Abstract
Evolutionary psychologists have brought attention to women’s intrasexual competition in ways that traditional perspectives have overlooked. Whereas most researchers have thus far focused on exploratory investigations of this phenomenon, we experimentally manipulated contextual factors that could affect intrasexual competition (e.g., rival type, presence of a potential mate) and assessed competitive behavior via clothing choice. Across two studies, female MTurk users (NStudy1 = 131; NStudy2 = 262) read a vignette describing an upcoming party then chose an outfit they would wear to that party from a set of clothing items that had been pre-rated on sexiness and revealingness by a separate sample (N = 100). Within the vignette, we inserted participant-provided initials to manipulate the presence of a crush and the familiarity and attractiveness of their female party companion. Unexpectedly, we found a significant difference between outfit ratings for separates compared with dresses, so we incorporated this into our model. In study 1, among women who chose dresses, those who imagined attending the party with a more attractive acquaintance and their crush present chose more attractive outfits than women in the less attractive acquaintance condition. However, no such pattern was found for women who chose separates or women in the close friend condition. In study 2, a pre-registered direct replication showed that women in the acquaintance condition chose more attractive outfits than women in the close friend condition, but only in the crush present condition. Women’s intrasexual competition mechanisms appear cost-sensitive and only prompt competitive tactics when rivals are particularly threatening.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
This model did not pass the sphericity assumption, so we report the Greenhouse-Geisser values.
Each covariate measure demonstrated good or excellent reliability in this sample as well (SDO: α = .95; SOI-R: α = .88; ISC: α = .89; MV: α = .90).
References
Bleske-Rechek, A. L., & Lighthall, M. (2010). Attractiveness and rivalry in women’s friendships with women. Human Nature, 21(1), 82–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1493903146_18.
Bleske-Rechek, A. L., & Shackelford, T. K. (2001). Poaching, promiscuity, and deceit: combating mating rivalry in same-sex friendships. Personal Relationships, 8, 407–424. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6811.2001.tb00048.x.
Borau, S., & Bonnefon, J. F. (2017). The imaginary intrasexual competition: advertisements featuring provocative female models trigger women to engage in indirect aggression. Journal of Business Ethics, 157, 45–63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3643-y.
Buss, D. M. (1988). The evolution of human intrasexual competition: tactics of mate attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(4), 616–628. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.4.616.
Buunk, A. P., & Fisher, M. (2009). Individual differences in intrasexual competition. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 7(1), 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1556/JEP.7.2009.1.5.
Durante, K. M., Griskevicius, V., Hill, S. E., Perilloux, C., & Li, N. P. (2011). Ovulation, female competition, and product choice: hormonal influences on consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(6), 921–934. https://doi.org/10.1086/656575.
Edlund, J. E., & Sagarin, B. J. (2014). The mate value scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 64, 72–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.02.005.
Elliot, A. J., Greitemeyer, T., & Pazada, A. D. (2012). Women’s use of red clothing as a sexual signal in intrasexual interaction. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 599–602. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.10.001.
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175–191.
Fisher, M. L. (2004). Female intrasexual competition decreases female facial attractiveness. Proceedings of the Royal Society London, 271, 283–285. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2004.0160.
Fisher, M., & Cox, A. (2011). Four strategies used during intrasexual competition for mates. Personal Relationships, 18(1), 20–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6811.2010.01307.x.
Hill, S. E., & Durante, K. M. (2011). Courtship, competition, and the pursuit of attractiveness: mating goals facilitate health-related risk taking and strategic risk suppression in women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(3), 383–394. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167210395603.
Hudders, L., De Backer, C., Fisher, M., & Vyncke, P. (2014). The rival wears Prada: luxury consumption as a female competition strategy. Evolutionary Psychology, 12(3), 570–587. https://doi.org/10.1177/147470491401200306.
Kalmijn, M., & Flap, H. (2001). Assortative meeting and mating: unintended consequences of organized settings for partner choices. Social Forces, 79(4), 1289–1312.
Penke, L., & Asendorpf, J. B. (2008). Beyond global sociosexual orientations: a more differentiated look at sociosexuality and its effects on courtship and romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1113–1135. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.95.5.1113.
Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., Stallworth, L. M., & Malle, B. F. (1994). Social dominance orientation: a personality variable predicting social and political attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(4), 741–763. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.741.
Schmitt, D. P., & Buss, D. M. (1996). Strategic self-promotion and competitor derogation: sex and context effects on the perceived effectiveness of mate attraction tactics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1185–1204. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.6.1185.
Vaillancourt, T., & Sharma, A. (2011). Intolerance of sexy peers: intrasexual competition among women. Aggressive Behavior, 37(6), 569–577. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20413.
Funding
This work was supported by Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX.
We are grateful to Emma Partain, Grace Cruse, and Malia Bell for their input when designing this study and editing early drafts of this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendices
Appendix A Prompt to collect initials
Instructions: You’re going to read a story that may incorporate certain people you know. To make the story as realistic as possible, the actual initials of people you know will be placed in the text. The story you will read will have a selection of some of the individuals you list, but not all of the initials will be used. In order to do this, please provide initials for the following individuals in your life:
-
The initials of a man you have a crush on:
-
The initials of a female acquaintance you think is more attractive than yourself:
-
The initials of a female acquaintance you think is less attractive than yourself:
-
The initials of a close female friend you think is more attractive than yourself:
-
The initials of a close female friend you think is less attractive than yourself:
Appendix B Vignettes
Participants were randomly assigned to one of the following vignettes, and, within the vignette, whether they saw initials of a more or less attractive friend or acquaintance. Participants provided initials earlier in the survey and piped into the story where [INITIALS] occurs.
Crush Absent
It’s two weeks until the biggest party of the year, and you know you can’t miss it! You’re really excited because you’ve been anticipating going for a while. You promised your friend, [INITIALS], that you would go to the party with her. You aren’t really sure who is going to attend the party because your crush, [INITIALS], said he wouldn't be there, so you and your friend are planning on staying with each other for most of the night. To prepare for the party, you decide to do some online shopping to pick out an outfit.
Crush Present
It’s two weeks until the biggest party of the year, and you know you can’t miss it! You’re really excited because your crush, [INITIALS] said he was going to the party and mentioned meeting up there. You promised your friend, [INITIALS] that you would go to the party with her. You aren’t really sure who is going to attend the party, so you and your friend are planning on staying with each other for most of the night. To prepare for the party, you decide to do some online shopping to pick out an outfit.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Olson, E.S., Doss, E.R. & Perilloux, C. Friend or Foe? Mate Presence and Rival Type Influence Clothing-Based Female Intrasexual Competition. Evolutionary Psychological Science 7, 1–10 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-020-00260-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-020-00260-y