BIO

Emma Robbins is a freshman vocalist in the College of Music majoring in music (general emphasis). In addition to her involvement in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, Emma is a student in the Honors program, a speaker coach and member of the performance committee for FSU's annual TEDx conference, a College of Music Board of advisor, and a sister in the music sorority Sigma Alpha Iota. Next year, she hopes to participate more in FSU's film and production communities to gain experience in her intended profession of music supervision.

Life History Theory & Goal Time Horizons: An evolutionary perspective

Abstract

Life history theory (LHT) provides a conceptual framework in the field of evolutionary psychology for
analyzing reproductive and behavioral trajectories in individuals from different childhood environments.
Two strategies are categorized under this theory: fast and slow. Fast life history strategists tend to be
birthed into environments with prominent stressors of unpredictability and harshness, causing earlier
onsets of puberty and sexual exploration, higher externalizing behaviors, shorter goal setting, and
substance abuse tendencies. Slower life history strategists mature in stable and resource-abundant
environments and exhibit a preference for delay discounting in goals and sexual fitness – opposites of
fast life strategy. Isolating the environmental stressors of harshness and unpredictability, this study
builds on prior research to see if maturation in unpredictable environments is directly correlated with
impulsivity in adult behaviors towards goal setting (Study 2). After surveying more than a hundred
undergraduate students and community members on their childhoods and current most important
goals, data was extracted and coded to determine if the presence of unpredictability in childhood
environments is correlated with goal timing. Using statistical analysis, it was determined that through
the meditation of a participant’s consideration of future consequences, goal time horizons in adulthood
are influenced by adolescent unpredictability. This work benefits a growing interest in how childhood
environments can inherently affect the life trajectory of individuals by examining and understanding the
effects causal stressors, like unpredictability, have on developed behaviors from adolescence to
adulthood

Keywords: Psychology, Childhood, Behavior, Goal-Setting, Mind