Evolutionary personality psychology

Hui Jing Lu

Chapter 4 in Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, 2026, pp 63-81 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter provides an overview of evolutionary personality psychology, first examining the debate on whether personality traits are direct products of natural and sexual selection or merely evolutionary byproducts, and then reviewing four key mechanisms: environmental heterogeneity selection, frequency-dependent selection, mutation-selection balance, and sexual selection. These mechanisms maintain personality variation as adaptive responses to ecological and social challenges. The chapter further explores how reactive mechanisms, themselves evolved adaptive products, enable the calibration of life-history strategies and personality traits by early environmental cues such as harshness and unpredictability. Supported by developmental and cross-cultural evidence, it argues that personality variation is not arbitrary but reflects finely-tuned adaptations. The chapter concludes by proposing future research directions to better understand gene–environment interactions, intergenerational transmission, and personality malleability across the lifespan.

Keywords: Evolutionary Personality Psychology; Product Versus By-product; Life-history Theory; Childhood Environment; Developmental Plasticity; Gene–environment Interaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035332496
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