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.
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 University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers, and finally the University of Texas, where he is currently Professor Emeritus. Arnold Buss’ research focused on aggression, psychopathology, self-consciousness, 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. 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 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 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 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.

3.   The evolutionary process (natural and sexual selection and chance) results in three distinct outcomes: adaptations, by-products 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 ________________ .

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 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.

_____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.

____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.

_____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

______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.
a.       two
b.       five
c.       six
d.       three

_____4.     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
c.       functional dynamics
d.       fundamental situational errors

_____6.     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.
a.       mechanisms
b.       artificial selection
c.       surgency
d.       natural selection

 

_____7.     ___________ mechanisms are internal and specific cognitive, motivational, and personality systems that solve specific survival and reproduction problems.
a.       Survival
b.       Adaptive
c.       Physical
d.       Psychological

        

_____8.     In Buss’s theory there are ____ specific main classes of mechanisms.
a.      five
b.      four
c.       three
d.      two

_____9.     Psychological mechanisms relevant to personality can be grouped into _______ main categories.
a.       three
b.       two
c.       four
d.       five

 

_____10.   Psychological mechanisms relevant to personality can be grouped into all the following categories, except:
a.       goals/drives/motives.
b.       nature/nurture.
c.       emotions.
d.       traits.

 

_____11.   Two goals and motives that act as evolved mechanisms are -
a.      survival-ability and dominance.
b.      power and intimacy.
c.       politics and economics.
d.      belongingness and social-ability.

_____12.   Buss (1991) starts with the assumption that motivation, emotion, and personality are adaptive in that they solve problems of _______________.
a.       survival and reproduction
b.       introversion and extroversion.
c.       psychoticism and neuroticism.
d.       narcissism and frotteurism.

_____13.   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

_____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.
a.       conscientiousness
b.       openness/intellect.
c.       emotional stability
d.       agreeableness/hostility

_____17.   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

_____18.   The fourth adaptive personality system revolves around one’s capacity and commitment to work and is the core characteristic of _______________.
a.       conscientiousness
b.       emotional stability
c.       agreeableness
d.       openness

_____19.   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.
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.

 

 

 

 

3.      Define evolutionary psychology and list the four big questions.

 

 

 

 

4.      Discuss the nature and nurture of personality from the evolutionary perspective.

 

 

 

 

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
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