Elsevier

Developmental Review

Volume 26, Issue 2, June 2006, Pages 243-275
Developmental Review

Consilience and Life History Theory: From genes to brain to reproductive strategy

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2006.02.002Get rights and content

Abstract

We describe an integrated theory of individual differences that traces the behavioral development of life history from genes to brain to reproductive strategy. We provide evidence that a single common factor, the K-Factor, underpins a variety of life-history parameters, including an assortment of sexual, reproductive, parental, familial, and social behaviors. We explore the psychometrics and behavioral genetics of the K-Factor and offer a speculative account of the proximate mediation of this adaptive patterning of behavior as instantiated in well-established functions of specific areas of the human brain, including the frontal lobes, amygdala, and hippocampus. We then apply Life History Theory to predict patterns of development within the brain that are paedomorphic (i.e., development begins later, proceeds at a slower rate, and has an earlier cessation) and peramorphic (i.e., development begins early, proceeds at a faster rate, and has a later cessation).

Section snippets

Life History Theory as a unifying principle

Life History Theory is a mid-level theory from evolutionary biology that describes the strategic allocation of bioenergetic and material resources among different components of fitness (e.g., calories and nutrients devoted to growth vs. reproduction). Somatic Effort anchors one end of the first dimension of this trade-off whereas Reproductive Effort anchors the other. Somatic Effort refers to resources devoted to continued survival of the individual organism whereas Reproductive Effort refers

Life history and psychosocial characteristics

Research based on Differential K theories of human development and related behavioral genetic work describes substantial individual differences in biological and behavioral characteristics indicative of differences in life-history strategy (Belsky et al., 1991, Chisholm, 1996, Rowe, 2000). In addition to basic biological characteristics, such as longevity and fecundity, Life History Theory predicts that many psychosocial traits will accumulate non-randomly. The theory suggests that, due to

Relationship of life-history strategy to “social problem” behaviors

The dominant norms in many industrial and technologically advanced societies tend to designate low-K strategies as undesirable and high-K strategies as socially favored, presumably because these norms were created largely by high-K individuals who tend to rise in social status and influence. Even within modern industrialized and technological societies, however, there is a wide range of social and ecological niches within which individuals may adaptively practice different reproductive

Recent empirical work

Our ongoing program of research (Figueredo, Sefcek, et al., 2005, Figueredo et al., 2005c) involves developing a series of latent variable models—analytic techniques that can be used to identify traits that cluster together—that have identified a single common factor, the K-Factor, underlying a variety of life-history parameters, including clusters of sexual, reproductive, parental, and social behaviors.

Life History Theory and neuropsychology

In humans, the frontal lobes are essential for impulse control and delay of gratification, factors central to synthetic reasoning (the combination of ideas into a complex whole), abstract thought, and the organization of independent behaviors in time and space (e. g., speech, decision-making, and willed action; Goldman-Rakic, 1984, Davison et al., 2004). Damage to the prefrontal areas causes a variety of problems including difficulties planning, forming, or implementing behavioral rules and

An integration of ultimate, proximate, and developmental models

The course of brain development is particularly susceptible to perturbation during periods of rapid change. As brain–hormone interactions during the adolescent brain ‘growth spurt’ are integral to behavioral maturation, temporal dissociations between gonadal maturation and adolescent brain development are likely to have consequences for adult behavior. For example… precocious puberty results in exposure of the brain to steroid hormones in early childhood. Will premature organizing effects of

Adaptive individual differences in brain development

There are documented individual differences in the rates and degrees of development of all of these brain areas. At the same chronological ages, individuals may differ appreciably in the degree of development that has taken place. Furthermore, not all individual brains continue these developmental patterns to the same degree.

We hypothesize that these observed individual differences are more than mere random errors of development. We propose that they instead relate to individual differences in

An integrated theoretical model

Our theoretical model includes four major phenotypic constructs: (1) Frontal Function, (2) Amygdala Function, (3) Hippocampal Function, and (4) Personal/Social Function. Neuropsychologically, the extent of Frontal Function can be estimated by measures of self-regulation, rule breaking, verbal fluency, working memory, block construction that requires planning, and related executive functions (see Lezak et al., 2004 for a description of specific tasks). Estimates of Hippocampal Function can

Conclusion

We first described Life History Theory and derived certain testable predictions, including the existence of a single common factor, the K-Factor, underlying a variety of life-history traits, including an assortment of sexual, reproductive, parental, familial, and social behaviors. We then related the K-Factor to a positive manifold or “cluster” of comorbid and socially problematical behaviors that has been repeatedly reported in the literature. We went on to explore the psychometrics and

Acknowledgments

This paper is based in part upon a book chapter in a Spanish-language Mexican monograph on Childhood, Adolescence, and Social Problems (Figueredo et al., 2005c). The present work, however, expands upon the previous substantially. We wish to thank Linda Gottfredson for her helpful suggestions on the testing of Social Privilege Theory and permission to cite one of her manuscripts that is still in press.

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