scholarly journals The nature and dynamics of world religions: a life-history approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1818) ◽  
pp. 20151593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Baumard ◽  
Coralie Chevallier
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Life Strategy ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Face ◽  
Diffusion Pattern ◽  
History Approach

In contrast with tribal and archaic religions, world religions are characterized by a unique emphasis on extended prosociality, restricted sociosexuality, delayed gratification and the belief that these specific behaviours are sanctioned by some kind of supernatural justice. Here, we draw on recent advances in life history theory to explain this pattern of seemingly unrelated features. Life history theory examines how organisms adaptively allocate resources in the face of trade-offs between different life-goals (e.g. growth versus reproduction, exploitation versus exploration) . In particular, recent studies have shown that individuals, including humans, adjust their life strategy to the environment through phenotypic plasticity: in a harsh environment, organisms tend to adopt a ‘fast' strategy, pursuing smaller but more certain benefits, while in more affluent environments, organisms tend to develop a ‘slow' strategy, aiming for larger but less certain benefits. Reviewing a range of recent research, we show that world religions are associated with a form of ‘slow' strategy. This framework explains both the promotion of ‘slow' behaviours such as altruism, self-regulation and monogamy in modern world religions, and the condemnation of ‘fast' behaviours such as selfishness, conspicuous sexuality and materialism. This ecological approach also explains the diffusion pattern of world religions: why they emerged late in human history (500–300 BCE), why they are currently in decline in the most affluent societies and why they persist in some places despite this overall decline.

The costs of reproduction in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor)

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 2540-2547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel T. Wheelwright ◽  
Joanna Leary ◽  
Caragh Fitzgerald
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Brood Size ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Tachycineta Bicolor ◽  
Laying Date ◽  
Tree Swallows ◽  
Costs Of Reproduction ◽  
Return Rates ◽  
Trade Offs

We investigated the effect of brood size on nestling growth and survival, parental survival, and future fecundity in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) over a 4-year period (1987–1990) in an effort to understand whether reproductive trade-offs limit clutch size in birds. In addition to examining naturally varying brood sizes in a population on Kent Island, New Brunswick, Canada, we experimentally modified brood sizes, increasing or decreasing the reproductive burdens of females by two offspring. Unlike previous studies, broods of the same females were enlarged or reduced in up to 3 successive years in a search for evidence of cumulative costs of reproduction that might go undetected by a single brood manipulation. Neither observation nor experiment supported the existence of a trade-off between offspring quality and quantity, in contrast with the predictions of life-history theory. Nestling wing length, mass, and tarsus length were unrelated to brood size. Although differences between means were in the direction predicted, few differences were statistically significant, despite large sample sizes. Nestlings from small broods were no more likely to return as breeding adults than nestlings from large broods, but return rates of both groups were very low. Parental return rates were also independent of brood size, and there was no evidence of a negative effect of brood size on future fecundity (laying date, clutch size). Reproductive success, nestling size, and survival did not differ between treatments for females whose broods were manipulated in successive years. Within the range of brood sizes observed in this study, the life-history costs of feeding one or two additional nestlings in tree swallows appear to be slight and cannot explain observed clutch sizes. Costs not measured in this study, such as the production of eggs or postfledging parental care, may be more important in limiting clutch size in birds.

The effect of childhood unpredictability on co-parenting relationships during the transition to parenthood: A life history approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 2438-2458
Author(s):  
Ohad Szepsenwol
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Parental Behaviors ◽  
Childhood Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Environmental Unpredictability ◽  
History Approach

Recent extensions to life history theory posit that exposure to environmental unpredictability during childhood should forecast negative parental behaviors in adulthood. In the current research, this logic was extended to co-parental behaviors, which refer to how parents coordinate, share responsibility, and support each other’s parental efforts. The effects of early-life unpredictability on individual and dyadic co-parental functioning were examined in a sample of 109 families (two parents and their firstborn child) who were followed longitudinally from before the child’s birth until the age of two. Greater early-life unpredictability (family changes, residential changes, and parents’ occupational changes by age 8) experienced by mothers, but not fathers, predicted more negative co-parental behaviors in triadic observations 6 months post birth, and lower couple-reported co-parenting quality assessed 3, 9, 18, and 24 months post birth. These effects were not explained by parents’ childhood socioeconomic status or current relationship quality. These findings highlight the role of mothers in shaping co-parenting relationships and how these relationships might be influenced by mothers’ early-life experiences.

scholarly journals Cuckoos, cowbirds and hosts: adaptations, trade-offs and constraints

2006 ◽  
Vol 362 (1486) ◽  
pp. 1873-1886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Krüger
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Reproductive Strategies ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Host System ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Evolution Of Life

The interactions between brood parasitic birds and their host species provide one of the best model systems for coevolution. Despite being intensively studied, the parasite–host system provides ample opportunities to test new predictions from both coevolutionary theory as well as life-history theory in general. I identify four main areas that might be especially fruitful: cuckoo female gentes as alternative reproductive strategies, non-random and nonlinear risks of brood parasitism for host individuals, host parental quality and targeted brood parasitism, and differences and similarities between predation risk and parasitism risk. Rather than being a rare and intriguing system to study coevolutionary processes, I believe that avian brood parasites and their hosts are much more important as extreme cases in the evolution of life-history strategies. They provide unique examples of trade-offs and situations where constraints are either completely removed or particularly severe.

scholarly journals Trade-off between age of first reproduction and survival in a female primate

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory E. Blomquist
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Human Study ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Adult Survival ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Female Life History ◽  
First Reproduction

Trade-offs are central to life-history theory but difficult to document. Patterns of phenotypic and genetic correlations in rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta —a long-lived, slow-reproducing primate—are used to test for a trade-off between female age of first reproduction and adult survival. A strong positive genetic correlation indicates that female macaques suffer reduced adult survival when they mature relatively early and implies primate senescence can be explained, in part, by antagonistic pleiotropy. Contrasts with a similar human study implicate the extension of parental effects to later ages as a potential mechanism for circumventing female life-history trade-offs in human evolution.

Beyond allostatic load: Rethinking the role of stress in regulating human development

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce J. Ellis ◽  
Marco Del Giudice
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Stress Response ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Calibration Model ◽  
Load Model ◽  
Adaptive Calibration ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Response Systems

AbstractHow do exposures to stress affect biobehavioral development and, through it, psychiatric and biomedical disorder? In the health sciences, the allostatic load model provides a widely accepted answer to this question: stress responses, while essential for survival, have negative long-term effects that promote illness. Thus, the benefits of mounting repeated biological responses to threat are traded off against costs to mental and physical health. The adaptive calibration model, an evolutionary–developmental theory of stress–health relations, extends this logic by conceptualizing these trade-offs as decision nodes in allocation of resources. Each decision node influences the next in a chain of resource allocations that become instantiated in the regulatory parameters of stress response systems. Over development, these parameters filter and embed information about key dimensions of environmental stress and support, mediating the organism's openness to environmental inputs, and function to regulate life history strategies to match those dimensions. Drawing on the adaptive calibration model, we propose that consideration of biological fitness trade-offs, as delineated by life history theory, is needed to more fully explain the complex relations between developmental exposures to stress, stress responsivity, behavioral strategies, and health. We conclude that the adaptive calibration model and allostatic load model are only partially complementary and, in some cases, support different approaches to intervention. In the long run, the field may be better served by a model informed by life history theory that addresses the adaptive role of stress response systems in regulating alternative developmental pathways.

scholarly journals An integrative evolutionary framework for psychopathology

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Marco Del Giudice ◽  
John D. Haltigan
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
History Approach ◽  
P Factor ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract The field of psychopathology is in a transformative phase, and is witnessing a renewed surge of interest in theoretical models of mental disorders. While many interesting proposals are competing for attention in the literature, they tend to focus narrowly on the proximate level of analysis and lack a broader understanding of biological function. In this paper, we present an integrative framework for mental disorders built on concepts from life history theory, and describe a taxonomy of mental disorders based on its principles, the fast–slow–defense model (FSD). The FSD integrates psychopathology with normative individual differences in personality and behavior, and allows researchers to draw principled distinctions between broad clusters of disorders, as well as identify functional subtypes within current diagnostic categories. Simulation work demonstrates that the model can explain the large-scale structure of comorbidity, including the apparent emergence of a general “p factor” of psychopathology. A life history approach also provides novel integrative insights into the role of environmental risk/protective factors and the developmental trajectories of various disorders.

scholarly journals Exploring the Physiological mechanisms and Ecological Consequences of Energetic Tradeoffs: An Integative Study of the Influences of Avian Malarial Infection on Thermogenic Performance

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 123-127
Author(s):  
Mathew Carling
Keyword(s):  
Life History Theory ◽  
Optimal Allocation ◽  
Limited Resource ◽  
Allocation Of Resources ◽  
Physiological Mechanisms ◽  
Ecological Consequences ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Variable Environments ◽  
The Face ◽  
Allocation Strategies

Survival in variable environments often requires careful allocation of resources to competing physiological and behavioral functions. Because these competing processes often have additive energetic costs (Hawley et al. 2012), a limited resource pool forces individuals to make difficult trade-off decisions regarding energetic investments (Lochmiller and Deerenberg 2000). These trade-offs are a cornerstone of life-history theory that is aimed at determining the optimal allocation strategies in variable environments (Ricklefs and Wikelski 2002), and understanding their physiological and ecological consequences has renewed poignancy in the face of the unprecedented rate of anthropogenic environmental change occurring across the planet.

Explanations for attractiveness-related positive biases in an evolutionary perspective of life history theory

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin-Bin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Infants And Children ◽  
Evolutionary Explanation ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
History Of

AbstractThe mating-related evolutionary explanation that Maestripieri et al. offer does not apply to (1) infants' positive biases toward attractive individuals and (2) adults' positive biases toward attractive infants and children. They are best understood when integrated into an evolutionary life history framework. I argue that the life history of positive biases toward attractive individuals is driven by fundamental trade-offs made throughout development.

Effect of body size, age and timing of breeding on clutch and egg size of female Eastern Gray Treefrogs, Hyla versicolor

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Gerlinde Höbel ◽  
Robb Kolodziej ◽  
Dustin Nelson ◽  
Christopher White
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Hyla Versicolor ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Gray Treefrogs

Abstract Information on how organisms allocate resources to reproduction is critical for understanding population dynamics. We collected clutch size (fecundity) and egg size data of female Eastern Gray Treefrogs, Hyla versicolor, and examined whether observed patterns of resource allocation are best explained by expectations arising from life history theory or by expected survival and growth benefits of breeding earlier. Female Hyla versicolor showed high between-individual variation in clutch and egg size. We did not observe maternal allocation trade-offs (size vs number; growth vs reproduction) predicted from life history theory, which we attribute to the large between-female variation in resource availability, and the low survival and post-maturity growth rate observed in the study population. Rather, clutches are larger at the beginning of the breeding season, and this variation in reproductive investment aligns with seasonal variation in ecological factors affecting offspring growth and survival.

scholarly journals Strategic adjustment of parental care in tree swallows: life-history trade-offs and the role of glucocorticoids

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (12) ◽  
pp. 160740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Çağlar Akçay ◽  
Ádám Z. Lendvai ◽  
Mark Stanback ◽  
Mark Haussmann ◽  
Ignacio T. Moore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Optimal Strategies ◽  
Plasma Corticosterone ◽  
Tree Swallows ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Strategic Adjustment

Life-history theory predicts that optimal strategies of parental investment will depend on ecological and social factors, such as current brood value and offspring need. Parental care strategies are also likely to be mediated in part by the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and glucocorticoid hormones. Here, we present an experiment in tree swallows ( Tachycineta bicolor ), a biparental songbird with wide geographical distribution, asking whether parental care is strategically adjusted in response to signals of offspring need and brood value and if so, whether glucocorticoids are involved in these adjustments. Using an automated playback system, we carried out playbacks of nestling begging calls specifically to females in two populations differing in their brood value: a northern population in Ontario, Canada (relatively higher brood value) and a southern population in North Carolina, USA (relatively lower brood value). We quantified female offspring provisioning rates before and during playbacks and plasma corticosterone levels (cort) once during late incubation and once immediately after playbacks. Females in both populations increased feeding rates temporarily during the first 2 h of playback but the increase was not sustained for the entire duration of playback (6 h). Cort levels from samples at the end of the playback did not differ between control females and females that received playbacks. However, females that had higher increases in cort between the incubation and nestling period had greater fledging success. These results suggest that females are able to strategically respond to offspring need, although the role of glucocorticoids in this strategic adjustment remains unclear.

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