r vs K Selection Theory: In Brief
August 15, 2019
By AHNZ
In brief…if you look at the human world in terms of two extremes of how we care for our young we get K-selected and r-selected. I could write a great deal about this but here’s a quick run-down for now. As I keep using these terms on this page I’d better establish what I mean!
The K-selected move is to have fewer children but invest heavily in their development. Stay-at-home parents, lots of attachment and education. Everyone is a special and unique individual, nobody left behind etc.
The r-selected strategy is to ‘spray and pray’ a bit like a dandelion seed head. Yes, many of your children will not germinate but you have so damn many that some of them are bound to make it. Think of the sea turtle burying its eggs in the sand and never looking back- doesn’t raise its young and a large percentage will be food for seagulls.
There are definitely r-selected cultures in humans too. Some people have lots of children and don’t care for them much at all. In this culture other humans are not seen as individuals, everyone’s just another rabbit. Another interchangeable Comrade. This anti-individuality has become so perfected in our era that many of the r-selected have blanked out race, sex, gender, and even species differences.
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Ref. The Evolutionary Psychology Behind Politics: How Conservatism and Liberalism Evolved Within Humans; Anonymous Conservative
Image Ref. Meyer Vacation Rentals
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