Evolutionary psychology assumes that human nature reflect adaptations to an ancestral environment that was intensely social, but differed profoundly from modern organizations in scale and complexity.

Definition. An evolutionary perspective of personality and individual differences proposes that our personalities and individual differences have evolved, in part, to provide us with some form of adaptive advantage in the context of survival and reproduction.

Evolutionary personality psychology suggests that human personality variation is a meaningful and relevant source of human diversity, and that different combinations of heritable personality traits biologically prepare individuals to exploit the different social niches they inhabit.

Mechanisms of evolution correspond to violations of different Hardy-Weinberg assumptions. They are: mutation, non-random mating, gene flow, finite population size (genetic drift), and natural selection.

Four conditions are needed for natural selection to occur: reproduction, heredity, variation in fitness or organisms, variation in individual characters among members of the population. If they are met, natural selection automatically results.

Darwin’s theory of evolution due to natural selection is based on the following assumptions: There are inheritable variations among the members of a population; Many more individuals are produced each generation than can survive and reproduce.

The four key points of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution are: individuals of a species are not identical; traits are passed from generation to generation; more offspring are born than can survive; and only the survivors of the competition for resources will reproduce.