Personality Traits Influence Reproductive Success in High-Fertility Populations

Men and women in polygynous villages in Senegal differ in how personality traits influence

reproductive success. In this high-fertility population, moderately neurotic women and highly extraverted

men, regardless of age, tended to produce the greatest number of children. These data suggest that

variation in personality is under selection because different environments have optimal personality traits

for reproductive success.

Rino Watanabe
 The diversity in personality suggests that this variation is under selection. Some proposed ideas

are that environmental pressures or trade-offs between survival and reproduction contribute to this

variation. Prior studies across nonhuman animals have indicated that different personality traits influence

reproductive success, depending on the environment. This raises the question– do personality traits

correlate with reproductive success in humans? The limited research on this question outside of low-

fertility populations fueled Alvergne et al. (2010)’s research. They investigated whether the big five

personality traits correlated with reproductive success in a polygynous, high-fertility population. Of the

big five traits, extraversion has previously been positively correlated and neuroticism has been negatively

correlated with reproduction. Thus, the authors hypothesized that personality traits, particularly

extraversion and neuroticism, would influence reproductive success for men and women.

In their experiment, Alvergne et al. distributed questionnaires to 65 random, polygynous families

(74 women and 62 men) from four traditional villages in rural Senegal. The self-report questionnaire

measured the participants’ personalities based on the big five personality traits, while controlling for age.

If the hypothesis is right, then they predict that more neurotic women would produce fewer children than

less neurotic women (Figure 1). Additionally, more extraverted men would produce an increased number

of children than less extraverted men (Figure 2). If the hypothesis is wrong, then they predict that women

with low- and high-level neuroticism (Figure 3) and men with low- and high-level extraversion (Figure 4)

would produce relatively equal numbers of children. This pattern would indicate that there is no

significant correlation between personality traits and reproductive success.

For women, neuroticism and the number of children both between and within families were

positively correlated (Figure 5). Even when controlling for age and duration of marriage, women who

were more neurotic than average had 12% more children than women who were less neurotic than

average. However, when accounting for the mother and child’s probability of survival, intermediate-level

neuroticism was optimal for women. For men, extraversion positively correlated with the number of

children (Figure 6). Moreover, extraversion was positively correlated with a greater probability of

belonging to a higher social class and having more wives. Above-average extroverted men had 14% more
children than below-average extraverted men. Besides neuroticism and extraversion, none of the other big

five personality traits correlated to reproductive success for women and men, respectively.

The results support Alvergne et al.’s hypothesis that personality traits influence reproductive

success for men and women. Contrary to their prediction for women, however, Figures 1 and 5 display

contrasting patterns, indicating that neurotic women produced more children than less neurotic women.

Their prediction for men proved true, as Figures 2 and 6 reflected a similar positive trend between male

extraversion and the number of children produced. From these results, we can first infer that in high-

fertility populations, moderately neurotic women and more extraverted men tend to have the greatest

reproductive success. Second, it is possible that greater neuroticism is a cause rather than an effect of

greater offspring because neuroticism was independent of age, while number of children increased with

age. Third, different traits are under selection for men and women because although the average

extraversion level was the same, extraversion reliably predicted the number of children only in men.

Before making a definitive conclusion, however, there are some unresolved questions: Would the same

pattern be observed in monogamous, high-fertility societies? How would low- and high-fertility

populations compare in what personality traits correlate with reproductive success? Could a third variable

cause both an increase in reproductive success and greater neuroticism and extraversion?

To investigate whether the same pattern would be observed in monogamous, high-fertility

societies, we would specifically examine neuroticism in women. This is because extraversion is generally

a strong predictor of male reproductive success in most populations. In a monogamous, high-fertility

population, we would randomly distribute a similar personality questionnaire. We hypothesize that

personality traits, particularly neuroticism, will influence reproductive success for women. If the

hypothesis is correct, then more neurotic women would produce fewer children than less neurotic women.

This is because the competitiveness (between the wives) associated with neuroticism may no longer be as

prominent (Figure 7). Greater neuroticism may also be related to reproductive costs and reduced

longevity, decreasing the number of children produced. If the hypothesis is incorrect, then women with

low- and high-level neuroticism would produce relatively equal numbers of children (Figure 8).
Figure 1. Predicted result if the authors’ hypothesis is correct. If personality traits influence reproductive

success, then neurotic women would tend to produce fewer children than less neurotic women.
Figure 2. Predicted result if the authors’ hypothesis is correct. If personality traits influence reproductive

success, then extraverted men will produce more children than less extraverted men.
Figure 3. Predicted result if the authors’ hypothesis is incorrect. If personality traits do not influence

reproductive success, then women with low- and high-level neuroticism would have no significant

differences in the number of children.

Figure 4. Predicted result if the authors’ hypothesis is incorrect. If personality traits do not influence

reproductive success, then men with low- and high-level extraversion would have no significant

differences in the number of children.

Figure 5. The correlation between neuroticism in women and the number of children. Women with high-

level neuroticism tended to produce more children than women with low-level neuroticism.
Figure 6. The correlation between extraversion in men and the number of children. Men with high-level

extraversion tended to produce more children than men with low-level extraversion.
Figure 7. Predicted result if our hypothesis is correct. If personality traits influence reproductive success

in monogamous societies, then neurotic women would tend to produce fewer children than less neurotic

women.
Figure 8. Predicted result if our hypothesis is incorrect. If personality traits do not influence reproductive

success in monogamous societies, then women with low- and high-level neuroticism would have no

significant differences in the number of children.

 References

Alvergne, A., Jokela, M., Lummaa, V., & Nisbett, R. 2010. Personality and reproductive success

in a high-fertility human population. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the

United States of America, 107: 11745 – 11750.