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Psychological Adaptation and Human Fertility Patterns: Some Evidence of Human Mating Strategies as Evoked Sexual Culture

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Biosocial Foundations of Family Processes

Part of the book series: National Symposium on Family Issues ((NSFI))

Abstract

Several features of human fertility, such as age of menarche, age at first marriage, and total number of offspring, vary in significant ways across cultures. At least part of this variation may be attributable to evolved psychological adaptations designed to facultatively respond to varying local environments with different reproductive strategies. Evidence is reviewed which suggests that stressful environments appear to evoke insecure parent–child attachment, which subsequently leads to an adaptive developmental pathway that includes dismissing romantic attachment, interpersonal distrust, and the pursuit of short-term reproductive strategies. Low levels of environmental stress seem to evoke a different reproductive strategy adaptively rooted in secure attachment, heightened interpersonal trust, and long-term mating. Much of the modern variation in human fertility may result from psychological adaptations to our ancestral past differentially functioning across evoked cultures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Bradley University, Peoria, IL, USA

    David P. Schmitt

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  1. David P. Schmitt
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Correspondence to David P. Schmitt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Sociology & Crime, Law, &, Justice, Pennsylvania State University, Oswald Tower 513, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    Alan Booth

  2. Dept. Human Development & Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    Susan M. McHale

  3. , Department of Sociology, Human Demograph, Pennsylvania State University, 16802, USA

    Nancy S. Landale

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Schmitt, D.P. (2011). Psychological Adaptation and Human Fertility Patterns: Some Evidence of Human Mating Strategies as Evoked Sexual Culture. In: Booth, A., McHale, S., Landale, N. (eds) Biosocial Foundations of Family Processes. National Symposium on Family Issues. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7361-0_11

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