Evidence for Shared Genetic Dominance Between the General Factor of Personality, Mental and Physical Health, and Life History Traits

Abstract

W e reanalyze previously published data on 309 MZ and 333 DZ twin pairs aged 25 to 74 years from the MIDUS survey, a nationally representative archived sample, to examine how much of the genetic covariance between a general factor of personality (GFP), a lower-order life history factor, and a general physical and mental health factor, is of the nonadditive variety. We found nonadditive genetic effects (D) could not be ruled out as a contributor to the shared variance of these three latent factors to a Super-K Life History factor. We suggest these genetic correlations support the view that a slow (Kselected) life history strategy, good health, and the GFP coevolved and are mutually coadapted through directional selection.

Beyond the Big Five: The Dark Triad and the Supernumerary Personality Inventory

“…Lastly, a principal factor analysis Dark Triad Versus the Supernumerary Personality Inventory will be carried out with the Dark Triad traits and the SPI traits to assess whether these traits load on common factors, and to determine whether the factors reflect the three Dark Triad dimensions of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and subclinical psychopathy. This analysis will also be helpful in determining whether a heritable General Factor of Personality (GFP) can be extracted from the Dark Triad and SPI traits, such as has been reported in previous studies involving different personality traits (e.g., Figueredo & Rushton, 2009;Rushton, et al, 2009;Veselka et al, 2009a;Veselka et al, 2009b).…”

Measures of domain-specific resource allocations in life history strategy: Indicators of a latent common factor or ordered developmental sequence?

“…Once again, as the particular individual difference trait involved has been shown to be highly heritable (Figueredo et al, 2004;Figueredo & Rushton, 2009), these influences could be characterized as falling mostly within the conventional behavioral-genetic category of gene-environment interactions (encompassing the passive, evocative, and active versions of the same; see DiLalla & Gottesman, 1991;Plomin, DeFries, & Loehlin, 1977), in that both the latent trait and the outcomes of each immediately prior developmental stage are hypothesized to influence the outcomes at each successive stage in systematically dissimilar ways for different individuals, depending on both one's level of the trait and on the specific social interactions encountered at each successive in of environment. One cannot as easily paraphrase this model in any simplistic popular expression of which we are aware.…”

“…As the particular individual difference trait involved has been shown to be highly heritable (Figueredo et al, 2004;Figueredo & Rushton, 2009), these influences could be characterized as falling mostly within the conventional behavioral-genetic category of shared genetic influences (although some influence of non-shared environment was also estimated in the models cited), in that the latent trait is hypothesized to influence the outcomes at each successive stage in systematically dissimilar ways for different individuals, depending on one's level of the trait. One may paraphrase this model in the following variant of an equally popular expression: "same thing, different day".…”

“…Thus, the theoretical rationale behind the Integrative Biopsychosocial Model can be described as follows. Understanding that the slow life history "K-Factor" is highly heritable (broad sense h 2 =.60-.70; Figueredo et al, 2004;Figueredo & Rushton, 2009), we may consider the influence of that common factor on successive developmental stages to be mostly (meaning about a "two-thirds majority") interpretable as the continuing effects of shared genes on the hypothesized developmental sequence. Consistent with the results of longitudinal analyses carried out on the MIDUS Wave 1 and Wave 2 data, Figueredo, Cabeza de Baca, and Bronfenbrenner's (1979) Ecological Systems Theory: Hierarchically Nested Concentric "Spheres" of Organism-Environment Interaction Black (2014, heritable differences explain a substantial portion of the measurable temporal stability in both higher-order and lower-order life history factors over a 10-year interval during adulthood, rivaled only in magnitude by the influence of the non-shared environment.…”

Higher scores on the Mini-K life history battery are associated with greater disgust sensitivity on the three domains of disgust scale

“…Individuals who have slow life history strategies delay mating, display increased sensitivity to social norms, and have higher levels of cooperative behavior (Figueredo & Rushton, 2009). Slow life history also implies more stable relationships between parents in order to invest in parental care until offspring reach reproductive age (van der Linden, Klaveren, & Dunkel, 2015), which falls in line with individuals producing fewer offspring in order to invest more in those offspring (Dillon, Adair, & Brase, 2015).…”