440 Part V Biological/Evolutionary Theories
We will not say much about goals, drives, and emotions and instead will focus
mostly on personality traits as evolved mechanisms. We will see, however, that
goals, motives, and emotions are closely connected to personality. In fact, most
theories of personality have centered around motivation and drive.Motivation and Emotion as Evolved Mechanisms
Two goals and motives that act as evolved mechanisms are power and intimacy.
These drives take many different forms, with power taking the form of aggression,
dominance, achievement, status, “negotiation of hierarchy,” and intimacy taking
the form of love, attachment, “reciprocal alliance.” Evolutionary psychology refers
to these drives as “adaptations” because they directly affect the health and well-
being of the person.
Similarly, emotions are adaptations because they directly alert the individual
to situations that are either harmful or beneficial to his or her well-being (Lazarus,
1991). If an event is harmful to a person’s well-being, some form of negative
emotion is experienced. For example, if the harm is in the form of loss, then sad-
ness is experienced, whereas if the harm is in the form of insult then anger is
experienced. Likewise, if an event occurs that is beneficial to that person’s well-
being, some kind of positive emotion occurs. For example, pride is experienced
when one perceives the event as important and successfully carried out.
Motivation and emotion are directly linked with stable personality traits (Buss,
1991; cf. MacDonald, 1995). If one regularly is driven to achieve and win in compe-
titions and is status-oriented, then we label that person as “dominant” or “power-
oriented.” A person who regularly acts in ways to bring people together is “agreeable.”
Likewise, if one often experiences sadness, shame, guilt, or anxiety when other peo-
ple do not, we might say that person is “anxious.” Motivation is part of personality.Personality Traits as Evolved Mechanisms
Buss (1991) starts with the assumption that motivation, emotion, and personal-
ity are adaptive in that they solve problems of survival and reproduction. He
argues that the five main dimensions of personality (Big Five) can be best
thought of as a way of summarizing the social landscape; that is, they signal to
other people our ability to solve survival and reproductive problems. Buss con-
ceptualizes individual differences and personality as strategies for solving adap-
tive problems. More importantly, being sensitive to and aware of these
differences in personality affords reproductive advantages in the perceiver. If
you know who is cooperative and/or dominant, you have an advantage over
those who are oblivious to such traits. “Whenever individuals differ in ways
relevant to the problems of survival and reproduction that humans must solve,
a selective advantage would accrue to those whose capacity to discern the dif-
ferences enabled them to increase their inclusive fitness” (p. 473). Put differ-
ently, these dispositions are inherently evaluative, that is, they allow others to
evaluate us on the adaptive problems; dispositions signal to other people their
ability to solve survival and reproductive problems. For example, conscientious-
ness signals whom to trust with tasks, and those who do this well accrue a
selective advantage (i.e., are more attractive to others).