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Evolutionary Psychology of Personality

Evolutionary Psychology and Personality Psychology

Evolutionary psychology examines the variation between species and seeks to identify specific evolved psychological mechanisms that explain human nature. Personality psychology examines the proximate explanations for individual differences between people. Viewing personality and individual differences through evolutionary theory has potential to enrich personality theory and to uncover the ultimate causes of personality characteristics. David Buss proposes that personality characteristics may not reflect noise or by products of other adaptations, but might have an adaptive function.

An evolutionary theoretical framework can supplement and enhance current personality theory about the adaptive functions for genetic differences that influence personality, potential proximate mechanisms of how personality works and is constructed, and how responsive an individual is to certain aspects of the environment.

The Big Five Personality Traits

Template:Merge section The big five personality traits reveal important social landscapes, and the traits themselves reference particular human qualities that influenced evolutionarily behavior for our ancestors. There are well documented sex differences in personality, attributed to differences in male and female reproductive strategies performed in the ancestral environment. For example, traits for dominance and aggression are seen as more beneficial to the reproductive fitness of men, thereby the selection of these traits in women are lower and more relaxed.

Individual variations of these personality traits are theorized to balance along an ever changing optimum dependant on place and time.

Openness

The trait of openness encompasses an individual’s ability to form creative connections between concepts and is associated with artistic ability. In terms of fitness benefits, research has shown that higher levels of openness and creativity are associated with a higher instances of being perceived attractive by the opposite sex, resulting in a greater ability to attract a mate.

In contrast, high levels of this trait have been associated with some severe psychological disorders, which indicates that extremely creative thinking can be damaging the overall mental health of an individual. In these cases, the ability to attract a mate and the likelihood for reproductive success become significantly lower.

Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness is one ability to think before acting, orderliness, and the ability to delay instant gratification for greater benefits later. It is generally seen as beneficial to have higher amounts of this trait for it promotes long term benefits and a safer livelihood.Yet those who are much higher than the optimum level are at a severe disadvantage when immediate opportunities arise, and often miss the benefits of these spontaneous opportunities.

Extraversion

Extraversion is positively correlated with various mating advantages, including number and quality of sexual partners, thereby increasing an individual’s fitness. Not only is the trait beneficial for sexual reproduction, but it is also associated with higher sociability and social support. (Nettle, 2006) Studies have shown that variation in extraversion also predicts patterns of physical strength and attractiveness, and individual differences in this characteristic is most likely a result of prior reproductive strategies.

In contrast, there are limits to the benefits of extraversion due to risks involved in such behavior. An individual high in extraversion is more likely in their lifetime to be hospitalized, involved in criminal activities, and susceptible to divorce.

Agreeableness

An individual exhibiting too much trust and empathy towards others is prone to being taken advantage of, which can endanger their well-being, especially in potentially life threatening situations.

Neuroticism

The negative effects of high neuroticism include an increase in depression and/or anxiety as well as impaired health in general (due to the overworking of the body’s stress mechanisms). In regards to social livelihood, high amounts of neuroticism are often predictive of loner behavior and relationship failures.

Although it is difficult to determine a functional reason for the normal distribution of neuroticism within the current population, it is hypothesized that in the ancestral environment, a level of neuroticism was critical for threat detection and avoidance of danger. Neuroticism is also linked to competitiveness and strive, therefore a certain amount within an individual holds the functional value of aiding in achievement within competitive situations.

Individual Differences and Personality

Personality differences evolved from psychological mechanisms that help guide human behavior in response to the various adaptive problems of our ancestors. These numerous mechanisms are species-typical and domain-specific to solve specific adaptive problems.

Life-history theory describes personality and individual differences as a response to the different trade-offs different individuals make in respect to capturing and allocating energy. Everything an individual does in life, whether it be growing or maintaining its own body, trying to reproduce, or rearing a child, cost valuable energy. Since energy is not limitless, trade-off exists between the adaptive issues we encounter. The energy spent searching new territory and food, cannot be spent on raising a child. This trade-off encompasses personality as well. Extroverts have an increased mating success and develop more social alliances, however, this trait comes with the trade-off of being exposed to high levels of risk.

Costly signaling theory is based on the face that individuals compete for resources and mating partners by sending signals about themselves. Only individuals in the best condition, physically, economically, with high energy can spare the energy it costs to send out these signals.

Fitness optima bases individual differences in personality due to natural selection favoring different levels of personality traits in different environments.

Frequency-dependent selection theory states that two or more strategies exist within a population at certain frequencies relative to one another, such that if one strategy is more prominent and common in the population it decreases your fitness. In other words, natural selection chooses those strategies that are less popular, favoring the alternative strategy. An example of this is biological sex, as the male to female ratio increases, males fitness ultimately decreases. Research shows that personality differences are most prominent in social species, therefore it might be the social environment that provide various adaptive situations which require different personality strategies to succeed.

References

1. ^ Michalski, R. L., Shackelford, T.K. (2010). Evolutionary personality psychology: Reconciling human nature and individual differences. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(5), 509-516.Doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2009.10.027
2. ^ Figueredo, Aurelio Jose, et al. "16 Evolutionary theories of personality." The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology: 265
3. ^ Buss, D.M. (2009). How can evolutionary psychology successfully explain personality and individual differences. Association for Psychological Science, 4, 359-366.
4. Budaev, S. V. (1999). Sex differences in the big five personality factors: Testing an evolutionary hypothesis. Personality and Individual Differences, 26(5), 801-813.
5. ^ Nettle, D. (2006). The evolution of personality variation in humans and other animals. American Psychologist, 61(6), 622-631.
6. Aaron W. Lukaszewski1 and James R. Roney1. The Origins of Extraversion: Joint Effects of Facultative Calibration and Genetic PolymorphismPers Soc Psychol Bull March 2011 37:409-421.

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