Abstract Covariation of life history traits across species may be organised on a ‘fast-slow’ continuum. A burgeoning literature in psychology and social science argues that trait covariation should be similarly organised across individuals within human populations. Here we describe why extrapolating from inter-species to inter-individual trait covariation is not generally appropriate. The process that genetically tailors species to their environments (i.e. Darwinian evolution) is fundamentally different from processes that tailor individuals to their environments (e.g. developmental plasticity), so their outcomes in terms of trait covariation need not be parallel or even related. We discuss why correlational selection, physical linkage, pleiotropy, and non-random mating do not substantively affect this claim in the context of complex human traits. We also discuss life history trade-offs and their relation to inter-individual trait covariation. We conclude that researchers should avoid hypotheses and explanations that assume trait covariation will correspond across and within species, unless they can mount a theoretically coherent argument to support this claim in the context of their research question.

中文翻译：

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对人类特征协变的生活史方法的批判

摘要 跨物种的生活史特征的协变可以在“快-慢”连续体上进行组织。心理学和社会科学领域的新兴文献认为，特征协变应该在人类群体中的个体之间进行类似的组织。在这里，我们描述了为什么从物种间推断到个体间性状协变通常不合适。使物种适应其环境的遗传过程（即达尔文进化）与使个体适应其环境的过程（例如发育可塑性）有着根本的不同，因此它们在性状协变方面的结果不需要平行甚至相关。我们讨论了为什么在复杂的人类特征的背景下，相关选择、物理联系、多效性和非随机交配不会对这一主张产生实质性影响。我们还讨论了生活史权衡及其与个体间特征协变的关系。我们得出的结论是，研究人员应该避免假设和解释假设性状协变将在物种之间和物种内对应，除非他们能够在他们的研究问题的背景下提出理论上一致的论点来支持这一主张。