Applying evolutionary theory to individual differences: insights from moral psychology

Evolutionary theory and adaptation-based explanations in psychology have become increasingly common within the last 20 to 30 years, and researchers are beginning to utilise the evolutionary paradigm In the study of personality and individual differences This chapter examines several evolutionarily oriented personality trait studies to highlight apparent tendencies towards simple genetic determinism, and contrasts this method with the more developmentally sensitive approach pursued in some recent works in moral psychology Salient theoretical concerns addressed include the direct inheritance of behavioural predispositions, and the environmental and developmental calibration of universally inherited potentials The implications of these issues are discussed.