Comparison of life history strategy measures

Life History Strategy (LHS) describes a cluster of evolved traits whose adaptive function is to facilitate an organism’s reproduction. Individuals who allocate more resources towards somatic and parental/nepotistic effort and less towards mating effort are described as slow life history strategists, while those with the opposite resource allocation pattern are described as fast life history strategists. There are many measures purported to measure individual differences in LHS, however these have not yet been systematically compared. In this paper we compare the Arizona Life History Battery (ALHB), Mini-K, High-K Strategy Scale, and two Super-K Factors and test the internal consistency or measurement model structure of each measure, and the convergent validity between the measures. We found all measures show adequate internal consistency and measurement model structure and in general, the ALHB, Mini-K, and one Super-K Factor show the strongest convergence between the measures. Implications are discussed

A DAY IN THE LIFE: THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG NEGATIVE AFFECT, COVITALITY, AND SPATIAL BEHAVIOR MEASURED BY SELF REPORTED SPATIAL BEHAVIOR, AND BY GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) TECHNOLOGY

The focus of this validation study is to develop and use Global Positioning System (GPS) technology as a tool for psychological research. GPS technology was used to estimate the number of places participants visited over a four day period. To test the convergent validity of this method, this estimate was compared to two self-report methods of measuring the same behavior over the same time frame. All three of these methods were significantly correlated with each other. Results of the split-plot GLM further validated the convergent validity of the GPS method. The test of construct validity was successful when it comes to covitality, however, negative affect did not predict NPV

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