Evolution, Culture, and the Five-Factor Model

Kevin Macdonald
1998 Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology  
Following a review of evolutionary approaches to the Five-Factor-Model (FFM), I develop a synthetic perspective that incorporates three levels of analysis: Personality systems as universal psychological mechanisms; systematic group (i.e., gender, birth order, age, ethnic) differences that can be illuminated by evolutionary theory; and individual differences. At the level of universal mechanisms, personality systems are species-typical systems with adaptive functions in the human environment of
more » ... volutionary adaptedness. At the level of group differences, the evolutionary theory of sex, parent-offspring conflict theory, and life history are used to analyze sex, age and ethnic differences in personality systems. At the level of individual differences, variation in personality consists of a range of viable evolutionary strategies for humans. Humans evaluate and act on the genetic and phenotypic diversity represented by this range of viable strategies in order to solve adaptive problems. Evolutionary perspectives on cross-cultural variation are noted and illustrated.
doi:10.1177/0022022198291007 fatcat:j375dfp72vdfdknlfgw6c7w5cq