Testing the state-dependent behavior models in humans: Environmental harshness moderates the link between personality and mating

In behavioral ecology, state-dependent models are frequently used for the explanation of inter-individual variance in personality traits. Environmental characteristics are one of the external states which could influence this variance. The model predicts that environmental harshness should be related to fast life-history personality traits and that these traits should be more beneficial for fitness-related behavior in a harsh environment. In order to test the state-dependent behavior models in humans, we explored the relations between environmental harshness (exposure to long-term inter-group conflict), HEXACO personality traits and mating success (N = 204). We found that exposure to conflict is related to a fast life-history personality profile: lower Honesty, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, followed by higher Extraversion. Furthermore, interaction effects showed that high Extraversion and low Emotionality are related to higher mating success, but only in a harsh environment. All obtained results are in line with state-dependent models predictions. Research findings reveal the rich explanatory potential of behavioral ecological models in explaining key questions of human behavior, such as inter-individual variance in personality.