Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
Chapter 15
Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 15, you should be able to:
1.
List and discuss Darwin’s key components to evolutionary
theory.
2.
Describe the evolutionary theory foundational background to
Buss’s work.
3.
Discuss the term “evolutionary psychology” and the four basic
questions that focus on the evolutionary perspective.
4.
Explain the relationship of evolutionary theory to personality
theory.
5.
Describe Buss’s model of personality and its relationship to
McCrae and Costa’s Big Five Model.
6.
Discuss Buss’s “origins of individual differences” and the four
sources of difference.
7.
List and describe Buss’s key five personality dimensions.
8.
Compare and contrast some of the current pros and cons to
Buss’s theory.
9.
Describe the three general topics in Buss’s related research.
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
10
Discuss and critique evolutionary theory in relationship to a
concept of humanity.
Lecture Outline
I.
Overview of Evolutionary Theory of Personality
Charles Darwin (1859) laid the foundation for modern theory
of evolution, even though the theory itself has been around
since the ancient Greeks. Darwin’s major contribution was not
the theory of evolution but rather an explanation for how
evolution works, namely through selection (natural and sexual)
and chance. Chance occurs mostly through random genetic
mutation and we won’t have much to say about chance.
Instead, we focus on selection of three different kinds: artificial
selection, natural selection, and sexual selection. The
evolutionary process (natural and sexual selection and chance)
results in three distinct outcomes: adaptations, by-products and
noise.
II.
Biography of David Buss
David Buss was born April 14, 1953 in Indianapolis Indiana to
Arnold H. Buss, Sr. and Edith Nolte. Arnold H. Buss Sr.
earned his PhD in Psychology from Indiana University in the
early 1950s and was a professor of psychology at the
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers, and finally the University of
Texas, where he is currently Professor Emeritus. Arnold Buss’
research focused on aggression, psychopathology, selfconsciousness, and social anxiety.
III. Principles of Evolutionary Psychology
Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer were the first thinkers to
argue for an evolutionary perspective of psychological thought
and behavior. The term evolutionary psychology can be
defined as the scientific study of human thought and behavior
from an evolutionary perspective and focuses on four big
questions (Buss, 1999):
1. Why is the human mind designed the way it is and how did
it come to take its current form?
2. How is the human mind designed, that is, what are its parts
and current structure?
3. What function do the parts of the mind have and what is it
designed to do?
4. How do the evolved mind and current environment interact
to shape human behavior?
IV. Evolutionary Theory of Personality
Most personality theories, as you have seen in Sections I to III,
assume that personality is caused by environmental events
alone and seldom mention a biological component.
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
Evolutionary theory, however, assumes that the true origins of
personality traits reach far back in ancestral times. The true
origin of personality is evolution, meaning that it is caused by
an interaction between an ever changing environment and a
changing body and brain. Evolutionary theory is one of the few
recent theories of personality that attempts once again to
explain the grand view of human personality—its ultimate
origins as well as its overall function and structure.
The field of evolutionary personality psychology itself has
been divided by psychologists arguing for two solutions:
personality differences were either “noise” or they were
perhaps “by-products” of evolved adaptive strategies. More
recently, however, other theorists have made the case for
personality traits being something more than noise or
byproducts, namely adaptations. David Buss was the first and
most prominent theorist to take up the cause of developing an
evolutionary theory of personality. The essence of Buss’s
theory of personality revolves around adaptive problems and
their solutions or mechanism, with a foundational
understanding of the nature and nurture of personality.
V.
Common Misunderstanding in Evolutionary Theory
When evolutionary theory first became popular in the 1980s it
caused quite a bit of controversy. There was a lot of resistance
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
both from inside and outside university settings against
applying evolutionary ideas to human thought and behavior.
Evolution is all about the body changing due to changes in the
environment. In this sense it is inherently a “nature and
nurture” interaction perspective. Evolution occurs from the
interaction between adaptations and input from the
environment that triggers the adaptations. More generally, the
discovery of epigenetics is an even more powerful example of
how genetic influence is not set in stone at the moment of
conception and interacts with input from the environment.
Epigenetics is change in gene function that does not involve
changes in DNA.
VI. Related Research
The evolutionary model of personality cannot be tested directly
in so far as we cannot conduct studies over hundreds of
generations. And yet, just like in biology, there is much support
for the evolutionary basis of human personality, which can be
divided into at least three general topics: temperament,
genetics, and animal personality. All three lines of evidence
support the view that personality has a biological basis and that
these biological systems have evolved.
VII. Critique of Evolutionary Theory of Personality
Evolutionary psychology in general and evolutionary
personality psychology in particular have stimulated a lot of
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
controversy but also a relatively large body of empirical
research. The field has its own scientific society (Human
Behavior and Evolutionary Society, HBES), and its own
scientific journal Evolution and Human Behavior. The
discipline also rests upon other scientific disciplines, such as
evolutionary biology, ethology, behavioral genetics, and
neuroscience, so there is a solid empirical foundation to the
field.
VIII. Concept of Humanity
It is difficult to say on which side of the optimism-pessimism
debate evolutionary theory would fall. It is mostly descriptive
and, in that sense, tends to be somewhat neutral about
describing human nature.
Evolutionary psychology has a complex view on the question
of determinism versus free-will. A common assumption of
evolutionary theory by critics is that it is harshly deterministic
in that it explains behavior in terms of an evolved past and
genetic influence. Indeed, evolutionary psychology is often
criticized for condoning traditional sex-roles (e.g., women are
attracted to high status men and men are attracted to physically
attractive women). Buss and other evolutionary theorists make
clear, however, that evolutionary psychology is a theory of
how these traits began, not how they should be. On the
question of causality versus teleology it is clear that
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
evolutionary theory comes down heavily on the causality side
of the equation. Evolutionary theory sides more with the
unconscious influences on thought, behavior, and personality
than on conscious ones. The concept of humanity that will be
most surprising to many people will be evolutionary
psychology’s stance on biological versus social influence.
Clearly there is a strong emphasis on biological influences,
from brain systems, neurochemicals, and genetics.
Evolutionary theory is also balanced on the question of the
uniqueness of the individual compared to general commonality
among all people.
Test Items
Fill-in-the-Blanks
1. David Buss ‘s interest in learning and understanding was sparked
by the concept of ___________________.
2. __________________ laid the foundation for the modern theory
of evolution.
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
3. The evolutionary process (natural and sexual selection and
chance) results in three distinct outcomes: adaptations, byproducts and ______________________.
4. __________________.are evolved strategies that solve
important survival and/or reproductive problems.
5. ______________. are traits that happen as a result of adaptations
but are not part of the functional design
6. __________________,.also known as “random effects,” occurs
when evolution produces random changes in design that do not
affect function.
7. David Buss is a professor of psychology at the_____________,
where he is currently Professor Emeritus.
8. The ____________________.perspective of psychological
thought and behavior was first introduced by Charles Darwin
and Herbert Spencer.
9. The merger of evolution and psychology began with the thinking
of E.O. Wilson when he argued for a merger of the biological
and social sciences and dubbed his movement
________________ .
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
10. The term ________________________.was coined in 1973 by
biologist Michael Ghiselin (1973), and later popularized by the
anthropologist John Tooby and psychologist Leda Cosmides
11. Evolutionary psychology can be defined as the scientific study of
human thought and behavior from an evolutionary perspective
and focuses on ___________________ .
12. The essence of Buss’s theory of personality revolves around
______________ and their solutions or mechanisms.
13. The process of evolution by natural selection has produced
solutions to the two basic problems of life and they are called
___________________ .
14. Two goals and motives that act as evolved mechanisms are
_________ and ___________.
15. ______________ involves the disposition to experience positive
emotional states and to engage in one’s environment and to be
sociable and self-confident.
16. A second dimension of personality, _______________, is
marked by a person’s willingness and capacity to cooperate
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
and help the group on the one hand or to be hostile and
aggressive on the other.
17. One’s capacity and commitment to work is the core
characteristic of ________________.
18. The evolved strategy of __________ involves one’s propensity
for innovation and ability to solve problems.
19. ________________ hypothesized there have been costs and
benefits of each of the Big Five dimensions of personality
during ancestral periods of evolution
20. _____________. is change in gene function that does not involve
changes in DNA.
True-False
_____1.
David Buss graduated sum cum laude from his High
School .
_____2.
David Buss’s father was a crab fisherman who spent
most of his time in Alaska.
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
_____3.
Sigmund Freud laid the foundation for the modern
theory of evolution and personality.
_____4.
Natural selection (otherwise known as “breeding”)
occurs when humans select particular desirable traits in a
breeding species.
_____5.
Sexual selection operates when members of the opposite
sex find certain traits more appealing and attractive than others
and thereby produce offspring with those traits.
_____6.
Adaptations are evolved strategies that solve important
survival and/or reproductive problems.
_____7.
By-products also known as “random effects,” occurs
when evolution produces random changes in design that do not
affect function.
____8.
Carl Jung argued for a merger of the biological and
social sciences and dubbed this movement “sociobiology.”
____9.
The term evolutionary psychology can be defined as the
scientific study of human thought and behavior from an
evolutionary perspective.
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
____10.
Evolutionary theory is one of the few recent theories of
personality that attempts once again to explain the grand view
of human personality.
____11.
Eysenck was the first and most prominent theorist to
take up the cause of developing an evolutionary theory of
personality.
____12.
From Darwin’s perspective all life forms are confronted
with two fundamental problems of adaptation, namely survival
(food, danger, predation, etc.) and reproduction.
_____13.
Two goals and motives that act as evolved mechanisms
are natural selection and mate selection.
_____14.
Buss’s model of personality argues against the Big Five
trait approach of McCrae and Costa.
_____15.
Agreeableness/hostility. involves the disposition to
experience positive emotional states and to engage in one’s
environment and to be sociable and self-confident.
_____16.
Surgency is marked by a person’s willingness and
capacity to cooperate and help the group on the one hand or to
be hostile and aggressive on the other.
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
_____17.
Buss (1991) argues that of the five personality
dimensions, openness is the most important trait because it
most directly provides answers to a host of adaptive problems.
_____18.
Evolutionary psychology in general and evolutionary
personality psychology in particular has stimulated a lot of
interest but no definitive empirical research.
_____ 19. Evolutionary theory of personality scores low on the
criterion of parsimony.
_____ 20. Evolutionary psychology has a simplistic view on the
question of determinism versus free-will.
Multiple Choice
______1.
Which of following theorist laid the foundation for the
modern theory of evolution?
a.
Sigmund Freud
b.
Charles Darwin
c.
Hans Eysenck
d.
Carl Rogers
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
______2.
Which one of the following is not one of the types of
selection focused on by evolutionary theorists?
a.
artificial selection
b.
natural selection
c.
seminal selection
d.
sexual selection
_____3.
The evolutionary process of natural and sexual selection
and chance results in ____ distinct outcomes.
_____4.
a.
two
b.
five
c.
six
d.
three
Who were the first thinkers to argue for an evolutionary
perspective of psychological thought and behavior?
a.
Freud and Jung
b.
Darwin and Spencer
c.
Aristotle and Plato
d.
Tooby and Cosmides
_____5.
The essence of Buss’s theory of personality revolves
around adaptive problems and their_____________.
a.
fundamental attribution errors
b.
solutions or mechanisms
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
_____6.
c.
functional dynamics
d.
fundamental situational errors
The term ___________ refers to the process of evolution
by natural selection has produced solutions to the two basic
problems of life keyed on by Darwin and Buss.
_____7.
a.
mechanisms
b.
artificial selection
c.
surgency
d.
natural selection
___________ mechanisms are internal and specific
cognitive, motivational, and personality systems that solve
specific survival and reproduction problems.
_____8.
a.
Survival
b.
Adaptive
c.
Physical
d.
Psychological
In Buss’s theory there are ____ specific main classes of
mechanisms.
a.
five
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
b.
four
c.
three
d.
two
_____9.
Psychological mechanisms relevant to personality can be
grouped into _______ main categories.
_____10.
a.
three
b.
two
c.
four
d.
five
Psychological mechanisms relevant to personality can be
grouped into all the following categories, except:
_____11.
a.
goals/drives/motives.
b.
nature/nurture.
c.
emotions.
d.
traits.
Two goals and motives that act as evolved mechanisms
are a.
survival-ability and dominance.
b.
power and intimacy.
c.
politics and economics.
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
d.
_____12.
belongingness and social-ability.
Buss (1991) starts with the assumption that motivation,
emotion, and personality are adaptive in that they solve
problems of _______________.
_____13.
a.
survival and reproduction
b.
introversion and extroversion.
c.
psychoticism and neuroticism.
d.
narcissism and frotteurism.
Buss argues that the five main dimensions of personality
(Big Five) can be best thought of as a way of summarizing the
____________.
a.
human dynamic
b.
strategies of personhood
c.
social landscape
d.
need of belongingness
_____14.
Buss argues for essentially the same five personality
dimensions (Big Five) but with slightly different terminology.
Which is not one of Buss’s categories?
a.
surgency/extraversion/dominance
b.
conscientiousness
c.
agreeableness
d.
neuroticism/psychoticism
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
_____15.
__________ involves the disposition to experience
positive emotional states and to engage in one’s environment
and to be sociable and self-confident.
a.
Agreeableness
b.
Conscientiousness
c.
Surgency
d.
Openness
_____16.
A second dimension of personality, ______________, is
marked by a person’s willingness and capacity to cooperate
and help the group on the one hand or to be hostile and
aggressive on the other.
_____17.
a.
conscientiousness
b.
openness/intellect.
c.
emotional stability
d.
agreeableness/hostility
The third adaptive personality system revolves around
response to danger and threat and is referred to as
____________.
a.
emotional stability/neuroticism
b.
agreeableness/hostility
c.
conscientiousness
d.
surgency
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
_____18.
The fourth adaptive personality system revolves around
one’s capacity and commitment to work and is the core
characteristic of _______________.
_____19.
a.
conscientiousness
b.
emotional stability
c.
agreeableness
d.
openness
The fifth adaptive personality system is the evolved
strategy of ____________ involves one’s propensity for
innovation and ability to solve problems.
a.
agreeableness
b.
conscientiousness
c.
openness
d.
emotional stability
____20.
Which statement is most true for the evolutionary theory
of personality as it relates as a guide for practitioners in
psychology:
a.
The theory is more abstract and pure than concrete
and applied.
b.
The theory is more concrete and applied than
abstract and pure.
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
c.
The theory is more abstract and concrete than pure
and applied.
d.
The theory is more pure and concrete than abstract
and applied.
Short Answer
I. Define, explain and discuss natural, artificial, and sexual selection.
2. List and discuss Buss’s three distinct outcomes of the
evolutionary process.
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
3.
Define evolutionary psychology and list the four big questions.
4.
Discuss the nature and nurture of personality from the
evolutionary perspective.
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
5.
Define and discuss Buss's two different forms of mechanisms.
Answers
Fill-in-the-Blanks
True-False
Multiple Choice
1.
evolution
1.
F
1.
b
2.
Charles Darwin
2.
F
2.
c
3.
noise
3.
F
3.
d
4.
Adaptations
4.
F
4.
b
5.
By-products
5.
T
5.
b
6.
Noise
6.
T
6.
a
7.
University of Texas
7.
F
7.
d
8.
evolutionary
8.
F
8.
d
9.
sociobiology
9.
T
9.
a
10.
evolutionary psychology 10.
T
10.
b
11.
four big questions
11
F
11.
b
12.
adaptive problems
12.
T
12.
a
13.
mechanisms
13.
F
13.
c
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Chapter 15 Buss: Evolutionary Theory of Personality
14.
power , intimacy
14.
F
14.
d
15.
Surgency
15.
F
15.
c
16.
agreeableness/hostility
16.
F
16.
d
17.
conscientiousness
17.
F
17.
a
18.
openness
18.
F
18.
a
19.
Nettle
19.
F
19.
c
20.
Epigenetics
20.
F
20.
a
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