Physical strength & attractiveness positively predicted Extraversion & specific facets; strength negatve predicted Emotionality & fearfulness

Functional coordination of personality strategies with physical strength and attractiveness: A multi-sample investigation at the HEXACO facet-level. Nina N. Rodriguez, Aaron W. Lukaszewski. Journal of Research in Personality, Volume 89, December 2020, 104040. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2020.104040

Highlights

• Tests HEXACO Extraversion & Emotionality correlations w/ attractiveness & strength.

• Multi-sample analysis using multiple attractiveness & strength measures.

• Strength & attractiveness positively predicted Extraversion & specific facets.

• Strength negatively predicted Emotionality & specific facets (e.g. fearfulness)

• Facet-level results give clues re: psychological mechanisms underpinning personality.

Abstract: Previous research has supported adaptationist hypotheses pertaining to the functional coordination of personality strategies with phenotypic determinants of bargaining power, such as physical strength and attractiveness. However, prior studies have focused primarily on explaining variation in Extraversion and Emotionality/Neuroticism as broadband traits. The current study synthesizes data from three subject samples (N = 766) to test correlations of physical strength and attractiveness with the HEXACO factors and facets among young adults. Our analyses reveal specific, functionally meaningful, patterns of phenotypic coordination, and thereby help illuminate which facets drive previously documented associations at the factor-level. Among both sexes, strength was an especially important predictor of facets whose secondary loadings place them in the quadrant of factor space defined by high Extraversion (Expressiveness, Liveliness, Social Boldness) and low Emotionality (Fearfulness, Anxiety). Findings bolster the hypothesis that specific personality strategies are coordinated with phenotypic components of bargaining power, and suggest that granular measures of personality (such as facets) may provide more mechanistic and functional insight than broadband trait factors.

Keywords: Evolutionary psychologyFacultative calibrationHEXACOPersonality