Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Macau, China.
Department of Applied Social Sciences, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Psych J. 2022 Aug;11(4):433-447. doi: 10.1002/pchj.561. Epub 2022 May 22.
In recent decades, life history theory (LHT) has provided an important theoretical framework for understanding human individual differences and their developmental processes. The conceptual complexity and multidisciplinary connections involved in the LH research, however, might appear daunting to psychologists whose research might otherwise benefit from the LH perspective. The main purpose of this review, therefore, is to introduce the evolutionary biological backgrounds and basic principles of LHT as well as their applications in developmental psychology. This review is organized into five parts, starting with an overview of key concepts in LHT, which clarifies the relationship among LH strategy, LH-related traits, and the fast-slow paradigm of LH variation. We proceed to review theoretical and empirical work related to four basic LH trade-offs, summarized by an integrated descriptive model of LH trade-offs that shape different LH strategies in humans. We then explain the effects of four aspects of environmental risks (morbidity-mortality threats, competition, resource scarcity, and unpredictability) on human LH strategy. This is followed by a discussion of LH calibration models in evolutionary developmental psychology that explicates the environmentally sensitive developmental processes that contribute to variation and plasticity in LH-related traits and ultimately human LH strategies. Finally, we highlight a few outstanding questions and future directions for LH research in psychology and conclude with why we think it is important that developmental psychology should embrace the LH approach.
近几十年来，生活史理论（LHT）为理解人类个体差异及其发展过程提供了一个重要的理论框架。然而，LH 研究涉及的概念复杂性和多学科联系可能令那些研究工作可能受益于 LH 视角的心理学家望而却步。因此，本次综述的主要目的是介绍 LHT 的进化生物学背景和基本原则及其在发展心理学中的应用。本文共分为五个部分，首先概述了 LHT 的关键概念，阐明了 LH 策略、LH 相关特征以及 LH 变异的快速-缓慢范式之间的关系。接着，我们回顾了与四个基本 LH 权衡相关的理论和实证工作，通过一个综合的 LH 权衡描述模型对其进行了总结，该模型塑造了人类不同的 LH 策略。然后，我们解释了环境风险的四个方面（发病-死亡率威胁、竞争、资源稀缺和不可预测性）对人类 LH 策略的影响。接下来，我们讨论了进化发展心理学中的 LH 校准模型，该模型阐明了对 LH 相关特征的变异性和可塑性做出贡献的环境敏感发展过程，最终形成了人类的 LH 策略。最后，我们强调了 LH 研究在心理学中的几个突出问题和未来方向，并得出结论，认为发展心理学应该接受 LH 方法非常重要。
