (MVI), a multivariate assessment of attributes desired in social or sexual partners. For study 1, 115 male and 124 female undergraduates provided self reports on four forms of the MVI-11 and on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); for study 2, 208 male and 277 female undergraduates provided self reports on seven forms of the MVI-7 and on the BDI-II. Results: Both multisample structural equations models indicated that the parameters were statistically equivalent between female and male subsamples and provided an adequate fit to the data. The models revealed significant relations between the mate values ascribed to the self and those ascribed to short- and long-term partners as well as best friends. Furthermore, greater BDI scores significantly predicted lesser ratings of mate value for the self, and hence indirectly predicted lesser ratings of mate value for all types of partners evaluated. Limitations: Although the data obtained from the MVI demonstrated good psychometric validity, external validity has not yet been established. Conclusions: The results are consistent with models predicting: (1) assortative mating by mate value, (2) differential exchange rates of mate value for different types of partners, (3) a negative relation between depressive symptoms and assessment of one's own mate value, and (4) a possibly consequential mismatch of mate values when one partner exhibits or recovers from significant depressive symptoms. The results are inconsistent with models predicting (5) a generalized negativity bias due to depression.  2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Adolescent males who sexually offended against prepubescent children were contrasted with those who targeted pubescent and postpubescent females. As hypothesized, path analyses revealed that the former group had greater deficits in psychosocial functioning, used less aggression in their sexual offending, and were more likely to offend against relatives. Theorized relationships between developmental risk factors, personality mediators, and sexual and nonsexual offense characteristics were assessed in both groups of juvenile sex offenders. Deficits in psychosocialfunctioning were found to mediate the influence of childhood exposure to violence against females on adolescent perpetration of sexual and nonsexual offenses. Additional univariate analyses were conducted to further explore some associations among early risk factors, personality mediators, and outcomes. Childhood physical abuse by a father or stepfather and exposure to violence against females were found to be associated with higher levels of comorbid anxiety and depression. Noncoercive childhood sexual victimization by a male nonrelative was found to be associated with sexual offending against a male child. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.

Four nested, theoretically specified, increasingly complex models were tested representing cognitive mediation of rape's effects on mental, physical, and social health. Data were cross-sectional (N = 253 rape survivors). Outcomes were standardized assessments of social maladjustment, physical, and psychological symptoms, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The best-fitting model was not fully cognitively mediated. Personological and rape characteristics influenced the level of self-blame experienced and the intensity of maladaptive beliefs about self and others. Self-blame and maladaptive beliefs predicted psychological distress, which strongly influenced all health outcomes. Self-ratings of rape memory characteristics contributed little to predicting postrape distress. The model accounted for 56% of the variance in general distress, including 91% of psychological symptom severity; 54% of PTSD symptoms; 65% of social maladjustment; and 17% of physical symptoms. Longitudinal replication is planned.

This paper describes a randomized clinical trial investigating a stress management program for women with breast cancer, which inadvertently turned quasi-experimental. Due to logistical considerations, group assignment was disclosed to participants (n = 63) prior to baseline assessment. Analyses of baseline measures unexpectedly revealed statistically significant differences between groups on psychological functioning. We suggest that what appears to be failed randomization may in fact point toward an important phenomenon which we have termed premature disclosure effect (PDE). A hierarchical regression model, developed to help explain the PDE, accounted for 47% of the variance. The findings indicate the importance of considering participant belief, preferences, and attributes when designing research protocols and interventions. Potential implications of PDE for clinical research in behavioral medicine are discussed and specific statistical methodologies suggested.

The current paper synthesizes theory and data from the field of life history (LH) evolution to advance a new developmental theory of variation in human LH strategies. The theory posits that clusters of correlated LH traits (e.g., timing of puberty, age at sexual debut and first birth, parental investment strategies) lie on a slow-to-fast continuum; that harshness (externally caused levels of morbidity-mortality) and unpredictability (spatial-temporal variation in harshness) are the most fundamental environmental influences on the evolution and development of LH strategies; and that these influences depend on population densities and related levels of intraspecific competition and resource scarcity, on age schedules of mortality, on the sensitivity of morbidity-mortality to the organism’s resource-allocation decisions, and on the extent to which environmental fluctuations affect individuals versus populations over short versus long timescales. These interrelated factors operate at evolutionary and developmental levels and should be distinguished because they exert distinctive effects on LH traits and are hierarchically operative in terms of primacy of influence. Although converging lines of evidence support core assumptions of the theory, many questions remain unanswered. This review demonstrates the value of applying a multilevel evolutionary-developmental approach to the analysis of a central feature of human phenotypic variation: LH strategy.

Summary Does experiential avoidance predict PTSD severity among rape survivors? We tested a hypothesized model where causal attributions, cognitive schemas, and memory characteristics mediated the relationship between experiential avoidance and PTSD. Experiential avoidance was measured as a cognitive coping strategy; women scoring high on this measure did not try to integrate or make meaning of their rape experiences, but rather attempted to block out memories of their rapes or minimize or rationalize their rape experiences in some way. Data were cross-sectional. Participants were rape survivors (N = 139; 23% with current PTSD). Results included a measurement model of social cognitive factors and PTSD and the structural model. Two sets of pathways were delineated, both exacerbated PTSD. Overall, 60% of the variance in PTSD was explained. The results suggested that the effects of experiential avoidance on psychological outcomes were detrimental, but small. Re-experiencing was the only memory characteristic...

Human personality and behavior genetic studies have resulted in a growing consensus that five heritable factors account for most variance in human personality. Prior research showed that chimpanzee personality is composed of a dominance-related factor and five human-like factors—Surgency, Dependability, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, and Openness. Genetic, shared zoo, and nonshared environmental variance components of the six factors were estimated by regressing squared phenotypic differences of all possible pairs of chimpanzees onto 1 − Rij, where Rij equals the degree of relationship and a variable indicating whether the pair was housed in the same zoo. Dominance showed significant narrow-sense heritability. Shared zoo effects accounted for only a negligible proportion of the variance for all factors.

Summary-Mating-effort was defined as the psychological effort put forth to obtain and guard short-term mates. Hypotheses were derived that contrasted two views of high mating-effort. In the conditional strategy view, social failure would occur first and lead directly to individuals’ adopting high mating-effort tactics. In the alternative strategy view, heritable dispositions would lead individuals to adopt high or low matingeffort tactics. The findings were that (i) social failure could not account for the co-variation of matingeffort and delinquency; (ii) perceived mate value was related to mating-effort only weakly; (iii) high matingeffort individuals were more, not less, sexually active; and (iv) mating-effort was familial. Although not definitive, on the whole these findings favored an alternative strategy over a conditional strategy interpretation of the choice of mating tactics among middle-class adolescents. i‘: 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd