Definition
Life history approaches understand psychopathology as long-term consequences of inevitable trade-offs in investment in reproductive (fast life history strategy) vs somatic (slow life history strategy) effort, interacting with the environment the individual finds themselves in.
Introduction
Psychopathology is characterized by harmful dysfunction, defined by harm to self or others and/or a failure of psychological mechanisms to serve the functions for which they were designed by natural selection. This entry will review evidence that has been collected relating life history strategy (LHS) to various psychopathologies. Early-life experience can lead to adopting a fast LHS, focusing on short-term gains, and consequent risk-taking, or a slow LHS in which resources are accrued and utilized more slowly and carefully. Evidence will be reviewed illustrating the link between these strategies and psychopathology, including a...
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Knowles, J., Capiron, R., Tredway, C., Burke, D. (2019). Life History Model of Psychopathology. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_702-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_702-1
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