PsyPost
No Result
View All Result
PsyPost
No Result
View All Result
Home Exclusive Social Psychology

New psychology research links personality traits to evolutionary fitness

by Eric W. Dolan
April 12, 2018
in Social Psychology
(Photo credit: Flamingo Images)

(Photo credit: Flamingo Images)

[Subscribe to PsyPost on YouTube to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in psychology and neuroscience]

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

New research has found an association between certain personality traits and Darwinian fitness. The preliminary research, published in Personality and Individual Differences, suggests that personality influences the number of offspring a person has.

“There is a large debate in evolutionary social sciences regarding the biological adaptiveness of behavior in contemporary human populations. The dispute is perhaps the hottest in the field of personality,” said study author Janko Međedović of the Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research in Belgrade.

“This is why empirical research that explores the relationship between personality and fitness (measured by reproductive success, longevity, parental investment, etc) is of high importance. Previous research in this field have been focused on a Big Five model of personality. We decided to investigate another prominent model of personality structure, the HEXACO personality framework.”

HEXACO is an acronym for the names of the six personality factors: Honesty/Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience.

The study of 255 Serbian individuals over the age of 50 found that three of these factors were associated with short-term reproductive success. Openness to Experience and Honesty-Humility were negatively correlated with the number of children the participants had, while Emotionality was positively correlated.

In other words, individuals who are more conventional, more boastful, and more sensitive tended to also have more offspring.

“The findings are largely in accordance with previous studies: personality traits are related to fitness, they participate in fitness optimization and life-history pathways,” Međedović told PsyPost. “The data corroborate the conceptual views of human behavioral ecologists who claim that, despite the potential adaptation-environment mismatch in contemporary populations, human behavior is in fact largely adaptive.”

The researchers also found that low Openness and high Conscientiousness predicted a higher number of grandchildren, while more Extraverted individuals tended to reproduce earlier in their lifetime.

“Personality traits help us solve important biological challenges such is having children, raising them, choosing the timing of reproduction, etc. Since they are heritable traits, this suggests that they are probably under current natural selection. Hence, they are continuing to evolve with other human characteristics and participate in our phylogeny,” Međedović said.

The study, like all research, has limitations. Međedović warned about drawing any broad conclusions from the findings.

“Generalizability of findings is a problem in all psychological research. However, the problem is even more pronounced if you try to make evolutionary-relevant conclusions from the study,” Međedović explained.

“The ideal sample would be population-representative group of individuals in a post-reproductive phase of life. We tried to make our sample as heterogeneous as we could, but it is still very likely that our findings are constrained by various sample characteristics. Secondly, in a cross-sectional design causality cannot be undoubtedly established. The ideal design would incorporate longitudinal studies where we could measure personality in young adults and measure fitness in the same individuals a couple of decades afterwards.”

“Exploring the relationship between personality and fitness is scientifically important per se; however it is only the starting point of examining personality in behavioral ecological framework,” Međedović added.

“One of the main topics here is to explain the variation in personality traits. Why are some individuals more aggressive than others? Are there evolutionary forces which maintain this variation? Behavioral ecologists have already developed several heuristically powerful models to explain the variation of personality traits in animals. Our task now is to see are these models applicable to humans, to what extent, and under what constraints. Answering to this question will help us to understand the key problem of human individuality: why is there personality in the first place?”

The study, “Revealing complex relations between personality and fitness: HEXACO personality traits, life-time reproductive success and the age at first birth“, was authored by Janko Međedović, Mina Šoljaga, Ana Stojković, and Ivana Gojević.

ShareTweetSendScanShareSharePinSend

Get all the latest updates on new psychology research with the free PsyPost app.
 


NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP

STAY CONNECTED

TRENDING

Love isn’t blind: Romantic partners are fairly accurate judges of their better half’s abilities, study indicates

Coffee drinking is largely unrelated to psychological well-being, according to new research

Adolescents without depressive symptoms show a bias toward faces with positive emotions

Study suggests shared reality plays a critical role in stressor reactivity among women

Mothers’ depressive symptoms appear to affect children’s socio-emotional development, partly through parenting practices

Neuroscience research suggests LSD might enhance learning and memory by promoting brain plasticity

RECENT

Researchers identify specific neural networks that are activated by religious worship

Study finds economic inequality promotes belief in conspiracy theories

Study among Roman Catholic clergy and nuns suggests spiritual openness may facilitate better mental health

Love isn’t blind: Romantic partners are fairly accurate judges of their better half’s abilities, study indicates

Adolescents without depressive symptoms show a bias toward faces with positive emotions

  • Cognitive Science
  • COVID-19
  • Mental Health
  • Social Psychology
  • Drug Research
  • Conspiracy Theories
  • Meditation
  • Psychology of Religion
  • Aviation Psychology and Human Factors
  • Relationships and Sexual Health
Powered by

About

PsyPost is a psychology and neuroscience news website dedicated to reporting the latest research on human behavior, cognition, and society. (READ MORE...)

  • Contact us
  • Privacy policy

No Result
View All Result
  • About
    • Newsletter signup form
  • Cart
  • Checkout
  • Contact
  • Contact us
  • My account
  • Privacy policy
  • Psychology news
  • PsyPost app privacy policy
  • Shop
  • SmartMag Home

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used.