Personality Development in

Evolutionary Perspective

Patricia Draper and Jay Belsky

Department of Human Development
and Family Studies
Pennsylvama State University

ABSTRACT A relationship between personality processes and evolution

can be seen when behaviors associated with sexual maturation, mating, and
parenting are examined This article stipulates the types of proximal cues im-
plicated in the shaping of personality vanables that become important in the
development of the individual's reproductive behavior

Thinking about personality processes and evolutionary processes at the

same time is difficult, since the two domains are concemed with very
different causal influences (Buss, 1984) Personality theonsts attend
to individual differences and the unique and highly proximal factors
thought to be lmphcated in personality formation Evolutionary theo-
nsts, on the other hand, are more likely to look at species-wide, be-
havioral adaptations and to interpret them in terms of distal or remote
factors linked to reproductive success The fields are potentially drawn
together when their shared focus is the behavior of the individual,
although in both camps there is a strong temptation to collect data
and then retreat, for the purposes of explanation, into "black box"
formulations such as personality dimensions or reproductive fitness
differentials Personahty, because it remains inferential, is not wholly
satisfactory to many ngorously behavioral social scientists, fitness dif-
ferentials between individuals suffer from their own limitations, since

Conespondence can be addressed to Patncia Draper or Jay Belsky, Department of

Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvama State University, University
Paric, PA 16802
Joumal cf Personality 58 1, March 1990 Copynght © 1990 by Duke Umversity Press
CaZ 0022-3506/90/$! 50
 142 Drctpei and Belsky

the long-term contnbution of few or many offspring to postenty is not

knowable
In this article we tread carefully on the middle ground The goal we
have set ourselves is to make sense of disparate literatures on environ-
mental influences on personahty development that are consonant with
an evolutionary interpretation For practical purposes, any article that
purports to deal with evolution, environment, and personahty must be
selective Our strategy here is to concem ourselves with some person-
ahty dimensions that seem most closely associated with behaviors of
sexual maturation, mating, and parenting Our goal is to stipulate the
types of proximal cues that seem, on the basis of current research, to be
most strongly lmphcated in the shaping of certain personality vanables
that later become important in reproductive behavior
We beheve that paying attention to events m early childhood is im-
portant for two reasons First, the kmd of leaming necessary to produce
a competent adult takes years to acquire and to consolidate Second,
what IS appropnate to leam is highly dependent on the family or social
setting into which a person is bom If prolonged practice and attention
are required for good performance m adulthood, and if at the same time
the environment changes through time but more slowly than the average
person's hfe span, then an optimum mode of adaptation may be that of
establishing a leammg track early m development (Draper & Harpend-
mg, 1982) Before proceeding to the focus of this article, namely, the
interrelation of context, reanng, personality, and reproductive strategy,
several comments are in order regardmg current evolutionary thinkmg

Humcoi Origins and Evolutionary Theory

Given the very recent expansion of humans mto diverse continents
and climatic zones, we know that human response capability has great
latitude This expansion was made possible by vastly increased intel-
ligence and symbolically mediated cultural systems Precisely when
or how these changes came sbcmt is the sdyect of debate in paleo-
anthropological circles Most authonties now agree that the ongin
of fully modem Homo sapiens was quite recent, occumng less than
100,000 years ago, and that it was this final transformation which
tnggered tte sudden expansion of humans mto jMcviously unexplored
niches (Pfeiffer, 1982) Human genetic matenal has been exiK)sed to
diverse physical as well as social environments Tins unstable diver-
sity of environments is the context m which plasticity m tfie phenotype
PeisonalitY Development 143

would be advantageous compared with a fixed strategy (Barkow, 1989,

Cavalh-Sforza, 1974)
Having argued for plasticity in the individual and vanability in the
social context, we emphasize that the effects of past environments gov-
em human development These constraints are not obvious to people
living in postmdustnal environments, where fertihty is low and pub-
lic health measures and vaccinations ensure survival and longevity to
most people Similarly, the presence of benign, stable, centralized gov-
emment frees citizens from the necessity of developing strong, local,
kin-based alliances to avoid competition with other human groups
Past environments did not offer these safeguards and securities, they
exerted different pressures on human psychology as well as morphology
(Chomsky, 1980, Tooby & DeVore, 1987)

r- and K-selectton In this article we mamtam an ethological onentation,

which emphasizes evolutionary and phylogenetic origins of behaviors
and behavior complexes A useful place to begin a discussion of the
relation in humans between ethology and developmental outcomes is
with the concepts of r- and K-selection and the implications of mam-
malian biology for sex differences in reproductive strategy The notions
of r- and K-selection were developed to descnbe the ways in which or-
ganisms partition effort between mating and reproduction (MacArthur
& Wilson, 1967, Pianka, 1970) The idea was that r-selected organisms
have developed in unstable environments, where catastrophic events
decimate populations Under these conditions orgamsms are selected
which can recoup drastic setbacks through high fertility In general,
r-selected organisms also have life history traits of rapid maturation,
reduced parental care, and shortened life span
K-selected organisms, on the other hand, evolve in more stable envi-
ronments, charactenzed by dense concentrations of diverse species
In such competitive environments, ttiere is little payoff for high fer-
tility Tlius these environments select for lower fertihty, delayed matu-
ration, longer life span, and more efficient extraction of environmental
resources Mammals, for example, are more K-selected than birds, rep-
tiles, or msects, but withm the mammalian class there is vanability,
as between getbils or domestic cats (r-selected) and elephants or apes
(K-selected) An especially important attnbute of K-selected species is
increase parental care K-selected organisms produce fewer offspnng
(smgleton buths, fra- example, ratter than htters) and parental care goes
on for )«ars r a ^ r than weeks or months
144 Diapei and Belsky

The concept of r- versus K-selection has been used to refer to vari-

ability among organisms of the same species with respect to an onto-
genetic and reproductive strategy (Rushton, 1985) One of the more
intriguing findings of recent comparative ecological studies is that many
organisms are capable of "facultative" adjustments (suited to current
circumstances) in such things as the rate of sexual maturation or the de-
velopment of a particular type of mating behavior Certain bird species,
for example, vary their mating behaviors between polygyny and mo-
nogamy, depending upon the quality of foodstuffs in the environment
(Orians, 1969, Vemer, 1964) This is an example of how environ-
mental vanables affect the matmg behavior of parents and hence the
type of reanng experienced by hatchlmgs Other studies show that the
social structure of group-living animals can affect the timing of sexual
maturation m such diverse species as rodents, wolves, wild dogs, and
baboons (Hausfater, 1975, Mech, 1970, Wiley, 1981) How the adjust-
ment IS made, and on the basis of what cues, is not well understood
However, it seems probable that the ability of individual organisms to
fine-tune complex behavioral and bio-endocnnological sequences has
been selected, because it allows organisms to deal with environmental
vanability

Mammalian sex differences in reproductive strategy Consider first the

constraints imposed by mammalian reproductive organization All or-
gamsms are designed to reproduce themselves, and in this sense all
functions of an organism are reproductive AU organisms must be able
to partition effort, measured in time, energy, or exposure to nsk, among
the vanous requirements of growth, maintenance, and reproduction
Reproductive effort itself is composed of both mating and parenting
(Kurland & Gauhn, 1984) Throughout the mammalian class two fac-
tors have far-reaching implications for reproductive behavior First,
there is pronounced asymmetry m the reproductive organization of the
sexes, such that females vastly exceed males m the requirements of the
parental role This is a consequence of gestation and the dependence
of young on milk, which comes only from the mother Female paren-
tahsm IS tightly constrained In contrast, mammalian species vary m
the extent to which males contnbute parenting effort In some species,
females require only insemination by one male They then go on to rear
their young alone In these cases, the female's independence is possible
because of her ability to gather resources on her own, because she can
independently elude predators Males in such species may make distal
Personality Development 145

contributions to offspring survival, as by defending their territory and

keeping out competitors In such cases, however, there is no permanent
mating relationship, and male reproductive effort goes primarily into
mating effort (competition with other males) rather than into parenting
effort (helpmg to feed young or guarding the den)
Other mammalian species reveal a less dimorphic pattem, mates form
long-lasting pair bonds, and a more active fathenng role is thought
essential for a male's fitness In mammals, high male parental behavior
IS rare, male investment will not evolve (or be facultatively expressed)
except where males gam fitness in offspring survival that outweighs
the cost of foregone mating opportunities From the point of view of
evolutionary biology, many aspects of human behavior become com-
prehensible in this context
Highly altncial, humans are the most K-selected of the pnmates, the
mammals most closely related to humans For a highly social species
such as ours, successful maturation requires not only morphological
growth and development but acquisition of the social and emotional
skills necessary to insure the continued protection and tolerance of other
adults, particularly the mother Throughout childhood and adolescence
the individual learns important lessons about relationships and inter-
active processes that will set the stage for his or her own maintenance,
mating, and reproduction
In spite of these mvanant, phylogenetic constraints, the human mat-
mg and parenting systems that can be observed are, m fact, quite
vanable both within and between cultures Although all known human
cultures recognize mamage (a social institution that regulates sexual
behavior, ascnbes patemity, and provides for the reanng of young),
the actual norms regarding sexual behavior, relations between spouses,
and the rearmg of children are extremely vanable (Whitmg & Whitmg,
1975a) In some societies, children are reared in the context of a
bonded, cooperative relationship between mother and father In these
societies postmantal sexual mores are stnct and female sexuality is
regulated, presumably as a trade-off for heightened male parental in-
vestment In other societies, sexual relations between men and women
are less durable, sexual mores are less stnct, and, not surpnsmgly, the
responsibihties of men to women (as husbands) and to children (as
fathers) are not sharply delineated
It IS important to understand that it is possible to rear children suc-
cessfully under both regimes, although the ways in which it is done are
necessanly different In the bonded-pair arrangement, children are most
146 Draper and Belsky

likely to be reared by their biological parents in the context of a rela-

tively narrow kinship network In the nonbonded arrangement, children
typically know their mothers and fathers but are reared by a diverse set
of km (especially peer caretakers), and as a consequence they develop
at early ages a wide set of personal relationships not only with parents
and full siblings but with half-siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents,
and step relations of all types Although we speak m terms of society-
wide pattems of mating and parenting, in fact, we expect substantial
vanation within societies It is interesting to mterpret these differing
reproductive strategies m the light of the r versus K dichotomy The
"father-absent" type corresponds to reduced parental care and higher
fertility associated with more alloparental care The "father-present"
type corresponds to heightened biparental care and the production of
fewer offsprmg, who are cared for pnmanly by the biological parents
(Draper & Harpendmg, 1987)

The Process Model of Context, Reanng,

Personality, and Reproductive Behavior
What factors condition this vanabihty, and what implications do these
two types of mating behavior have for the contexts of reanng, the in-
fluences on personahty development, and the development of sexual
behaviors at adulthood'' We are convinced that the challenges of early
childhood are fundamental for understanding the behavioral outcomes
of people at later developmental stages We use the concepts of fac-
ultative adjustments m response to environmental stimuli to explore
individual differences m personality development and tteir relationship
to sexual behaviors We suggest that these dynamics are part of a com-
plex, developmental program which can exhibit sensitive tracking based
on environmental cues
In our discussion, we separate the mix of environmental mfluences,
maturation, reanng expenences, and personahty outcomes into four
components of a process model, A - * B - * C —» D (Table 1) In
our scheme, A includes macroecological context—environment, tech-
nology, food and wealth, mstitutions of kmship and mamage, B, con-
texts of rearmg—family sttucture, interactK)ns widi caretakers, parental
versus nonparental caretakers, C, personahty development, and D, re-
IHoductive strategies—tirmng of %xual maturation, initiation of sexual
behavior, numbers of sexual partners, numbers of offspnng, anHnmC of
parental mvestn:wnt We find that many studies iKldress sections of tfus
Personality Development 147

Tobtel
Process Model of Personality Development
and Reproductive Style

A -^ B -* C -> D
Macroecological Microecological Personality Reproductive
environment environment development strategy
Physical Father-presence/ Attachment Timing of puberty
environment absence secunty Timing of sexual
Technology Wife-husband Cooperation activity
Economic relations and Stability of adult
system Surrogate aggression pair bonds
Resources caretakers Self-monitonng Degree of parental
Population Parent-child investment
density interaction r- vs K-strategy
processes

conceptual continuum, but that few entirely encompass it from the point
of view of individual vanability in expenence conceived of as serving
the ends of individual fitness, given the context qf development Indeed,
components of our organization will be familiar to many researchers of
leammg theory (Bandura, 1973) or cross-cultural psychology, with its
emphasis on functional interrelationships among environment, social
stmcture, child rearmg, and outcomes m personality or adult social
roles (Barry, Bacon, & Child, 1957, Barry, Child, & Bacon, 1959,
Whitmg & Whiting, 1975b) Our presentation is novel in that it empha-
sizes how mdividual vanabihty m response to differently expenenced
settmgs (B) can have fitness consequences for the individual, particu-
larly m those stages of life concemed with courtship, matmg, and
parenting Attempts to link up (A) macroecological context, (B) rear-
mg context, and (D) reproductive strategy have been made in a recent
senes of articles (Draper, 1989, Draper & Harpendmg, 1982, 1987,
1988). Notably missing from these analyse is an attempt to specify the
psychological mechanisms and processes that intervene as transducers
between the more extenor, contextual elements of early expenence and
the outcomes in adult reproductive behavior As yet there has been no
senous attempt to open iq) tte black box that is the individual's unique
expenence or to suggest how expenential factors produce vanability in
personahty characterutics leading to mdividual differences in reproduc-
tive bdiavior Later, we consider what is known about the antecedents
 148 Draper and Belsky

of psychological processes important in early childhood and how these

processes may be related to reproductive behavior
We propose that varied macroecological contexts promote specific
reanng expenences, and that these m tum foster particular pattems of
psychological development, all of which serve the more distal biological
function of shaping reproductive behavior, including mate attraction and
selection, procreation, and parental care Indeed, an exphcit assump-
tion IS that reanng practices and denvative personality development,
shaped as they are by macroecological circumstances, are strategic to
reproductive fitness Draper and Harpendmg's ideas regarding father-
absence and reproductive behavior that link together A, B, and D and
are considered later in this article set the stage for consideration of
psychological processes (C) which may mediate the relation between
reanng expenences (B) and processes of mating and parenting (D)
We review Bowlby's (1969) attachment theory and recent research re-
lated to It m order to make the case that it is via expectations about
self, others, and interpersonal relationships that rearing expenences
come to influence reproductive behavior We bnefly consider evidence
consistent with this line of reasoning and, finally, we reconsider re-
cent research on self-monitonng (Gangestad & Snyder, 1985a, Snyder,
Simpson, & Gangestad, 1986)'

Father-Absence
In some father-present societies, children are reared by both the mother
and father, and fathers play cntical roles m the economic support
of women and their dependent children In father-absent societies,
mothers carry the major responsibility for feeding and reanng children
Draper and Harpendmg (1982) hypothesized that the extent to which
adult males contnbute directly to the reanng of children is determined
by environmental and technological features which impose diffenng
requirements on the contnbution of male labor for the survival of off-
spnng When resources are scarce or scattered, male labor is essential
for survival and men and women will form pair bonds Under different
ecological conditions, when women can support themselves with little
or no direct input from men, a mating system based on less-twnded
relations and multiple sexual partners develops (See Lancaster and
Lancaster, 1987, for an allied but different mterpretation )

1 These authors build on earlier research by Miller (1959), Whitmg (1965), Whitmg,
Kluckhohn, and Anthony (1958), and Whitii^ and Whitmg (1975a)
 Personality E>evelopment 149

Draper and Harpendmg (1982) based their analysis on leaming that

took place during an early sensitive period and shaped behavior dur-
ing adolescence Specifically, they pomted out that pattems of sexual
behavior covary with the two reanng conditions (father present and
absent) Adolescents and young adults who are the products of father-
absence show early sexuality, a rather antagonistic, deprecating attitude
toward members of the opposite sex, and a lack of interest in devel-
oping a durable, bonded relationship with a mate Father-absent boys
also exhibit more hypermascuhne behavior, aggressive acting out, ex-
cessive boasting, and nsk-taking behavior (Miller, 1959, Rainwater,
1966, Rohrer & Edmunson, 1960, Whitmg, 1965), all of which would
be appropnate in a courtship arena in which girls and women evaluate
men by current appearance and status in the male hierarchy rather than
by such traits as steadfastness or the ability to support a woman and
children
Adolescents reared under father-present conditions evince a con-
trasting pattem of delayed sexual experience, more positive attitudes
toward the opposite sex, and greater interest in developing a stable pair
relationship (Hethenngton, 1972) Draper and Harpendmg (1982) sug-
gested that the diversity of outcomes of father-absence made sense in
the framework of a sensitive penod for acquu-ing reproductive strate-
gies They argued that mdividual and group differences in mating and
parenting behaviors were influenced by the presence or absence in early
childhood of an adult male recognized by the child as directly sup-
porting the child and its mother The mother's pair-bond status, in this
theory, is selected to act as a developmental switch for the child In this
way the individual can "choose" or begin to track a reproductive style
appropnate to the adult social environment into which he or she is bom
This model assumes that reproductive strategies are ultimately tuned to
both physical conditions (such as the availability of food and shelter)
and social conditions (such as the reproductive strategies of other indi-
viduals of both sexes) Hard-working males with stable unions can be
expected to father more surviving young in an environment m which
resources are scarce or m which there is a clear payoff for male labor
The assumption is that under these conditions women who try to parent
without the help of a mate either lose their children or have reduced
fitness relative to women whose mates cooperate On the other hand,
m an envuonment of relatively abundant resources, such as the modem
welfare state, or in the context of a technology in which the impor-
tance of male labor is reduced, as in horticultural economies that rely
pnncipally on female labor, the survival of women and offspnng is less
150 Draper and Belsky

contingent upon the work men contnbute to their support (Rainwater,

1966) The assumption is that men, like mammalian males in general,
should take valuable time and effort away from matmg only when there
are payoffs m reproductive success In this example, charactenstics of
the physical environment (A), mediated by the social environment (B),
dnve reproductive style (D)
The Draper-Harpendmg framework presumes a sociocultural process
of leaming whereby father-presence or father-absence tnggers the ac-
quisition of one of two altemative sets of reproductive behavior What
remain unclear are the psychological processes that transform early ex-
penence into later mating and parenting practices, that is, the nature of
the arrow connecting B with C m the model under consideration Recent
work in attachment theory may help fill the void Below, we consider
B - * C -* D linkages, having already considered A - * B -» D

Early Reanng, Personality Development, a n d

Reproductive Strategy
Over the past decade attachment theory, as first articulated by Bowlby
(1969) and subsequently elaborated by Ainsworth (1973, Ainsworth,
Blehar, Walters, & Wall, 1978), Sroufe and Fleeson (1988), and Mam
(m Mam, Kaplan, & Cassidy, 1985), has achieved prommence in de-
velopmental psychology At the core of attachment theory and research
IS a concem for the role that early social expenences play m the de-
velopment of affectively charged cognitions and perceptions and the
influence that they exert on interpersonal behavior through life Par-
ticularly because of the significance accorded close relationships both
dunng and after childhood, we regard attachment theory as relevant to
the study of mating, childbeanng, and child reanng These reproductive
considerations clearly underscore the potential evolutionary implica-
tions of the theory Whereas Bowlby (1969) emphasized the survival
value of the infant's behavioral repertoire for facilitating matemal pro-
tection, we stress the role that secure and msecure attachment can play
m shaping development and thus future reproductive fimctiomng

Attachment theory and research Attachment theory holds that the day-
to-day mteractions which infants have with their pnncipal caregivers
influence how young children relate to and are related to by ottiers In
particular, the theory asserts that by tte end of tte first year children
have developed what Bowlby (1969, 1973) called "mtemal wcakmg
Peisonality Development 151

models" of self, others, and relationships, which influence attention to

and encoding of social expenences and thus inform subsequent rela-
tionships with others
Given the organism's active role in shaping its own expenences,
the assumption is that developmental trajectones, once established, are
self-sustaining If environments change along with interpersonal ex-
penence, then so should our expectations regarding self, others, and
relationships Attachment theory, in other words, is an interpersonal
and dynamic theory of personality development
There is evidence for two propositions central to attachment theory,
one having to do with the child-reanng ongins of individual differ-
ences in attachment secunty and the other with the developmental con-
sequences of secure and insecure attachments Secure mfant-mother
attachment bonds have been found to develop when infants are sensi-
tively and promptly cared for by a responsive mother (Ainsworth et al ,
1978, Belsky, Rovine, & Taylor, 1984, Sroufe, 1983) Insecure attach-
ments develop when mothers are intrusive and overstimulating or dis-
engaged and unresponsive (Belsky et al , 1984, Isabella, Belsky, & von
Eye, 1989, Smith & Pedersen, 1988) Further evidence documenting the
role of child-reanng expenences in the development of individual dif-
ferences m attachment secunty comes from studies showing that abused
and neglected children are at high nsk for developing insecure attach-
ments (for review see Youngblade & Belsky, 1989, m press), as are
children of depressed mothers (Radke-Yarrow, Cummings, Kuczyuski,
& Chapman, 1985) and those children or their mothers with histones
of excessive alcohol consumption (O'Connor, Sigman, & Bnll, 1987)
Insecure attachment bonds in mfancy forecast low levels of empa-
thy, comphance, cooperation, and self-control and high levels of nega-
tive affect dunng the toddler, preschool, and early elementary school
years (e g , LaFrenniere & Sroufe, 1985, Lewis, Feinng, McGuffog, &
Jaskir, 1984, Londerville & Mam, 1981) Clearly, attachment secunty
IS systematically related to children's earliest child-reanng expenences
and to tteir subsequent psychological, behavioral, and personality de-
velopment

From attachmeru secunty to reproductive behavior Conceivably, vana-

tion in attachment secunty orients children to regard close relationships
as endunng, trusting, and mutually rewardmg or transient, untnxst-
WOTthy, and opportunistic and, as a result, has important implications
for future mating and child-reanng tehavior Children with secure de-
 152 Draper and Belsky

velopmental histories may be more disposed to pursue a K- than an

r- reproductive strategy, because they anticipate endunng pair bonds
and have the interpersonal skills and psychological resources to sus-
tain them Children with msecure histories, in contrast, may be more
inclined to adopt an r-strategy, because of their short-term and oppor-
tunistically onented way of relating to others—a way of relating, it
should be noted, which only confirms their expectations that others
cannot be counted on over the long term
It IS conceivable that child-rearing pattems which induce secure or
insecure intemal working models m the child serve the strategic func-
tion of preparing the child to successfully cope with (and reproduce) the
interpersonal world which the parent (unconsciously) expects the child
to encounter in the future Thus, parents who are themselves mistmst-
ful of close interpersonal bonds—most likely with good reason—rear
their children to function effectively in an interpersonal world marked
by short-term, opportunistic relationships Parents with secure work-
ing models, m contrast, foster m their offspnng interpersonal styles
which will promote relationship and reproductive success m a world
in which mutually rewarding, endunng relationships are the order of
the day Consistent with this are confirmed findings that the secunty of
children's attachments is concordant with their mothers' internal work-
ing models, that is, that secure mothers are disproportionately likely
to rear secure offspnng and insecure mothers disproportionately likely
to rear insecure offspnng (Grossman, Fremmer-Bombik, Rudolph, &
Grossman, 1988, Main et al , 1985)
Ideas regarding the interrelation of environment, reanng, and psycho-
logical development are found in classical developmental theory and
m cross-cultural psychology (Barry et al , 1957, Whitmg & Whiting,
1975a, 1975b) In this article we extend this paradigm by proposing that
chains of influence linking socioecological context, rearing conditions,
and personality development serve reproductive functions To reiter-
ate, we h3?pothesize that contexts and their correlated reanng strategies
carry with them implicit if not explicit messages about the probability
that relationships will be endunng and that patemal investment m off-
spnng can be anticipated As a result, children come to beheve that
their social world fosters relationships that are long-term and recipro-
cally rewarding, on tte one hand, or transient and opportunistic on the
otiier Thus, different styles of matmg tehavior can te understood as
outcomes of prior contexts, reanng, and personality development
Unfortunately, we know of no evidence which can te brought directly
 Personality Development 153

to bear on these speculative propositions The problem, of course, is

the absence of longitudinal studies of development that use the mix of
contextual and psychological assessments necessary to test this model
Moreover, it is important to recognize that while the processes dis-
cussed are considered to have evolved, it may not be possible, m this
day and age of convenient abortion, cohabitation, and divorce, to test
predictions regardmg number of offspring and the quality of their rear-
ing Nevertheless, one could still examine behavior pattems that might
reflect the legacy of evolved mechanisms One might predict, for ex-
ample, that children with insecure attachment histories will initiate
sexual activity earlier and be less "responsible" in the use of birth
control, as well as less capable of sustaining endunng fnendships, par-
ticularly heterosexual ones
Despite the absence of strong evidence to substantiate the ideas link-
ing context, reanng, and personality development with reproductive
strategy, there are two sets of provocative findings that provide indirect
support for them The first links context, particularly that of kinship, to
reanng and pertains to the charactenstics of families most likely to uti-
lize extensive nonmatemal care in the first year of hfe, the second links
reanng expenence, particularly the quahty of family relationships, with
reproductive functioning and pertains to the familial determinants of
early pubertal maturation

Infant day care Infants exposed to extensive nonmatemal care in their

first year are at elevated risk of developing insecure attachment relation-
ships, and such early expenence is alsorelatedto subsequent aggression
and noncomphance in the toddler, preschool, and early elementary
school years (for review see Belsky, 1988) Considenng these findings
from a sociobiological perspective, Belsky wondered whether evolved
psychological processes may underhe the readiness of parents to turn
over care of children to surrogate caretakers He reasoned that par-
ents with few siblings and collateral descendants (nieces and nephews)
would te reluctant to release children to the care of others, whereas
the opposite should hold for parents with many collateral km In other
words, tte context of kinship was hypothesized to affect parental in-
vestment
Data on parents' brothers, sisters, meces, and nephews supported
this hypothesis, though only with respect to the father's kin Children
who received extensive day care in their first year of hfe averaged sig-
nificantly more patemal uncles, aunts, and first cousins than did chil-
154 Draper and Belsky

dren who had part-time or no day care Further, children who were not
placed m extensive day care dunng their first year were significantly
more likely to have been the firstbom grandchild of the father's parents
Importantly, these findings did not appear to te related to social class
Thus, via mechanisms which are by no means clear, it tumed out that
children who were hypothesized to te more "valuable" from a fitness
standpoint were significantly less likely to be placed in circumstances
associated with the development of msecure mfant-parent attachment
and subsequent aggression and noncomphance

Timing of puberty Two recent studies of family relations, long thought

to influence personality development, show an effect of family rela-
tions on the timing of puberty In the first, Surtey's (in press) study of
father-absence and the timing of menarche, daughters from divorced
households were found to reach puterty a full 6 months earlier, on aver-
age, than age mates from mantally intact families What makes these
findmgs so noteworthy with regard to the study of mdividual differences
m personahty is independent evidence that divorce is also associated
with psychological development and life-course expenences In par-
ticular, there are repeated indications that daughters of divorce begin
sex at earlier ages and are more heterosexually onented than daugh-
ters from maritally intact families (Hethenngton, 1972, Kmnaird &
Gerrard, 1986), and that children of divorce tend to marry earlier, have
children sooner, and end tteir mamages more readily (Keith & Fin-
lay, 1988, McLanahan & Booth, in press, McLanahan & Bumpuss,
1988) Divorce, especially when it comcides with high levels of family
conflict (particularly between spouses and ex-spouses), is also asso-
ciated with lmpulsivity, aggression, and antisocial tehavior (AUison
& Furstenterg, 1989, Hethenngton, Cox, & Cox, 1982, Petersen &
Zill, 1986) It IS not difficult to translate such tehavioral correlates of
divorce into notions of msecunty, opportunistic styles of relating to
others, and an r- rather than K- reproductive strategy In sum, these
findmgs are consistent with the notion that family processes mfluence
relationship expectations, interpersonal attitudes, and values and thus
mating and childrearing tehavior m a manner congruent with our model
of contextual influences on personality development m tte service of
reproductive goals
There are fiirtter findings from a prospective, longitudinal study of
tte transition to adolescence Relying upon a large sample of {neado-
lescents drawn from tte Madison, Wisccmsm, pubhc school system.
Personality Development 155

Stemterg (1986, 1988) discovered that higher levels of parent-child

(especially mother-child) conflict, as well as lower levels of parent-child
cohesion, anticipated earlier maturation It is noteworthy that family
conflict, in both mantally intact and divorced families, figures impor-
tantly m the etiology of aggression and other seemingly opportunistic
styles of mterpersonal tehavior (Emery, 1988)
Of course, what we do not know from the studies of Surbey, Stem-
terg, and others is whether the daughters of divorce or the children
whose relationships with their parents are more conflicted and less close
have histones of msecure attachment, though it does not appear un-
reasonable We also do not know whether the early matunng children
are more active sexually, as we would expect if relationship stress m
the family and earlier maturation promotes more of an r- than a K-
reproductive strategy The data on the developmental consequences of
divorce and family conflict more generally are consistent with the notion
that such family events and processes set the stage for the development
of behavioral and personality processes that reflect an insecure rather
than a secure strategy of relating to others and that these family ex-
penences also relate to biological processes, particularly the timing of
puberty, in a manner consistent with notions of r- versus K-strategies
of reproduction

COHCLUnON
There are at least two standards that any theory must meet First it
must raise new questions, and second, it must lead to new discovenes
With regard to both concems, our analysis of context, childreanng,
personahty development, and reproductive tehavior led us to examme
three classical issues in psychological development from new view-
points father-absence, putertal timing, and infant day care In each
case, evolutionary considerations led us to treat as dependent vanables
constructs that had a history m psychology as independent vanables
used to explain individual differences m psychological functioning and
personality Rather than ask what the psychological consequences of
early (and late) maturation and infant day care are, as many have asked
for a long time now, we ask what pnor contexts and structures may
determine the timmg of matunty and parental decisions to use infant
day care Rather than look at fatter-absence as a disadvantage with
pnmanly negative, if not paAological, outcomes, it is possible to see
It simply as one element m a large system of tehaviors that mem-
156 Draper and Belsky

bers of our species can be expected to show under specialized sets of

circumstances
The field is open for further testmg of ideas like those we have pro-
posed Consider, for example, the lmphcations of the ideas advanced in
this article for the personality construct "self-monitonng " Research by
Snyder et al (1986) demonstrates that high self-monitonng individuals
are particularly responsive to social and mterpersonal cues and skilled
at hiding their own preferences and feelings, and that they tend to adopt
an uncommitted onentation toward their dating partners and express
themselves as willing to expenment with new partners on a short-term
basis That is, their dating relationships are short and include many
partners
People low in self-monitonng, m contrast, have more difficulty m
masking their own underlying attitudes and dispositions and so are less
facile in social situations calling for deceit and manipulation In their
sexual behaviors, low self-monitonng individuals form more committed
and intimate relationships with partners and are less interested m one-
mght stands outside a standing relationship Their dating relationships
last longer and include fewer people (Gangestad & Snyder, 1985b,
Snyder et al , 1986)
While Snyder et al (1986) favor a genetic basis for these predispo-
sitions, an altemate interpretation suggests itself The self-monitonng
complex of behaviors may well be the outcome not of genetically
determined individual differences but of genetically evolved faculta-
tive responsiveness to reanng environments that foster msecure and
especially lnsecure-avoidant bonds from which one leams to be oppor-
tunistic in a relationship We suggest that early conditioning and the
later development of the high self-monitonng profile facihtates early,
relatively undiscnmmatmg sexual contacts and a stronger commitment
of energy to mating and remaining attractive to the opposite sex This
strategy necessanly implies relatively reduced commitment to parental
care Children bom to parents with this sexual orientation are unlikely
to have full sibhngs but mstead to have half-sibhngs and early reanng
with more frequent changes of household personnel and a probability
of inconsistent and insensitive responses from adults It is important to
understand that the tendency of high self-monitonng mdividuals to te
relatively uncommitted m tteir personal relationships (not only sexual
ones) IS adaptive m the context of this social milieu
From our perspective, low self-monitonng reflects a style onented
to the long term, m which estabhshment of endunng bonds, rather
 Personality Development 157

than short-term adaptation, is the goal The antecedents of low self-

monitonng may be secure attachments, for example, a more stable
parental dyad, that enable a child to trust that he or she will be liked
and welcomed Children who are the products of this type of rearing
will seek out more permanent mating relationships, expend less effort
in the pursuit of members of the opposite sex, and consequently mvest
more heavily in each offspnng On balance, their children will have a
higher probability of expenencing consistent, sensitive care from their
own biological parents and will not have the frequent changes of house-
hold personnel associated with instability in the relationships of people
in the adult generation
In this article, we have woven together many diverse strands of theory
and empincal findings and have proposed a way of thinking about con-
text, early reanng, personality development, sexual development, and
mating We view personahty as a cntical link between early rearing
and later reproductive behaviors We agree that it is by no means clear
whether the psychological processes we descnbe are genetic or the re-
sult of facultative adjustments, both are possible However, we favor an
explanation m terms of facultative adjustment to environmental effects,
mainly on the grounds that the environments into which people are bom
are highly vanable from one generation to the next but always require
the individual to undergo a long leaming process in order to perform
competently

REFERENCES

Ainsworth, M D S (1973) The development of mfant-mother attachment InB M

Caldwell & H N Ricciuti (Eds ), Review of child development research (Vol 3 ,
pp 1-94) Chicago University of Chicago Press
Ainsworth, M D S , Blehar, M C , Walters, E , & Wall, S (1978) Patterns cf
attachment A psychological study of the Strange Situatwn Hillsdale NJ Lawrence
Erlbaum
Alhson, P , & Furstenberg, F (1989) How marital dissolution affects children Vana-
tion by age and sex Developmental Psychology, 25, 540-549
Bandura, A (1973) Aggression A social leaming analysis Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Prenuce-Hall
Barkow, J (1989) The elastic between genes and culture Ethology and Sociobwlogy,
10, 111-129
Barry, H , Bacon, M K , & Child, I L (1957) A cross-cultural survey of sex differ-
ences in socialization Journal (^Abnormal and Social Psychology, 55, 327-332
Barry,H ,Child,I L ,&Bacon,M K (1959) Relation of child trammg to subsistence
economy Amencan Anthropologist, 61, 51—63
158 Draper and Belsky

Belsky, J (1988) The "effects" of infant day care reconsidered Early Childhood
Research Quarterly, 3, 235-272
Belsky, J , Rovine, M , & Taylor, D (1984) The Pennsylvama Infant and Family
Development Project III Origins of individual differences m mfant-mother attach-
ment Matemal and infant contnbutions Child Development, SS, 106-111
Bowlby, J (1969) Attachment and hss Vol 1 Attachment New York Basic Books
Bowlby, J (1973) Attachment and loss Vol 2 Separation New York Basic Books
Buss, D M (1984) EvoluUonary biology and personality psychology Toward a con-
ception of human nature and mdividual differences American Psychologist, 39,
1135-1147
Cavalh-Sforza, L (1974) The role of plasticity in biological and cultural evolution
Annual cfthe New York Academy cf Science, 231, 43-59
Chomsky, N (1980) Rules and representations Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3,
1-15
Draper, P (1989) African mamage systems Perspectives from evolutionary ecology
Ethology and Sociobiology, 10, 145-169
Draper, P , & Hari>ending, H (1982) Father absence and reproductive strategy Jour-
nal of Anthropological Research, 38, 255-273
Draper, P , & Harpendmg, H (1987) Parent investment and the child's environment
In J Lancaster, J Altmann, A Rossi, & L Sherrod (Eds ), Parenting across the
lifespan Biosocial dimensions (pp 207-235) New York Aldme
Draper, P , & Harpendmg, H (1988) Sociobiological perspectives on the develop-
ment of human reproductive strategies InK M MacDonald (Ed ), Sociofcjotogttra/
perspectives on human development (pp 340-372) New York Spnnger
Emery, R (1988) Marnage, divorce and children's adjustment Beverly Hills Sage
Gangestad, S , & Snyder, M (1985a) To carve nature at its joints On the existence
of discrete classes in personahty Psychological Review, 92, 317-349
Gangestad, S , & Snyder, M (1985b) On the nature of self-monitonng In P Shaver
(Ed ), Review <f psychology and socml psychology (Vol 6, pp 65-85) Beverly
Hills Sage
Grossman, K , Fremmer-Bombik, E , Rudolph, J , & Grossman, K (1988) Matemal
attachment representations as related to pattems of infant-mother attachment and
matemal care dunng the first year In R Hinde & J S Hinde (Eds ), Relationships
withm famdies (pp 241-262) Oxford Clarendon
Hausfater, G (1975) E>ominance and reproduction in baboons {Papw cynocephalus)
A quantitative analysis [Special issue] Contnbutions in primatology Basil Karger
Hethenngton, E (1972) Effects of patemal absence on personality development in
adolescent daughters Developmental Psychdogy, 7, 313-326
Hethenngton, E , Cox, M , & Cox, R (1982) Effects of divorce on parents and
children In M Lamb (Ed ), Nontraditu>nal famihes (pp 233-288) Hillsdale, NJ
Lawrence Erlbaum
Isabella, R , Belsky, J , & von Eye, A (1989) Ongms of m&nt-mother attachment An
examination of mteractional synchrony dunng the mfant's first year Developmental
Psychology, 25, 12-21
Keith, V , & Finlay, B (1988) The impact of p^ental divorce on children's echica-
tKHial attauunrait, mantal timing, and likelihood of divorce Joumal cf Mamage
and the Family, 50, 797-«09
 Personality Development 159

Kinnaird, K , & Gerrard, M (1986) Premantal sexual behavior and attitudes toward
mamage and divorce among young women as a function of their mother's mantal
status Joumal cf Mamage and the Family, 48, 757-765
Kurland, J , & Gauhn, S (1984) The evolution of male parental investment Effects
of genetic relatedness and feeding ecology on the allocation of reproductive effon
InD M Tauh (Ed), Primate paternalism (pp 259-308) New York VanNostrand
Remhold
LaFrenmfere, P , & Sroufe, L A (1985) Profiles of peer competence m the pre-
school Interrelations between measures, influence of social ecology, and relation
to attachment history Developmental Psychology, 21, 56-68
Lancaster, J , & Lancaster, C (1987) The watershed Change in parental-investment
and family-formation strategies in the course of human evolution In J Lancaster,
A Rossi, J Altmann, & L Shenod (Eds), Parenting across the lifespan Biosocial
dimensions (pp 187-205) New York Aldme
Lewis, M , Feinng, C , McGuffog, C ,&Jaskir, J (1984) Predicting psychopathology
m six-year-olds from early social relations Child Development, 55, 123-136
Londerville, S , & Main, M (1981) Secunty, compliance, and matemal training
methods in the second year of life Developmental Psychology, 17, 289-299
MacArthur, R H ,& Wilson, E O (1967) The theory of island biogeography Prince-
ton Pnnceton University Press
MacDonald, D (1985) Early experience, relative plasticity and social development
Developmental Review, 5, 99-121
Mam, M , Kaplan, N , & Cassidy, J (1985) Secunty in mfancy, childhood and adult-
hood A move to level of representation In I Bretherton & E Waters (Eds ),
Monographs cf the Society for Research in Child Development (Serial No 209),
66-106
McLanahan, S , & Booth, K (in press) Mother-only fanulies Problems, prospects,
and pohtics Joumal cf Marnage and the Famdy
McLanahan, S , & Bumpuss, L (1988) Intergenerational consequences of family
disruption Amencan Joumal of Sociology, 94, 130-152
Mech, L D (1970) The wolf New York Natural History Press
Miller, W B (1959) Lower class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency
Joumal cf Socuil Issues, 14, 5-19
O'Connor, M , Sigman, M , & Brill, N (1987) Disorganization of attachment in
relation to matemal alcohol consumption Joumal qf Consulting and Clinical Psy-
chology, 55, 831-836
Onans, G H (1969) On the evolution of mating systems in birds and mammals
Amencan Naturalist, 103, 589-603
Petersen, J , & ZiU, N (1986) Mantal disruption, parent-child relationships, and
behavior problems in children Joumal c^Mamage and the Fanuly, 48, 295-307
Pfeiffer, J (1982) TTte creative eqtlosion New York Harper and Row
Pianka, E R (1970) On r-and K-selection Ameru:an Naturalist, 104,592-591
Radke-Yarrow, M , Cumimngs, E , Kuczynski, L , & Chapman, M (1985) Pattems
of stttachment in two- and three-year-olds m normal families and families with
parental depression Child Development, 56, 884-^93
Ramwatn-, L (1966) Cnicible of lctentity The Negro lower-class family Daedalus
Joumal cfthe Amencan Academy cf Ans and Sciences, 95, 172-216
 160 Draper and Belsky

Rohrer, J , & Edmunson, M (1960) The eighth generation New York Harper
Rushton, J P (1985) Differential K theory The sociobiology of individual and group
differences Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 441-452
Snuth, M (1987) Research in developmental sociobiology Parenting and family be-
havior In K McDonald (Ed ), Sociobiologwal perspectives in human development
(pp 271-292) New York Spnnger
Smith, P , & Pederson, D (1988) Matemal sensitivity and pattems of mfant-mother
attachment Child Development, S9, 1097-1101
Snyder, M , Simpson, J A , & Gangestad, S (1986) Personality and sexual relations
Joumal qfPersonality and Social Psychology, 51, 181-190
Sroufe, L A (1983) Infant-caregiver attachment and pattems of adaptation in pre-
school The roots of maladaptation and competence In M Perlmutter (Ed ), Min-
nesota symposium in child psychology (Vol 16, pp 41-81) Hillsdale, NJ Lawrence
Erlbaum
Sroufe, L A , & Reeson, J (1988) Attachment and the construction of relation-
ships InW Hartup & Z Rvbm (Eds), Relationships and development (pp 51-71)
Hillsdale, NJ Lawrence Erlbaum
Steinberg, L (1986, November) An evolutionary perspective on parent-adolescent con-
fbct Paper presented at symposium entitled "In Search of Man Behavioral Devel-
opment in Infancy and Adolescence in Chimpanzee and Man," Temple University
School of Medicine, Philadelphia
Steinberg, L (1988) Pubertal maturation and family relations Evidence for the dis-
tancing hypothesis In G Adams, R Montemayor, & T Gullotta (Eds ), Advances
in adolescent development (Vol 1, pp 212-230) Beverly Hills Sage
Surbey, M K (m press) Family composition, stress, and human menarche In F B
Bercovitch & T E Zeigler (Eds ), The socwendocrinology cf primate reproduction
New York Alan R Liss
Tooby, J , & DeVore, I (1987) The rcconstnicUon of homimd behavioral evolu-
tion through strategic modeling In W G Kinzey (Ed ), The evolution cf human
behavior Primate models (pp 183-238) Albany State University of New York
Press
Vemer, J (1964) Evolution of polygamy m the long-billed marsh wren Evolution,
18, 252-261
Whitmg, B (1965) Sex identity conflict and physical violence A comparative study
Amencan Anthropologist, 67, 123—140
Whitmg, J W M , Kluckhohn, R , & Anthony, A S (1958) The function of male
lmtiation ceremomes at puberty InE E Maccoby, T Newcomb, & E Hart (Eds),
Readings m social psychology (pp 359-370) New York Holt
Whiting, J W M , & Whiting, B (1975a) Aloofness and intimacy of husbands and
wives A cross-cultural study Ethos, 3, 183-207
Whitmg, J W M , & Whitmg, B (1975b) Behavior cf children in six cultures
Cambndge Harvard University Press
Wiley, R H (1981) Social structure and individual ontogenies Problems of de-
scnption, mechanism, and evolution In P P G Bateson & P H Klopfer (Eds ),
Perspectives in ethology (Vol 4, pp 105-133) New York Plenum
Youngblade, L ,& Belsky, J (1989) Child maltreatment, infant-peer attachment secu-
Personality Development 161

nty, and dysfunctional peer relationships in toddlerhood Topics in Early Childhood

Education, 9, 1-15
Youngblade, L , & Belsky, J (in press) The social and emotional consequences of
child maltreatment In R Ammerman & M Herson (Eds ), Children at risk An
evaluation qffactors contributing to child abuse and neglect New York Plenum

Manuscript received July 1, 1989, revised August 1, 1989