Towards the development of an evolutionarily valid domain-specific risk-taking scale

Original article:

Towards the development of an evolutionarily valid domain-specific risk-taking scale

Evolutionary Psychology 5(3): 555-568 Daniel J. Kruger, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, djk2012@gmail.comX.T. Wang, Department of Psychology, University of South Dakota, USA, xt.wang@usd.eduAndreas Wilke, Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture, UCLA Department of Anthropology, USA, wilke@ucla.edu

Abstract

From an evolutionary perspective, human risk-taking behaviors should be viewed in relation to evolutionarily recurrent survival and reproductive problems. In response to recent calls for domain-specific measures of risk-taking, we emphasize the need of evolutionarily valid domains. We report on two studies designed to validate a scale of risky behaviors in domains selected from research and theory in evolutionary psychology and biology, corresponding to reoccurring challenges in the ancestral environment. Behaviors were framed in situations which people would have some chance of encountering in modern times. We identify five domains of risk-taking: between-group competition, within-group competition, mating and resource allocation for mate attraction, environmental risks, and fertility risks.

Keywords

risk taking, individual differences, evolutionary domains, adaptation; domain- specificity.

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