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Life History Theory

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Biological ecology; Life history; Lifespan; Population ecology; Reproductive development

Definition

A theory based on biological evolution that explains variations in organisms’ developmental and reproductive strategies in the context of environment pressures and available resources.

Introduction

The core premises of Darwinian evolution are survival and reproduction (Darwin 1859); and biological organisms need energy to achieve these goals. All life requires capturing and allocating energy; however, this energy is limited and comes at a cost – organisms cannot expend unlimited resources, maximizing all life domains simultaneously. Organisms must live within their restricted energy budgets, mandating tradeoffs to ensure they do not allocate more resources to a particular domain than are available. Selection favors strategies for allocating resources on the basis that they result in the greatest evolutionary fitness for the organism, respective of their environmental...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, 5001, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Phillip S. Kavanagh & Bianca L. Kahl

Authors
  1. Phillip S. Kavanagh
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  2. Bianca L. Kahl
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Phillip S. Kavanagh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, 492 Bluemont Hall, Manhattan, KS, USA

    Gary L Brase

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Kavanagh, P.S., Kahl, B.L. (2016). Life History Theory. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1914-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1914-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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