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Definition
A common factor underlying a cluster of human life history indicators.
Life History Theory
According to life history (LH) theory, individuals allocate resources (such as time or calories) for competing needs. Allocating resources for one need may diminish the resources for the other. This leads to several trade-offs between specific goals. For instance, should an organism invest in current or future reproduction? Should it invest in the quality or quantity of its offspring? Should it exert efforts in mating or parenting? (Del Giudice et al. 2015). The (unconscious) decisions an organism makes regarding these trade-offs comprise LH strategies.
LH strategies tend to generate clusters of traits. These traits include maturation, growth, fertility, parenting, and lifespan. Species differ in their LH strategies. Species that follow r (or fast) strategies mature, mate, and reproduce early, producing many...
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References
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Tifferet, S. (2019). K-Factor (Figueredo). In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_687-1
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