Paul Gladden

Moral foundations (MF) theory proposes six evolved, universal psychological systems (“foundations”) on which cultures construct diverse moralities, while further proposing individual differences (e.g., political differences) in reliance on various moral foundations. Life History (LH) theory suggests that slow LH individuals develop under stable socio-ecological conditions where displaying moral traits and behavioral restraints on selfishness may have been particularly adaptive for delayed social benefits. Human LH theory has been used to help explain individual differences in various moral intuitions, but these findings have not been entirely consistent. Across 2 studies, samples of undergraduate students completed self-report questionnaires assessing their reliance on various moral foundations, their LH strategies, political attitudes, and early-life socioeconomic status. Psychometric measures of slow LH strategy were positively associated with each moral foundation, even after statistically controlling for respondent sex, social desirability, and early-life socioeconomic factors in study 2. The six moral foundations were positively intercorrelated. Neither self-perceived life expectancy nor self-reported age of first sexual intercourse predicted the moral foundations. These findings suggest that LH strategies (measured psychometrically) account for strength of moral foundations and the positive intercorrelations among the moral foundations.

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.

The purpose of the present article is to propose an alternative short form for the 199-item Arizona Life History Battery (ALHB), which we are calling the K-SF-42, as it contains 42 items as compared with the 20 items of the Mini-K, the short form that has been in greatest use for the past decade. These 42 items were selected from the ALHB, unlike those of the Mini-K, making direct comparisons of the relative psychometric performance of the two alternative short forms a valid and instructive exercise. A series of secondary data analyses were performed upon a recently completed five-nation cross-cultural survey, which was originally designed to assess the role of life history strategy in the etiology of interpersonal aggression. Only data from the ALHB that were collected in all five cross-cultural replications were used for the present analyses. The single immediate objective of this secondary data analysis was producing the K-SF-42 such that it would perform optimally across all fiv...

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. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The purpose of the present article is to propose an alternative short form for the 199-item Arizona Life History Battery (ALHB), which we are calling the K-SF-42, as it contains 42 items as compared with the 20 items of the Mini-K, the short form that has been in greatest use for the past decade. These 42 items were selected from the ALHB, unlike those of the Mini-K, making direct comparisons of the relative psychometric performance of the two alternative short forms a valid and instructive exercise. A series of secondary data analyses were performed upon a recently completed five-nation cross-cultural survey, which was originally designed to assess the role of life history strategy in the etiology of interpersonal aggression. Only data from the ALHB that were collected in all five cross-cultural replications were used for the present analyses. The single immediate objective of this secondary data analysis was producing the K-SF-42 such that it would perform optimally across all five cultures sampled, and perhaps even generalize well to other modern industrial societies not currently sampled as a result of the geographic breadth of those included in the present study. A novel method, based on the use of the Cross-Sample Geometric Mean as a criterion for item selection, was used for generating such a cross-culturally valid short form.

ABSTRACT A growing body of empirical literature supports the validity of psychometric assessments of human life history strategies, but no comprehensive quantitative summaries have yet been published. We present a psychometric validation study of a 20-item Short-Form of the Arizona Life History Battery (ALHB), the Mini-K, using meta-analytic procedures to survey a multiplicity of published and unpublished studies on English-speaking North American college student samples. Correlations between the Mini-K with other measures of related constructs describe the dimensions of the broader conceptual framework encompassed by human life history strategy and empirically establish a nomological network surrounding the Mini-K by quantitatively characterizing its system of relations to related and unrelated constructs. These constructs include the General Factor of Personality, Mutualistic and Antagonistic Social Strategies, Emotional Intelligence, Executive Functions, Covitality, and Evaluative Self-Assessment as well as other indicators of human life history strategy, including all those comprising the ALHB and many others not used in the ALHB, and indicators of one’s Romantic Partner’s life history strategy. Although a single measure cannot capture something as complex and multifaceted as life history strategy, both the Mini-K and the ALHB of which it is a part, perform as predicted by evolutionary psychological theory within this wider conceptual framework.