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The relationship between Fluctuating Asymmetry (FA) and personality can cast light on the fitness con sequences and selective benefits underlying personality However few studies have investigated the topic and these have rendered inconsistent findings Theoretically predicted relationships of FA to personality include linear associations and curvilinear associations (with low FA leading to average-not extreme-personality trait levels) Evidence for no association would suggest that personality has no consequences for general fitness We summarise the findings to date adding two new studies testing each of the hypothesised models with well-validated measures of FA and personality traits No consistent associations were found Though it remains possible that low FA is weakly related to conscientiousness and openness to experience the major personality domains seem unrelated to FA (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved

We studied initial and long-term outcomes of speed-dating over a period of 1 year in a community sample involving 382 participants aged 18-54 years. They were followed from their initial choices of dating partners up to later mating (sexual intercourse) and relating (romantic relationship). Using Social Relations Model analyses, we examined evolutionarily informed hypotheses on both individual and dyadic effects of participants' physical characteristics, personality, education and income on their dating, mating and relating. Both men and women based their choices mainly on the dating partners' physical attractiveness, and women additionally on men's sociosexuality, openness to experience, shyness, education and income. Choosiness increased with age in men, decreased with age in women and was positively related to popularity among the other sex, but mainly for men. Partner similarity had only weak effects on dating success. The chance for mating with a speed-dating partner was 6\%, and was increased by men's short-term mating interest; the chance for relating was 4\%, and was increased by women's long-term mating interest. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Personality traits do not exist in a vacuum, they are only meaningful if they are considered together with situations where they lead to the expressions of behaviours. Simply put personality and situations are intimately intertwined in the generation of behaviour.

Based on a social relations perspective on mating, the actual and assumed reciprocity of mate choices was studied in a real-life speed-dating context. A community sample involving 382 singles aged 18-54 years filled out a questionnaire for the measurement of self-perceived mate value, sociosexuality, extraversion, and shyness and participated in free speed-dating sessions. Immediately after each date, choices and assumed choices were recorded. Measures of physical attractiveness and flirting behaviour were obtained by independent observers. Results show that actual mate choices are not reciprocal although people strongly expect their choices to be reciprocated and flirting behaviour is indeed strongly reciprocal. This interesting pattern of results was explained by investigating individual and dyadic effects of flirting, self-perceived mate value and physical attractiveness on mate choices. Results have important implications for understanding mating behaviour, sex differences and the (in) accuracies of mating decisions. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The interplay of personality and social relationships is as fascinating as it is complex and it pertains to a wide array of largely separate research domains. Here, we present an integrative and unified framework for analysing the complex dynamics of personality and social relationships (PERSOC). Basic principles and general processes on the individual and dyadic level are outlined to show how personality and social relationships influence each other and develop over time. PERSOC stresses the importance of social behaviours and interpersonal perceptions as mediating processes organized in social interaction units. The framework can be applied to diverse social relationships such as first encounters, short-term acquaintances, friendships, relationships between working group members, educational or therapeutic settings, romantic relationships and family relationships. It has important consequences for how we conceptualize, understand, and investigate personality and social relationships. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Commentators generally found our exposition of the concept of heritability helpful for psychologists, suggesting that we largely accomplished our primary goal. Many provided supplemental and helpful perspectives on concepts we addressed. A few of the comments indicated that we may not have been completely successful in making clear our secondary goal, which was to outline how heritability estimates confound a plethora of influences. In this response, we thus emphasize that we do not claim that specific kinds of complexity, or, even worse, intractable complexity, pervade the genetics of behavioural traits. Rather, our claim is that genetics is riddled with complexity of many degrees and kinds, and heritability is a poor indicator of either degree or kind of underlying genetic complexity. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Genetic influences on behavioural traits are ubiquitous. When behaviourism was the dominant paradigm in psychology, demonstrations of heritability of behavioural and psychological constructs provided important evidence of its limitations. Now that genetic influences on behavioural traits are generally accepted, we need to recognise the limitations of heritability as an indicator of both the aetiology and likelihood of discovering molecular genetic associations with behavioural traits. We review those limitations and conclude that quantitative genetics and genetically informative research designs are still critical to understanding the roles of gene-environment interplay in developmental processes, though not necessarily in the ways commonly discussed. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purpose: Skin ageing is not a monolithic entity, but comprises several related sets of features. We sought to determine the number of related sets of skin ageing features and test whether these were associated with environmental exposures and measures of oxidative stress. Subjects and methods: Facial skin ageing features were scored by three independent raters from photographs on a narrow-age, community-resident cohort at age 83 years. Smoking, sun exposure (indoor or outdoor occupation), social class, body mass index, 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG, a measure of oxidative DNA damage) and Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC, a measure of antioxidant capacity) were measured as independent predictors of skin ageing. Skin ageing feature items with adequate inter-rater reliability were entered into an ordinal factor analysis to determine factor structure. Extracted factors were correlated with independent predictors of skin ageing. Results: Two hundred and fourteen (102 male, 112 female) photographs were considered to be of adequate quality for rating by all three raters. Inter-rater reliability was acceptable (Kendall's w > 0.6) for ten of the 16 scale items. Three factors were extracted, relating to pigmented spots, wrinkles and facial sagging, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed sex (P <0.001, partial eta(2) = 0.605), BMI (P = 0.004, partial eta(2) = 0.063) and social class (P = 0.005, partial eta(2) = 0.061) to have significant effects on skin ageing. For participants with oxidative stress measures, in addition to sex and social class, 8-OHdG was positively associated with skin ageing (P <0.001, partial eta(2) = 0.152), but not TEAC (P = 0.13). Conclusion: In this elderly cohort, skin ageing was associated with increased levels of oxidative stress. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS and European Union Geriatric Medicine Society. All rights reserved.

Knowing one's mate value (mate-value accuracy) is an important element in reproductive success. We investigated within-and between-sex differences in this ability in a real-life speed-dating event. A total of 190 men and 192 women filled out a personality questionnaire and participated in speed-dating sessions. Immediately after each date, participants recorded who they would choose as mates and who they expected would choose them. In line with evolutionarily informed hypotheses, results indicated that sociosexually unrestricted men and more agreeable women showed greater mate-value accuracy than sociosexually restricted men and less agreeable women, respectively. These results have important implications for understanding mating behavior and perhaps the origin of sex differences in personality.

Comments on a record by Kanazawa (see record 2010-08987-004 ). Evolutionary psychologists search for human universals, differential psychologists for variation around common human themes. So far, evolutionary psychology and differential psychology seem somewhat disparate and unconnected, although Kanazawa is certainly not the first to attempt integrating them. Kanazawa uses intelligence to elaborate his view of integration. His evolutionary theory of intelligence is based on two assumptions: (1) General intelligence (g) is both an individual-differences variable and a domain- specific adaptation, and (2) the domain to which general intelligence is adapted is evolutionary novelty. Both claims are erroneous.   Ursprünglich waren die folgenden Personen auch Koautoren dieses Kommentars: Jens B. Asendorpf, Timothy C. Bates, David M. Buss, Daniel Cervone, Ian J. Deary, Jaap J. A. Denissen, Conor V. Dolan, Willem E. Frankenhuis, Wolfgang Gaissmaier, Steven W. Gangestad, David C. Geary, Vittorio Girotto, Samuel D. Gosling, Linda S. Gottfredson, Rex E. Jung, Matthew C. Keller, Michelle Luciano, Richard McElreath, Geoffrey F. Miller, Daniel Nettle, Aljoscha Neubauer, Steven Pinker, Richard D. Roberts, Frank M. Spinath, Marieke E. Timmerman, Francis Tuerlinckx, Han L. J. van der Maas, Oliver Wilhelm und Alexander Weiss. Da das Editorial Board des American Psychologists die Publikation aber von einer stark reduzierten Autorenliste abhängig gemacht hat und auch die anderweitige Erwähnung verweigerte, waren wir gezwungen diese Namen aus der publizierten Version zu entfernen.

There is much evidence that humans, as other species, are affected by social information when making mate-choice decisions. Witnessing a rival show interest in a member of the opposite sex tends to lead human observers of both sexes to thereafter rate that person as more appealing as a potential mate. However, how this occurs is not well understood. We investigate whether this effect is specific to the individual witnessed or will generalize to other potential mates with shared characteristics-that is, whether humans exhibit trait-based or just individual-based mate-choice copying. We found that whereas this kind of generalization did occur with some traits, it appeared to depend on age, and conspicuously, it did not occur with (inner) facial traits. We discuss possible explanations for the age specificity and cue specificity in terms of informational benefits and how people attend to unfamiliar faces.

A novel analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans based on multispectral image fusion was used to quantify iron deposits in basal ganglia and microbleeds in 143 nondemented subjects of the generally healthy Lothian Birth Cohort, who were tested for general cognitive ability (intelligence) at mean ages of 11, 70, and 72 years. Possessing more iron deposits at age 72 was significantly associated with lower general cognitive ability at age 11, 70, and 72, explaining 4\% to 9\% of the variance. The relationships with old age general cognitive ability remained significant after controlling for childhood cognition, suggesting that iron deposits are related to lifetime cognitive decline. Most iron deposits were in the basal ganglia, with few microbleeds. While iron deposits in the general population have so far been dismissed in the literature, our results show substantial associations with cognitive functioning. The pattern of results suggests that iron deposits are not only a biomarker of general cognitive ability in old age and age-related cognitive decline, but that they are also related to the lifelong-stable trait of intelligence. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Objective: To investigate whether and to what extent mortality is predictable from facial photographs of older people. Methods: High-quality facial photographs of 292 members of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921, taken at the age of about 83 years, were rated in terms of apparent age, health, attractiveness, facial symmetry, intelligence, and well-being by 12 young-adult raters. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to study associations between these ratings and mortality during a 7-year follow-up period. Results: All ratings had adequate reliability. Concurrent validity was found for facial symmetry and intelligence (as determined by correlations with actual measures of fluctuating asymmetry in the faces and Raven Standard Progressive Matrices score, respectively), but not for the other traits. Age as rated from facial photographs, adjusted for sex and chronological age, was a significant predictor of mortality (hazard ratio = 1.36, 95\% confidence interval = 1.12-1.65) and remained significant even after controlling for concurrent, objectively measured health and cognitive ability, and the other ratings. Health as rated from facial photographs, adjusted for sex and chronological age, significantly predicted mortality (hazard ratio = 0.81, 95\% confidence interval = 0.67-0.99) but not after adjusting for rated age or objectively measured health and cognition. Rated attractiveness, symmetry, intelligence, and well-being were not significantly associated with mortality risk. Conclusions: Rated age of the face is a significant predictor of mortality risk among older people, with predictive value over and above that of objective or rated health status and cognitive ability.

The paper by Cramer and colleagues illustrates how a network approach can model personality systems without positing causal latent factors such as the Big Five. We applaud this effort but argue that nodes should be distinguished on more than quantitative grounds (e.g. displayed centrality or connectivity). To realistically model the affects, cognitions and behaviours that constitute real personalities, organizing constructs such as needs and comparators seems necessary. Incorporating them requires greater consideration of functionalist personality theories that link together environmental features and adaptive behaviour in meaningful and stable ways. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A genome-wide search for genetic variants influencing the brain's white matter integrity in old age was conducted in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (LBC1936). At similar to 73 years of age, members of the LBC1936 underwent diffusion MRI, from which 12 white matter tracts were segmented using quantitative tractography, and tract-averaged water diffusion parameters were determined (n = 668). A global measure of white matter tract integrity, g(FA), derived from principal components analysis of tract-averaged fractional anisotropy measurements, accounted for 38.6\% of the individual differences across the 12 white matter tracts. A genome-wide search was performed with g(FA) on 535 individuals with 542,050 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). No single SNP association was genome-wide significant (all p > 5 x 10(-8)). There was genome-wide suggestive evidence for two SNPs, one in ADAMTS18 (p = 1.65 x 10(-6)), which is related to tumor suppression and hemostasis, and another in LOC388630 (p = 5.08 x 10(-6)), which is of unknown function. Although no gene passed correction for multiple comparisons in single gene-based testing, biological pathways analysis suggested evidence for an over-representation of neuronal transmission and cell adhesion pathways relating to g(FA). (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The ability to judge the romantic interest between others is an important aspect of mate choice for species living in social groups. Research has previously shown that humans can do this quickly observers watching short clips of speed-dating videos can accurately predict the outcomes. Here we extend this work to show that observers from widely varying cultures can judge these same videos with roughly equal accuracy. Participants in the USA, China, and Germany perform similarly not only overall but also at the level of judging individual speed-daters: Some daters are easy to read by observers from all cultures, while others are consistently difficult. These cross-cultural performance similarities provide evidence for an adaptive mechanism useful for mate choice that could be resilient to cultural differences. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

General intelligence is a robust predictor of important life outcomes, including educational and occupational attainment, successfully managing everyday life situations, good health and longevity. Some neuronal correlates of intelligence have been discovered, mainly indicating that larger cortices in widespread parieto-frontal brain networks and efficient neuronal information processing support higher intelligence. However, there is a lack of established associations between general intelligence and any basic structural brain parameters that have a clear functional meaning. Here, we provide evidence that lower brain-wide white matter tract integrity exerts a substantial negative effect on general intelligence through reduced information-processing speed. Structural brain magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired from 420 older adults in their early 70s. Using quantitative tractography, we measured fractional anisotropy and two white matter integrity biomarkers that are novel to the study of intelligence: longitudinal relaxation time (T1) and magnetisation transfer ratio. Substantial correlations among 12 major white matter tracts studied allowed the extraction of three general factors of biomarker-specific brain-wide white matter tract integrity. Each was independently associated with general intelligence, together explaining 10\% of the variance, and their effect was completely mediated by information-processing speed. Unlike most previously established neurostructural correlates of intelligence, these findings suggest a functionally plausible model of intelligence, where structurally intact axonal fibres across the brain provide the neuroanatomical infrastructure for fast information processing within widespread brain networks, supporting general intelligence.

As yet there are no firm associations between general intelligence differences and basic structural brain imaging parameters that have a clear functional meaning. Brain magnetic resonance imaging scans of 420 healthy older adults from the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1936 were analysed.

Personality traits are basic dimensions of behavioral variation, and twin, family, and adoption studies show that around 30\% of the between-individual variation is due to genetic variation. There is rapidly growing interest in understanding the evolutionary basis of this genetic variation. Several evolutionary mechanisms could explain how genetic variation is maintained in traits, and each of these makes predictions in terms of the relative contribution of rare and common genetic variants to personality variation, the magnitude of nonadditive genetic influences, and whether personality is affected by inbreeding. Using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from > 8000 individuals, we estimated that little variation in the Cloninger personality dimensions (7.2\% on average) is due to the combined effect of common, additive genetic variants across the genome, suggesting that most heritable variation in personality is due to rare variant effects and/or a combination of dominance and epistasis. Furthermore, higher levels of inbreeding were associated with less socially desirable personality trait levels in three of the four personality dimensions. These findings are consistent with genetic variation in personality traits having been maintained by mutationselection balance.

The present cross-sectional study investigated age and gender differences in motivational manifestations of the Big Five in a large German-speaking Internet sample (N = 19,022). Participants ranging in age from 16 to 60 years completed the Five Individual Reaction Norms Inventory (FIRNI; Denissen & Penke, 2008a), and two traditional Big Five measures. Age differences were found suggesting that mean levels of neuroticism and extraversion are negatively associated with age, whereas agreeableness and conscientiousness are positively associated. Openness to experience demonstrated a curvilinear association with age, with the highest mean levels in midlife. Gender differences were found suggesting that women, on average, have higher levels of neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness, while men are more open to experience. Neither the main effect of gender nor Age X Gender interactions were significant in the case of conscientiousness. In comparison to the 2 traditional Big Five measures, age differences in the motivational manifestations of the Big Five as assessed by the FIRNI were more pronounced, which might be explained by the greater developmental plasticity of flexible motivational processes or the intraindividual phrasing of the items of the FIRNI, compared to the kinds of behavioral descriptions that are emphasized in traditional Big Five items. The further study of such motivational processes might contribute to a better understanding of personality development.