Although women engage in both physical and nonphysical aggression, little is known about how aggression type influences perceptions of their morphology, personality, and social behavior. Evolutionary theory predicts that women avoid physical aggression due to risk of injury, which could compromise reproductive success. Engaging in physical aggression might therefore decrease women’s perceived mate value. However, physical aggression could be advantageous for some women, such as those who are larger in size and less vulnerable to injury. This presents the possibility that physically aggressive women might be perceived as larger and not necessarily lower in mate value. These hypotheses have not been tested. Across three studies, I used narratives to test the effect of aggression type (physical, verbal, indirect, nonaggressive) on perceptions of women’s height, weight, masculinity, attractiveness, and social status. In Studies 1 and 2, participants perceived a physically aggressive woman to be both larger and more masculine than nonphysically aggressive women. In Study 3, participants perceived both a physically aggressive woman and a nonaggressive woman to be larger than an indirectly aggressive woman; the effect of aggression type on perceptions of a hypothetical man’s height was not significant. I also found some evidence that aggression type influenced perceptions of attractiveness and social status, but these were small and inconsistent effects that warrant further study. Taken together, the results suggest that physical and indirect aggressive behavior may be associated with certain morphological and behavioral profiles in women.

尽管女性会进行身体和非身体攻击，但人们对攻击类型如何影响对其形态、性格和社会行为的看法知之甚少。进化论预测，由于受伤的风险，女性会避免身体攻击，这可能会影响生殖成功。因此，进行身体攻击可能会降低女性的择偶价值。然而，身体攻击对某些女性来说可能是有利的，例如那些体型较大且不易受伤的女性。这表明，具有攻击性的女性可能会被认为体型更大，但在择偶价值方面不一定较低。这些假设尚未得到检验。在三项研究中，我使用叙事来测试攻击类型（身体、言语、间接、非攻击性）对女性身高、体重、男性气质、吸引力和社会地位的影响。在研究 1 和 2 中，参与者认为具有身体攻击性的女性比不具有身体攻击性的女性身材更大、更有男子气概。在研究 3 中，参与者认为具有身体攻击性的女性和非攻击性的女性都比具有间接攻击性的女性更大；攻击类型对假设的男人身高的影响并不显着。我还发现了一些证据，表明攻击性类型会影响对吸引力和社会地位的看法，但这些影响很小且不一致，值得进一步研究。综上所述，结果表明身体和间接攻击行为可能与女性的某些形态和行为特征有关。