A Tower Unto Heaven: Toward an Expanded Framework for Psychopathology

An evolutionary life history approach to understanding mental health

In recent years, evolutionary life history theory has been used as a heuristic framework to understand mental health. This article reviews the life history theory and its integration with mental disorders and then introduces representative research methods and related empirical studies in the field of evolutionary psychopathology. In the end, this article concludes with future directions for further research examining and developing the evolutionary psychopathological framework.

The Psychometric Evaluation of Human Life Histories

A recent critique of Copping, Campbell, and Muncer raised several issues concerning the validity of psychometric assessment techniques in the study of life history (LH) strategies. In this reply, some of our key concerns about relying on aggregated psychometric measures are explained, and we raise questions generally regarding the use of higher order factor structures. Responses to some of the statistical issues raised by Figueredo et al. are also detailed. We stand by our original conclusions and call for more careful consideration of instruments used to evaluate hypotheses derived from LH theory.

Methodologically Sound: Evaluating the Psychometric Approach to the Assessment of Human Life History [Reply to ]

Copping, Campbell, and Muncer (2014) have recently published an article critical of the psychometric approach to the assessment of life history (LH) strategy. Their purported goal was testing for the convergent validation and examining the psychometric structure of the High-K Strategy Scale (HKSS). As much of the literature on the psychometrics of human LH during the past decade or so has emanated from our research laboratory and those of close collaborators, we have prepared this detailed response. Our response is organized into four main sections: (1) A review of psychometric methods for the assessment of human LH strategy, expounding upon the essence of our approach; (2) our theoretical/conceptual concerns regarding the critique, addressing the broader issues raised by the critique regarding the latent and hierarchical structure of LH strategy; (3) our statistical/methodological concerns regarding the critique, examining the validity and persuasiveness of the empirical case made specifically against the HKSS; and (4) our recommendations for future research that we think might be helpful in closing the gap between the psychometric and biometric approaches to measurement in this area. Clearly stating our theoretical positions, describing our existing body of work, and acknowledging their limitations should assist future researchers in planning and implementing more informed and prudent empirical research that will synthesize the psychometric approach to the assessment of LH strategy with complementary methods.