Final answer:
Evolutionary psychology is the perspective that studies how psychological traits influence adaptation and survival, considering both individual differences and universal traits. Theories such as life-history theory and costly signaling theory, along with foundational work by Charles Darwin and William James, all contribute to our understanding of how behaviors and traits have adapted over time, helping individuals to survive and reproduce.
Step-by-step explanation:
The psychological perspective that examines characteristics in terms of how they influence adaptation to the environment and survival is known as evolutionary psychology. This field looks at how personality traits may provide a survival and reproductive advantage. Evolutionary psychologists like David Buss have theorized that these individual differences in traits are important for the diversity of strategies in surviving and finding mates. Evolutionary psychology stems from the work of Charles Darwin, emphasizing that behaviors, much like physical traits, are subject to natural selection. The ultimate goal within this perspective is to explain how certain psychological qualities of an organism, like behaviors and personality traits, have functioned to improve the survival and reproductive success of individuals. However, detecting a genetic basis and thereby natural selection in human behavior is challenging. Another influential figure, William James, contributed to functional psychology, which embraces Darwin's principles and focuses on mental activities and their impact on fitting into the environment (functionalism). This perspective also contends that not all current behavioral traits need to be adaptive in today's conditions, as long as they were adaptive in historical contexts when the traits evolved.